Shakira.Photo: Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty
After a year of “seismic change,“Shakirarealized women are " stronger than we think, braver than we believed, more independent than we were taught to be.”
The Colombian singer seemingly shared her thoughts abouther headline-generating splitfrom exGerard Piquéon Saturday while accepting Billboard’s first Woman of the Year award at theinaugural Latin Women in Music gala.
“This has been a year of seismic change in my life where I’ve felt more than ever — and very personally — what it is to be a woman,” Shakiratold the audience while accepting her award.
“It’s been a year where I’ve realized we women are stronger than we think, braver than we believed, more independent than we were taught to be,” the 46-year-old singer continued.
“Because what woman hasn’t at some time in her life forgotten herself because she’s seeking the attention and love of someone else? It happened to me, more than once,” she added.
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Shakira, who announced her separation from the soccer star last June after firstconfirming their relationship in March 2011, then talked about realizing her worth as a woman.
The"Hips Don’t Lie"hitmaker then shared that music has always helped her in her lowest moments but that other women taught her the most “important lessons” in life.
After thanking her mom and her friends, Shakira gave a shout-out to all women: “Thank you for this recognition, and I share it with those incredible women I call sisters who have taught me so much because they understand their own vulnerability, but also their own strength.”
Shakira.Jason Koerner/TELEMUNDO via Getty
Shakira reflected on her rough year last month during a visit toThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,where she discussed her single “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” and how she collaborated with Bizarrap for the project.
“The thing with this song is it has become an anthem for so many women out there. I’ve had a very rough year after my separation, and writing this song has been so important to me,” she said, referencing her June 2022split from longtime boyfriendPiqué, 36.
“It’s been a healthy way to channel my emotions,” Shakira added.
The song helped Shakirabreak 14 Guinness World Records, andthe lyricsseemingly allude to the split, its aftermath and Piqué’s current girlfriend,Clara Chia Marti.
In it, she sings “You go around saying you’re a champion / And when I needed you / You gave your worst version.”
Gerard Piqué and Shakira in 2014.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
“After we put out this song, I really felt like I don’t even have fans out there,” Shakira told hostJimmy Fallonon the show. “I have a sisterhood of women who have been through the same things that I have been through, who think the way I think, who feel the way I feel, who had to put up with so much crap the way I had to.”
“And you know,I did write the song for me,” she added. “But also, I feel that it was meant to be — and probably for so many women out there that needed a forum, too, and a voice to represent them in so many ways.”
Shakira added during the discussion that it was her and Piqué’s 10-year-old sonMilanwho encouraged her to work with Bizarrap.
“He told me, ‘Mom, you’ve got to collaborate with Bizarrap. You have to get on a song with Bizarrap, because you guys are gonna be No. 1,’ " she told Fallon, 48. “And he sent a voice note to my manager, Jaime. He said, ‘You got to put my mom together with Bizarrap on a song because they’re going to be No. 1.’ And he was right.”
source: people.com
