EYDER PERALTA, HOST:
Pop superstar Shakira's latest incarnation is that of a woman who has taken the heartbreak of a nasty divorce and turned it into cold, hard cash.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHAKIRA: BZRP MUSIC SESSIONS, VOL. 53")
SHAKIRA: (Singing in Spanish).
PERALTA: "You're in the gym so much," she says, "but it would be good if you exercised your brain a little bit." Here in Mexico City, Shakira has been holding court at the GNP Stadium. By this evening, she will have played a record-setting seven sold-out shows in a row. The name of the tour - Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, named for her latest album and a refrain from one of her songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHAKIRA: BZRP MUSIC SESSIONS, VOL. 53")
SHAKIRA: (Singing in Spanish).
PERALTA: We'll hear from Shakira herself later. But first, we walk through the crowd, and it's mostly women of all ages - girls, mothers, grandmothers.
XIMENA CHIUNTI: I remember seeing her on the TV when I was younger and thinking, oh, my God, I want to be like her.
PERALTA: Ximena Chiunti is 28, and she came with nine other family members - her mom, cousins, her aunt.
MAGDELENA CHIUNTI: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: One of the older women in her group, Magdelena Chiunti, says they came because of her younger sister, Dinah. At 57, she's been battling a life-threatening illness. She went to a Shakira concert 15 years ago, but she never thought she'd get to see another one.
DINAH CHIUNTI: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "All of them," Dinah Chiunti says, "paid for my ticket so I could come." Her sister, Magdelena, gets teary-eyed.
M CHIUNTI: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "She's a warrior," she says. And, of course, this tour is a metaphor. Shakira survived. Magdelena's sister is fighting.
M CHIUNTI: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "She's a warrior because she's here with us because she loves life." Dinah Chiunti laughs.
D CHIUNTI: (Speaking Spanish).
(LAUGHTER)
PERALTA: "And we still cash in," she jokes. And this is what we find across this stadium - women fighting for love, for respect and against patriarchy.
ADRIANA LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "The message of Shakira is of empowerment," says Adriana Lopez. She says, "you can do it, damn it." Lopez is a doctor, and she says Shakira's music has been cathartic. She had a relationship go bad, too.
LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "Ten years of courtship, three months of marriage, and he left me for another woman."
LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "I was left in the street without money, without a job. How do you begin again?" Of course, the backdrop of this tour is Shakira's own breakup with the soccer star Gerard Pique. Two years ago, they ending an 11-year relationship. Since then, Shakira has made songs calling him names, detailing his infidelity and taking revenge by living a fabulous life.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MONOTONIA")
SHAKIRA: (Singing in Spanish).
PERALTA: In "Monotonia," or monotony, she sings, "I tell you, honestly, you are cold like Christmas. It's better that this is over now." Adriana Lopez says Shakira's music pulled her out of a rut.
LOPEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "At the end of the day, you say, I can take this. In fact, I can take a lot more, so bring it on."
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SHAKIRA: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: Onstage, it sometimes feels like Shakira is a relationship coach. "You can be happy single or taken," she says.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SHAKIRA: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "What's important is that you feel free."
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SHAKIRA: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: "Because the truth is feeling love for someone else is beautiful, but having love for yourself - that's more beautiful."
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SHAKIRA: (Speaking Spanish).
PERALTA: Shakira's first album came out in 1991 when she was just 14. So her songs explore the breadth of the human experience from a starry-eyed teenager deep in love to a vulnerable adult, admitting that when a couple has to talk about problems, it's best to start with yourself. But the Shakira of 2025 is not only liberated from the chains of love and diplomacy. She's reveling in the freedom of being single. I have a right to misbehave, she sings, to be loose and do what I want.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOLTERA")
SHAKIRA: (Singing in Spanish).
PERALTA: After the show, we meet Shakira at her dressing room. The fire of the stage has subsided. So many women said they were inspired by her reinvention. I ask if she ever doubted that it was possible.
SHAKIRA: It's not so much about reinventing than putting myself back together after my heart was torn in a thousand pieces. And I experienced deception, betrayal, so many things that left me feeling weak and vulnerable. Yeah, it was a challenge to transform all of that pain and all of that frustration and anger into creativity, into productivity. And that's how this album came about, you know?
PERALTA: That line, which has become a rallying cry - right? - (speaking Spanish). And it translates to, women no longer cry, they cash in.
SHAKIRA: (Laughter).
PERALTA: What do you think it's come to mean?
SHAKIRA: What it means is that women, for a long time, had to conceal their pain from society, from their kids. And I feel like today, nobody has the right to tell us how to heal - right? - and how to cry and who to cry for and when to do it. So of course we cry, but for the necessary reasons, and when we don't want to cry anymore, we just put ourselves to work and try to cash in to bring the - to bring the means for the family. That's what it means. And it's a way to just, you know, rebuild yourself and, like you were saying before, reinvent yourself in the face of adversity.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHAKIRA: BZRP MUSIC SESSIONS, VOL. 53")
SHAKIRA: (Singing in Spanish).
PERALTA: That was Colombian superstar Shakira. Her Women No Longer Cry tour will be in the United States this summer.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHAKIRA: BZRP MUSIC SESSIONS, VOL. 53")
SHAKIRA: (Singing in Spanish). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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