Shakira has learned to "simplify" in her life and career because her son Milan, 15 months, needs so much of her time.
Shakira - who has 15-month-old Milan with partner Gerard Pique - says the little boy's need for her attention mean she has had to be more focused in her work so she has more free time to be with him.
She said: "Well I think he's taught me, in general, he's taught me how to simplify because he requires me most of the time. So I have to kind of learn how to be a little more direct with my own work, with the way I tackle my work."
Shakira says she and Gerard are so similar, she is sometimes amazed that they are able to get on so well.
She told the new issue of Latina magazine: "We're very much alike. We're so similar. Our personalities are so similar we don't understand how we get along so well, being so similar. We're so compatible.
"We want the same things, we like the same things, we hate the same things. We're so passionate the same way, we need passion the same way."
The 'Can't Remember to Forget You' singer will release a self-titled album later this month after two years of working on it, and she always knew it would take a long time to complete.
She said: "I remember when I met my manager he said, 'We're going to do this album in two months.' And I started laughing and said, 'You don't know me Jay. This is going to be two years,' and that's exactly what it took."
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