Shakira says she fought manager to keep lyrics about ex Gerard Piqué in hit song

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Shakira has revealed that her management wanted her to change lyrics perceived to be about her former partner Gerard Piqué, but she refused saying: “I’m a wounded she-wolf. And no one should tell me how to lick my wounds.’”

The Colombian pop superstar, 47, began an 11-year relationship with the former Barcelona footballer, 37, in 2011 and they share two sons.

The couple announced their separation in June 2022, amid widespread speculation that Piqué had cheated on the mother of his children with a 23-year-old PR student.

In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Shakira reflects on the heartbreak she experienced, saying: “The suffering I felt was probably the greatest I had ever experienced in my entire life, and it kept me from functioning at times.

“It felt like someone had stabbed a hole in my chest. And the sensation was so real, almost physical. I physically felt like I had a hole in my chest and that people could see through me.”

In January 2023, Shakira released a single titled “Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53”, also known as “Out of Your League”.

The song features several references to her former partner, including punning on his name and the name of his new partner, as well as disses suggesting: “You swapped a Ferrari for a [Renault] Twingo/You swapped a Rolex for a Casio.”

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Shakira recalled that these blunt lyrics concerned her management.

“You don’t know the maximum relief I felt. It was like … Relief. And then I remember my manager at the time telling me, ‘Please change the lyrics.’

“Of course, I was trying to calculate the possible contingencies and the risks, but I said, ‘I’m an artist. I am a woman. And I’m a wounded she-wolf. And no one should tell me how to lick my wounds.’”

The song became a huge hit, logging more than 63m YouTube views in its first 24 hours, which made it the most-watched new Latin song in the platform’s history. It also shot to Number One on Spotify’s Global 200 chart, collecting 3 billion streams in the process.

“I started to see that my fans were there for me,” Shakira says in the new interview. “We’re in a society that’s used to seeing women confront pain in a submissive way, and I think that’s changed.”

Earlier this year, Shakira revealed that she now believes monogamy is a “utopia”.