Rating: 8.5/10
On March 22, Shakira released “Las Mujeres No Ya Lloran” (Women No Longer Cry), her first album in seven years.
Hailed as the “Queen of Latin Music,” Shakira grew up in the public eye from the age of 13 when she made her recording debut with Sony Music Colombia.
Last year, the artist was in headlines for a tax fraud trial to the tune of 14.5 million euros (15.8 million USD) owed to the Spanish government. This year, her new album has hit the top of the U.S. Latin charts with the songs “TQG” and “Bzrp Music Sessions: Vol. 53.”
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Her new album examines the depths of her breakup with retired Spanish soccer player Gerard Piqué after 11 years together.
In an interview with Billboard, she said “I feel like a cat with more than nine lives; whenever I think I can’t get any better, I suddenly get a second wind.”
Shakira lives multiple lives on “Las Mujeres No Ya Lloran.” The artist brings a whole slew of genres, from reggaeton to Tex-Mex to rock with well-known collaborators such as Karol G and Rauw Alejandro.
The album jumps right in with pure pop excellence. “Puntería” is a FIFTY FIFTY-reminiscent track with a strong assist from Cardi B.
The disco-influenced song is paired with an equally bubbly music video. Shakira sings, “Tú tiene’ buena puntería/ Sabe por dónde darme pa’ que quede rendía’, rendía’ (You have good aim/ you know where to hit me so that I surrender, surrender)” and is seen shooting a scantily clad centaur with a bow and arrow.
She switches gears with “(Entre Paréntesis),” a regional Mexican track with Texas band Grupo Frontera.
The genre-specific accordion adds a certain bounce to an otherwise ponderous tune. The track includes themes of losing the spark in a romantic relationship and the trust broken after infidelity. “Pusiste el final entre paréntesis (You put the ending in parentheses).” At the end, they punctuate the song with a passionate howl.
“Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53” has recently garnered a lot of attention due to scathing lyrics regarding her split with Piqué and his infidelity, with “Cambiaste un Ferrari por un Twingo (You traded in a Ferrari for a Twingo)” being the most memorable of the many.
It’s clear this EDM-infused track is meant to humiliate. While women should no longer cry, Shakira thinks men should.
In comparison, her other track with Argentine producer Bizarrap is a bit lackluster. “La Fuerte,” meaning “the strong one” is similar to her past 2009 electropop hit “She-Wolf,” but feels out of place. While Shakira still delivers those iconic throaty vocals, they don’t quite dissolve into the electronic production of the song.
“Cómo Dónde y Cuándo” takes us back to her rock roots with a suspenseful acoustic guitar that slowly descends into an electric guitar. Her wails are raw and reminiscent of “Zombie” by The Cranberries. The existentialist track talks about finding the little moments to forget about the stressful routine and injustices of life.
Shakira worries about the environmental state of the world using pollution as imagery, similar to her track “Copa Vacía.” She asks, “¿Cómo hay tanta basura en los mares? (How is there so much garbage in the seas?).”
“El Jefe” meaning “the boss” is arguably the best song on the album, taking an anticapitalist perspective. This lively Mexican regional song details the monotonous and grueling nature of a worker’s routine with a conflicting jaunty melody.
It serves as a diss track to the billionaires of the world capitalizing off of the hard labor of the working class.
The music video features Shakira and Fuerza Regida rocking cowboy attire in a ranchero setting with workers sitting shoulder to shoulder on top of work trucks.
Comparing his plight with that of his boss, Regida says “Yo llego caminando y él en Mercedes-Benz (I get here by walking, he takes the Mercedes-Benz).”
“Las Mujeres No Ya Lloran” is a testament to the versatility of Shakira’s musicianship. Her musical adaptability, her unique lyricism and her pure star power prove that a phoenix can in fact rise from the ashes.
