Shakira's severe vocal cord problems left her doubting if she would ever sing again.
The Hips Don't Lie singer had to delay the start of her El Dorado World Tour last November (17) as she struggled with "strained vocal cords", but the health issue soon worsened as she suffered a vocal haemorrhage, forcing her to push back the entire European leg.
The Colombian superstar also had to reschedule her North American shows, which had been due to kick off in January (18).
And in an interview with the BBC following her comeback show in Hamburg, Germany in early June, the 41-year-old admitted fearing she might never sing again.
"It was actually more than a haemorrhage. It was like a vascular lesion," she said, when asked how bad her vocal issues were. "So you can imagine, there were times when I doubted I would ever be in front of a crowd again singing my songs."
"Miraculously, and contrary to everything the doctors predicted, I recovered naturally," the mother of two explained. "They all foresaw surgery, but the lesion disappeared completely from my vocal cords.
"I remember praying. I had forgotten to pray for a while, but when you go through hardship you suddenly recover your faith! I was promising God if I could ever use my voice again, I would celebrate every night - and that's what I'm doing."
Shakira's comeback gig went off without a hitch, and the singer took to Instagram moments after stepping offstage to thank fans for their huge show of support.
"Wow, I did it...!" she beamed in video footage posted online. "Hamburg, I love you...! We did it!!!!," she captioned the clip. "It felt like performing for the first time!!!"
As well as crediting family, friends, fans, and even the nuns and priests who prayed for her during that difficult time for their support, Shakira also received words of encouragement from Coldplay's Chris Martin.
"And I'll tell you something: he was so, so nice throughout those difficult months," she confided. "He worried a lot about my voice, and he checked in on me every other day."
