Shakira goes where wild things are with "She Wolf"

Colombian singer Shakira speaks during a news conference in Bogota October 11,2009. Shakira is promoting her new album "Loba." [Agencies]

In November, she'll help present a regional early-childhood education proposal to heads of state at the Ibero-American summit in Portugal. "We have high expectations to get something really concrete for the kids," she says.

The Pies Descalzos (Barefoot) Foundation, which Shakira founded in Colombia when she was 18, opened its fifth school in February (using proceeds from her touring) to serve the country's most impoverished children.

Last year, ALAS -- Fundacion America Latina en Accion Solidaria, the advocacy group founded by Shakira and other Latin artists in 2006 to get governments and private donors to commit to early-childhood development programs on the continent -- held massive televised concerts with performances from two dozen top Latin acts to rally public support for the cause. Shortly before the concerts, ALAS secured a $200 million commitment from Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu and philanthropist Howard Buffett.

Will her international efforts on behalf of early childhood development programs be reflected musically on "She Wolf?"

"My biggest motivation was to make an album that people could just have fun with and forget about their troubles," she says. "I think I've found other outlets that have been very proactive. And I guess when that happens, the music just becomes music, and now I can use it for the purpose it's created for -- to amuse and entertain people and also express other feelings, but things that are more personal. I'm letting music guide me."