Shakira joins Angry Birds Pop as new character

Colombian pop superstar Shakira is getting animated for the popular Angry Birds mobile game.

The Hips Don't Lie hitmaker has been transformed into Shakira Bird, complete with her signature long blonde locks, for the Angry Birds Pop venture as part of a new collaboration with game makers at Rovio.

The singer met with Rovio boss Peter Vesterbacka in her adopted home of Barcelona, Spain, earlier this year (15), and he reveals, "Within five minutes it was very clear that we had to do something together."

He adds, "I'm really happy to see the first result of our collaboration. The team has done a fantastic job in designing the new bird...

"This is only the beginning of a beautiful friendship... With three billion copies of Angry Birds games out there and with the massive fan base of Shakira, you can be sure the planet will know about it."

Shakira debuted her new character on Instagram.com on Thursday (17Sep15), as Shakira Bird was made available for gamers to play with online.

She isn't the only star to team up with Angry Birds creators - punk rockers Green Day formed a similar partnership in 2012, when they appeared as characters in Angry Birds Friends.