If it’s a matter of confessing… “I didn’t leave Spain with the best face, so to speak,” confessed last night a dazzling Shakira before more than 50,000 spectators who cheered her return to our country. The Colombian didn’t hold back when sharing with her fans how devastated she left Barcelona, with a broken heart and the now-famous tax debt. But the Barranquilla she-wolf has turned her pain into anthems—and into money, which she doesn’t hesitate to emphasize by alluding to that title for her 12-concert residency in Villaverde LMYNL, Women Do Not Cry Anymore…—a phrase we all know how it ends—and during an electrifying evening she made clear that coming out stronger from hardships is not mere talk.
With an extraordinary corps of dancers and musicians, choreographed and measured to the millimeter, the Latin diva shone in peak form during a monumental show that was built around a leitmotif of electropop, occasionally giving way to the finest Latin and urban flavors. Shakira, who spared no expense on costumes and staging, also did not neglect the rockier anthems that had won over Anglo-Saxon audiences in the early 2000s ((Don’t bother) was one of the most memorable moments of the night).
As expected, there was a lot of fury transformed into celebration –Te felicito, Soltera, Copa vacía, TQG–, but there was also room for her most recent and heartbreakingly intimate ballad Acróstico, which she introduced to calm the crowd and spark a few tears among her endless list of hits (—La bicicleta, La tortura, Hips don’t lie, Las de la intuición, Suerte, Te dejo Madrid…). Nostalgics were pleased with songs from that Shakira who still wore her black hair –Inevitable, Ojos así, Antología– and the more football-minded fans relished singing and dancing to the two World Cup anthems Spain has won.
The queen of Latin pop closed her two-hour concert with Loba and the already iconic and heartbreak-ridden track she co-wrote with Bizarrap (yes, the one behind Clara-mente), leaving attendees with the freshest aftertaste, their own wounds mended by great music and good vibes. Because music heals, and that’s why we will never tire of experiencing live shows like this—pure medicine.
