Shakira is back! The Colombian superstar returned to the music world in a big way last month with the release of her 12th studio album Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran.
The record was released on March 22 and was her first full-length album of original material since 2017's El Dorado, being preceded by successful singles like the viral "Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53" and her "TQG" collaboration with Karol G.
In a new interview with Allure, the 47-year-old musician opened up about making her grand return with an album equally as bombastic as it is raw, following in the wake of her separation from footballer Gerard Piqué after 11 years together.
The title, which translates to "Women No Longer Cry," tells you everything you need to know about the record, which is full of tracks with more empowering and personal lyrics, and Shakira told the publication that was expressly her intent.
"I want this music to build bridges, to empower people, to help women discover their own strengths," she said, referencing her own personal struggles by adding: "I was in the mud."
"I had to reconstruct myself, to reunite all the pieces that had fallen apart."
Shakira further said of the experience of creating the album: "Making this music has shown me that my pain can be transformed into creativity."
"The songs are full of anecdotes and some very intense emotions I have experienced in these two years. But creating this album has been a transformation in which I have been reborn as a woman."
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"I have rebuilt myself in the ways I believe are appropriate. No one tells me how to cry or when to cry, no one tells me how to raise my children, no one tells me how I become a better version of myself. I decide that."
© Getty ImagesShakira and Piqué welcomed sons Milan and Sasha (now 11 and nine, respectively) during their time together and now co-parent them.
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She continued: "In the past, when women went through a difficult situation, they were expected to mind their manners, to hide the pain, to cry in silence. That's over. Now, no one will control us. No one will tell us how to heal, how to clean our wounds."
© Getty ImagesThe "Hips Don't Lie" singer further commented on her idea of feminism involving empowering women who can do it all while also expecting men to show up and contribute when needed when discussing the reaction her sons had to watching Greta Gerwig's blockbuster, Barbie, elucidating how she was raising them as young men.
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"My sons absolutely hated it," she revealed. "They felt that it was emasculating. And I agree, to a certain extent. I'm raising two boys. I want 'em to feel powerful too [while] respecting women."
© Getty Images"I like pop culture when it attempts to empower women without robbing men of their possibility to be men, to also protect and provide. I believe in giving women all the tools and the trust that we can do it all without losing our essence, without losing our femininity. I think that men have a purpose in society and women have another purpose as well. We complement each other, and that complement should not be lost."
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