Editor’s Note: Ximena N. Beltran Quan Kiu is a communications specialist and writer based in Chicago. The opinions expressed here are hers. read more opinion on DailyExpertNews.
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Last week, Shakira did with her ex, former football star Gerard Piqué, what anyone who has been mistreated and underappreciated by their partner would want to do. She knocked out his ego and in doing so reminded herself – and the world – of what she is capable of.
In 24 hours, “BZRP Music Session #53”, her latest single with Argentinian producer and DJ Bizarrap, reached a record 63 million views on YouTube and 14.4 million streams on Spotify. The infectious pop ballad is a formidable addition to the canon of breakup songs, but it’s more than a diss track about her ex-partner and father of her two children. By expressing her grievances in such a public forum, Shakira made an explosive and important cultural statement by refusing to bear any shame associated with the end of their relationship.
But therein lies the rub. Not everyone agrees with her approach. The headlines surrounding her smash single have taken on a sexist tone, calling her behavior “petty” and the song a “revenge hit.” Social media users are wondering if Shakira broke an unwritten rule between women by dragging her ex’s new flame. Others are happy to watch the drama unfold as they condemn her for airing her dirty laundry.
We’ve heard the stigma of women acknowledging their heartbreak before. Especially with Taylor Swift. In a 2014 interview, Swift responded to criticism that she takes advantage of her exes.
“You’ll have people who will say, ‘Oh, you know, she just writes songs about her ex-boyfriends,'” the singer said. And I honestly think that’s a very sexist angle. Nobody says that about Ed Sheeran. Nobody says that about Bruno Mars. They all write songs about their exes, their current girlfriends, their love lives, and no one is raising the red flag there.
And she’s right. Just look at Bad Bunny. His Spanish-language album ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’ broke record after record and earned him the top spot for Billboard’s album of the year. The translated title means “A Summer Without You” – the heartbreak theme is right in the title and is repeated in most of the 23 tracks. And yet online searches for the Puerto Rican singer, along with his album title, don’t immediately turn up criticism about him making money off his love life — they applaud his brilliance and creativity.
In a viral tweet posted on the same day as the song’s release, user Melany Mora Murillo broke down all the subtle ways Shakira takes and uses her intimate knowledge of Piqué as a weapon, leaving little doubt (if any) ) to whom she refers. Highlights from the thread include: pointing out how Bizarrap samples beats from “Me Enamoré”, (“I Fell in Love”), a 2017 song Shakira made about her relationship with Piqué at the time, and highlighting how Shakira used her lyrics timet to refer to numerology in their relationship. At 2:22, she sings “I’m worth twice more than a 22-year-old”, not just a reference to Piqué’s younger girlfriend (now 23; he turns 36 next month), but the shared birthday of February 2, 10 years after each other. She also uses Piqué’s signature gesture of holding up two fingers with both hands.
To really appreciate the heat behind the song, you need to watch it along with the video, where Shakira’s body language adds an extra layer of complexity. The camera focuses on her as she attacks her former flame, she takes up space and throws her body around, exuding confidence and strength. It is a far departure from “Monotonía”, released in October 2022. In Monotonía’s music video, she spends most of the time in tears, looking confused and singing “it wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t the yours, the monotony was to blame.”
And here’s where we see Shakira really turning up the jets and saying (with a very pointed pun on her ex’s last name to boot) “I understand it’s not my fault if you get criticized, I’m just making music, sorry if I gross you out Derisively downplaying her impact by saying she “just makes music” is the only time she takes a restrained approach and appropriates gender stereotypes of women as weak and soft to her advantage.
She puts her problems at his feet and offers insight into what keeps her up at night – having his mother as a neighbor, the press hounding her not only about the breakup but also a tax evasion charge for which she will receive an eight-year sentence on conviction. jail time and a fine of nearly $25 million (she has repeatedly denied the allegations against her). After walking through the obstacles she encounters after his departure, things that would be crushing under normal circumstances, she redoubles her faith in herself and brings other betrayed women into the fold by exclaiming, “Women don’t cry anymore, women redeem.”
This song may have been made for survival — she calls it “catharsis” and sings that she needs to “wean” herself from her pain — but there’s no denying it’s making money and showing the world she’s still got it . She certainly cashes in. But being so open about what she’s going through has helped her step into her power and prevail. She rejects societal expectations and pressures to behave a certain way when a long-term relationship comes to an end. In the process, she made the biggest Spanish-language debut in Spotify history (quite an accomplishment in the post-Bad Bunny “Un Verano Sin Ti” era).
As a woman whose former life partner is now her ex – a painful reminder of what happens when you accept less than you are worth – Shakira reminds others of a universal truth. There is no script for the worst moments in your life. There’s a good chance you’ll be criticized by someone for whatever you’re doing while you’re healing, so you might as well do what feels right for you.