When Shakira enters the lavish upstairs suite at Miami Beach’s Villa Casa Casuarina – once the iconic Versace mansion – she is dressed in high-waisted jeans, a loose T-shirt, and a baseball cap pulled down low over her forehead. Her dirty-blonde hair is styled in braids, and she wears minimal makeup, with just some mascara accentuating her wide eyes and defined cheekbones. Standing just over 5 feet tall in her sneakers, her clear complexion makes her look youthful and delicate, a stark contrast to the fierce and empowered persona she portrays in her hit songs and music videos.
“I’m currently in a phase of reflection,” she shares introspectively. “I’m still working through some inner demons. They’re the final ones that remain,” she mentions with a cheerful chuckle.
Renowned worldwide for her talent and charm, Shakira is a perfectionist who is always meticulous about her work. However, in the past year and a half, the 46-year-old singer has thrown caution to the wind after her high-profile breakup with Spanish soccer star Gerard Piqué, with whom she shares two children. Despite the intense media attention and rumors of infidelity surrounding their split, Shakira showed her strength and resilience by releasing the powerful track “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” with DJ Bizarrap. In the song, she boldly proclaims, “Women don’t cry; we make money,” a statement that resonated with feminist audiences worldwide and propelled the track to No. 2 on the Billboard Global 200 chart.
However, amidst all the gossip in the tabloids, Shakira quietly achieved four Guinness World Records and several milestones on the Billboard charts. Notably, she became the first female vocalist to debut in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 with a Spanish-language track. Over the past decade, Shakira focused on motherhood and her marriage in Barcelona, which led to a pause in her musical success. It had been almost ten years since she experienced the level of success seen in the past year. Her last number one hit on the Hot Latin Songs chart was “Chantaje” with Maluma back in 2016.
This year, she has achieved two No. 1 hits on the charts: “Sessions” and “TQG” featuring Karol G. Both songs also made it to the top 10 of the Hot 100, and “TQG” even reached the number one spot on the Billboard Global 200 chart. In the last year, she has released a total of six songs that reflect her emotions following her separation, from anger to sadness to a glimmer of hope. Despite the challenges of channeling these feelings into her music, she has emerged as one of the most popular artists worldwide once again. With plans for a new album in 2024 and a global tour, her first since 2017’s El Dorado and its subsequent 2018 tour, she is making a strong comeback in the music industry. Shakira acknowledges the irony of finding success during a turbulent time in her personal life, but she is determined to use her experiences to fuel her creative renaissance.
“I often feel like a cat who keeps dodging disaster, just when I think things can’t improve, I find a new burst of energy,” she explains. “I’ve experienced various emotions along the way: denial, anger, pain, frustration, and then back to anger and pain. Now I’m in survival mode, just trying to stay afloat. It’s also a time for reflection and hard work, making sure to cherish every moment I have with my children.”
