Shakira is ready for the next chapter of her life.
In what appears to be her first TV interview since separating from Gerard Piqué in June 2022, with whom she shares sons Milan, 10, and Sasha, 8, Shakira told Mexican journalist Enrique Acevedo about her recent heartbreak and how music helped her heal.
The 46-year-old singer expressed how this “has been an honest and brutal time” in her life, but that she has never felt so supported by her friends and fans.
“Not all dreams in life come true," she said. "But life finds a way to make it up to you in some way."
Shakira, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, said that she’s in love with the idea of love and confessed to previously being “emotionally dependent on men.” She also bought into the the fairy tale “that a woman needs a man to complete herself, a family.”
“Now I feel complete because I feel that I depend on myself and I also have two children that depend on me, so I have to be stronger than a lioness,” she added.
Shakira’s relationship with Piqué, who recently retired from playing professional soccer, recently made headlines after she released “BZRP Music Session #53” which many took as her revenge song. In the track, she sings about being too good for the person she used to be with and calls out his new girlfriend, Clara Chia Martí, even using her name in a play on words in the lyrics.
“You have to accept and tolerate the frustration that not everything works out the way you want them to, that dreams are broken and you have to pick up the tiny pieces from the floor and rebuild yourself,” she said in the interview, adding that she needs to be “an example for my kids to let them know that you can overcome it all.”
When it comes to her new music — which also includes “TQG” with Karol G and has her singing about being “hurt” after seeing her ex with his new girlfriend — Shakira said the process has been cathartic and more of a therapy session than seeing a real therapist.
The Colombian artist noted that it’s important to feel what you need to feel after you’ve experienced “heartbreak, betrayal (and) disappointment” and the importance of reflecting on it.
Meanwhile, Shakira said she’s felt the love from those closest to her, who have given her the strength to keep going.
“I’m ready for the next round,” she said, also quoting Madeleine Albright, the first woman to become Secretary of State in the United States, “There’s a place in hell for women who don’t help other women.”
Even with worldwide success and a number of accolades that include Grammys, Shakira confessed to still struggling with imposter syndrome. However, that only fuels her to continue going.
“I constantly have a debt with myself. I want to check if I really have talent or if I still have it, if it has not disappeared,” she said. “That’s what makes me want to go back to the recording studio and I’m more excited than ever.”
Shakira fans know that the singer has a long list of breakup and heartbreak songs, including “Don’t Bother,” “Antología” and “Inevitable.” Over the years, she says she's channeled her pain into art.
“At the end of the day, I learned that pain is nothing more than an emotion. We’re always trying to avoid pain, but it turns out that pain is part of life. It is there,” she told Acevedo.
“I’m on my way up, but now I have more confidence in myself."