It’s official. Shakira has made a comeback to the world of music (that’s what the title says). Having been in the industry since 1990, Shakira has ruled the genres ranging from Latin Pop, Pop, Reggaeton, and Rock. With a growing interest in Latin music, I’m excited to take this semester and explore more of this genre and others from around the world. The singer hails from Colombia, but her music in both Spanish and English has gained worldwide recognition. And it is certain that her popularity only continues to grow. On January 11th, she shook the world once again through a collaboration with Argentine producer Bizarrap.

Image from spotify.com

Titled “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53,” the song sounds like another fun pop song, and it’s the powerful Spanish lyrics that make it the internet phenomenon it is. In short, the track is a complete diss at her ex-partner, Piqué. The two were in a relationship since 2011 and had 2 sons until it was revealed last summer that the former soccer player had a mistress. When it was revealed that Shakira would be collaborating with Bizarrap, it was quickly understood that the song would likely be a diss at Piqué, in the style of many other of the Bzrp Music Sessions.

The song is very airy in its flow, but she makes no hesitation into immediately referencing the infidelity. The chorus repeats the phrase “una loba como yo no está pa’ tipos como tú,” meaning “a she-wolf like me is not for guys like you,” serving as a reference to one of her older albums, She Wolf, and literally saying she was too good for him. That might just be the nicest line as well, as she proceeds to discreetly say exactly who the song is about.

The second verse features a clever rhyme scheme, with each line ending with the sound -que, a common verbal ending in Spanish. She says how she won’t return to him and understands that the media criticizing him is deserved, ending the sequence with the verse “Yo solo hago música, perdón que te salpique” (I just make music, sorry if it splashes you). Here, through the word salpique, she mentions Piqué by name through splitting the word into sal-pique with a splashing sound between. It also serves a double meaning in that sense, with sal pique meaning leave Piqué. But it doesn’t just end there.

Through another careful selection of words, she manages to even name-drop his mistress, 22 year old Clara Chía. The lyrics say “tiene nombre de persona buena / claramente no es como suena,” meaning she has the name of a good person, but clearly it’s not as it sounds. She again splits a word, this time claramente into clara-mente and makes it clear she feels no remorse for either of the pair.

She continues the diss on Clara in the next verse, with the lines “yo valgo por dos de 22 / cambiaste un Ferrari por un Twingo / cambiaste un Rolex por un Casio” (I’m worth 2 of 22 / you traded a Ferrari for a Twingo / you traded a Rolex for a Casio). In referencing his mistress’s age, she also alludes to February 22nd (2/22), the birthday Shakira and Piqué share. She recognizes her own self-worth through the metaphors of a Ferrari and Rolex and compares his mistress to the cheaper brands, Twingo and Casio, essentially saying she is just a cheaper, lesser version of Shakira. 

While the lines may seem petty, they also show Shakira’s great creativity in song writing and her comeback from a rough situation. In just one week, the song has amassed over 150 million streams, showing Shakira’s global success and letting the world know the truth about Piqué.