‘It turns out I’m less fragile than I thought’: Shakira gets personal in new interview
Live from Miami Beach, it’s Shakira!
In a rare, in the flesh interview, the Colombian superstar sat down for a candid conversation at the Faena Forum Wednesday for Billboard Latin Music Week.
Dressed in black thigh-high boots and a matching leather mini-dress, Shakira answered a wide range of questions about her amazing career to a packed crowd.
The panel discussion called “Hits Don’t Lie” — a play on her 2006 hit with Wyclef Jean “Hips Don’t Lie” — was conducted in Spanish by Billboard Latin chief content officer Leila Cobo.
Though her painful split with soccer player Gerard Pique was not mentioned, the soft-spoken singer, who was frequently drowned out by cheers and chants of her name, alluded to how heartbreak has shaped her work.
READ MORE: Your guide to Latin Billboard Week
The upshot? The 46-year-old Miami resident is in a fantastic place right now.
“I’m very inspired, I’m in the mood,” she said. “There have been times when they have to drag me with a crane to the studio. You fight with your art, everyone does. But now I’m in a honeymoon phase with making music and with my career. I’m in love with what I do.”
Yes, it appears Shakira has gotten her groove back, despite having a scandalous split play out on the world stage (Pique is still dating the woman he left the pop star for, his assistant Clara Marti).
The creative process was Shak’s “main survival tool” in overcoming the heartbreak and shifting into fierce Beyonce “Lemonade” mode.
READ MORE: See a rat crawl on Shakira during a music video shoot
“Writing music is a catharsis,” the mother of two said. “I write the most when I’m at my worst. Life hits me with a blow ... and I feel stronger. I didn’t think I had so much energy to overcome certain stages of life. It turns out that I was less fragile than I thought.”
Fans, who she often refers to as her “army,” also played a big role in healing, and then ultimately, thriving.
“They’ve been with me, holding my hand the whole time,” she said. “I have felt them embracing me, comforting me, pushing me. I didn’t feel alone because I have an audience that has been with me for as long as I can remember.”
The Shakira you see these days is not the woman who uprooted everything to move to Spain in 2015 to support her futbol-playing beau, away from family, friends and a red-hot career.
“Being in Barcelona, I was practically alone,” she admitted. “There is no active music industry there. Everything was very slow and many ideas were left in the void. I was left without being able to execute many of my plans. I think that’s why I was also unmotivated.”
Since moving to the Magic City a few months ago with her two sons Milan, 10, and Sasha, 8, things are definitely looking up personally and professionally. The 305’s most eligible bachelorette has been linked to everyone from Tom Cruise and Lewis Hamilton to Miami Heat baller Jimmy Butler. And over the past year or so, she’s dropped a bunch of songs, collaborating with the likes of Fuerza Regida, Manuel Turizo and “Argentine god” Bizarrap, which was apparently Milan’s idea.
Nope. We don’t worry about Shakira, who is smart enough to realize that she survived some of her hardest days.
“Before, I used to suffer if a hair was out of place or if my eyeliner smudged,” she laughed. “Nowadays it’s not that I care less about things, it’s that I have a better perspective. I can prioritize what really matters, and what doesn’t matter so much, and place my focus and attention on substance.”
