Shakira is still killing it after her viral split from Pique
Months after Shakira's extremely public split from her ex, Shakira is blasting her fiercely independent attitude all over her fashion. Her latest look, an all-white dress with a giant NO sign from Viktor&Rolf’s Fall 2008 collection, set the fashion world on fire. Harper's Bazaar even ran a headline saying "Shakira's Couture “NO” Dress Is an Entire Mood."
She wore it in Paris to attend a runway show, sitting next to fellow pop star Camila Cabello. it was just the latest meme-worthy moment in the ongoing saga of her messy breakup. "‘Yes’ is overrated,” she told a reporter at the event. “I identify with ‘no,’ it’s a very powerful word.”
This falls into a clear pattern of the Colombian singer's life. Because when life gives Shakira lemons in the form of a cheating partner that leaves her for a woman half her age, the Colombian superstar not only makes lemonade but squirts what’s left of the fruit right into that ex's eyes.
In January, Shakira and Argentine DJ Bizarrap dropped a savage track that goes straight for the jugular of Shakira’s ex. Its title? The song's too epic to really need one. It’s only called ‘BZRP Music Sessions #53.’ In four days, it racked up an unprecendented 124 million views on Youtube.
Image: Shakira/ YouTube
In 2011, Shakira got into a relationship with Barcelona football player Gerard Piqué. They had two children. In 2022, they separated, and it was revealed he was having an affair with another woman.
While Shakira had already released a couple more balanced songs about the breakup, this one is 100% rage. She also followed it up with another empowering song with Karol G. But this gem slams not only Piqué but also his new girlfriend and even his mom. Here are a few of the best burns.
Much of the song talks about how Shakira is out of Piqué’s league. "A she-wolf like me isn’t for guys like you. That’s why you’re with someone who's just like you," she says, referring to Piqué’s new 23-year-old girlfriend, Clara Chia.
In the song, Shakira wishes Piqué well with her “replacement,” adding that the 45-year-old is worth two 22-year-olds. “You traded a Ferrari for a Twingo. You traded a Rolex for a Casio.”
Photo: Burberry and Shakira / Instagram
In the song, Shakira cleverly calls out both Piqué and Clara by their names. In the chorus, she emphasizes "CLARA-mente" which means "clearly" in Spanish. As for the football player, she sings "Yo solo hago música, Perdón que te sal-PIQUE," which in English translates to: "I just make music, sorry if it splashes on you."
In the track, she also tells her gym-loving athlete ex that the gym is great, but he should also work on training his mind a little.
Another very on-point lyric is about how Piqué thought he hurt her, but how she’s totally gotten over it. “Women don’t cry anymore, they get paid,” she sings in Spanish.
Getting paid, she is. According to the Spanish daily El Confidencial, the song is making the two artists around $60,000 a day on Spotify and YouTube alone, after smashing records for views and listens on both platforms.
Image: Shakira / Instagram
And what started as a revenge song ended up breaking several Guinness World Records, thus making Latin music history. Thanks to her collaboration with the Argentine DJ Bizarrap, the Colombian singer broke 14 Guinness World Records, one of them being the 'First female vocalist to debut in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 with a Spanish-language track.'
The 4 records they broke together with the track ‘BZRP Music Sessions #53' were, Most streamed Latin track on Spotify in 24 hours, Most viewed Latin track on YouTube in 24 hours, Fastest Latin track to reach 100 million views on YouTube, and Most streamed Latin track on Spotify in one week.
On Friday, March 10, the Colombian singer and the Argentine DJ performed the song for the first time live on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,' driving the audience wild as they chanted the lyrics 'Las mujeres ya no lloran las mujeres facturan' (Women don't cry any more women make money).
On Instagram, Shakira thanked her fans and said she couldn’t believe what was happening. “This was catharsis and a way for me to let loose, I never thought it would go straight to number one worldwide and in Spanish.”
Image: Shakira / Instagram
She dedicated the track to all the women “who rise up against those who make us feel insignificant… who stand up for what they feel and think, and raise their hands when they disagree, even if others raise their eyebrows.”
In the beginning, it was crickets from the Piqué camp. However, on the weekend of Jan. 14, during a video conversation about a football league, he said the watch company Casio was “a watch for life.” He also said his football league, the King’s League, reached a sponsorship deal with Casio.
Image: Kings League / Twitch
On Sunday, Piqué then drove to a football event in a Renault Twingo, in reference to Shakira’s lyrics that he swapped a Ferrari for the mid-range hatchback. He was also wearing a Casio watch.
Photo: Kings League / Twitter
Amid everything, though, Piqué’s company Kosmo lost a major contract with the Davis Cup tennis tournament. The organization didn’t provide a reason for breaking the contract, but it certainly wasn’t good news for the football player.
Shakira's burns didn’t stop with the song. Over the weekend after the track dropped, Spanish media photographed a life-sized witch doll on Shakira’s balcony, which faces the house of Piqué’s mom, who lives directly next to her. The fact that Piqué left Shakira to live next to his mom was also mentioned in the song.
Photo: Maria Villardon via Twitter
Members of the Spanish socialite community say that Piqué’s mom, doctor Montserrat Bernabeu, knew all about his relationship with Clara Chia while he was cheating on Shakira. Local media even say that Shakira’s ex carried out the affair in his mom’s home across the street.
A Vogue interview from 2012 has also resurfaced. In it, Shakira blames Pique’s mom for the “worst mistake” of her life: cutting her hair in a bob. “Mother-in-law, I will never listen to your aesthetic advice again,” she said.
Despite everything, for 12 hours, Montserrat liked two tweets that went against her son... Was it an accident or a strange social media truce? The likes were later deleted.
Image: Montserrat Bernabeu / Twitter
One of the tweets Pique's mom liked said about her son: "He destroyed his image himself, and he is the one to blame... He destroyed his career for thinking too much of himself, and thinking everyone would be on his side... I buy that he fell in love with someone else, but the way he acted was wrong."
While it is likely awkward for Shakira to continue living next to Piqué’s mom in Barcelona, she has found a way to turn the situation on its head. Besides the witch on the balcony, she had friends over on the weekend after the track dropped and blasted the song on repeat from her house. It ensured that the song would get on the nerves of her ex-mom-in-law.
Image: Shakira / Instagram story
The real-life Twingo in Shakira’s story, Clara Chia, stayed quiet amid the huge scandal. It wasn't until Feb that she silently posted a picture of her and Pique on her instagram account, with the caption only including a few black hearts.
Photo: clarachiamartireal / Instagram
Despite her symbolic victory, Shakira hasn’t emerged totally victorious. The Colombian singer will soon have to stand trial for tax evasion in Piqué’s home country and is accused of trying to defraud Spain of €14.5 million. Although she already paid the money back, prosecutors are trying to send her to jail for eight years and give her an even bigger fine.
Piqué may have been a bad influence. Like many other football players in Spain, he was also accused of tax fraud, though the charges were later dropped. He’s also currently being investigated for corruption over his company’s role in bringing a major Spanish football tournament to Saudi Arabia, according to Spanish media.
Although Shakira signed an agreement with Piqué to move to Miami with their two sons, the magazine Hola! reports that they are staying in Barcelona for now, due to Shakira’s father’s health problems.
Days before the diss track came out, their 9-year-old son Milan even appeared in a Twitch live stream next to his father, making Shakira furious because she hadn't given her consent for the publication. At the same time, the TV show 'Despierta América' says that Milan was the one who told Shakira to collaborate with Bizarrap on the legendary track.
Image: kingsleage/Twitch
There is no shortage of opinions on Shakira cashing in so greatly on her revenge. Most comments on social media are positive ("only THEE Shakira can break the internet 32 years into her career"), but others question the need to air the dirty laundry to the world like this. They also say that Shakira shouldn't attack another woman as she did with Clara. What do you think?