By: Emily Ibarra Velasco
On March 22, 2024, Shakira released her 12th long-awaited studio album called “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran'' which translates as "Women no Longer Cry.” This work includes 15 total songs (excluding remixes) with half being new songs and the other half containing past singles. This album will likely be one of her highlight albums as famous collaborators teamed up with Shakira including Fuerza Regida, Cardi B, Bizarrap, and Rauw Alejandro who all similarly have Latin pop and reggaeton music backgrounds. It has been nearly 7 years since she released an album, although occasionally through those years producing popular singles, some mentioned in the album as well. The last recent album she dropped was named “El Dorado'' with most of the songs summarizing the artist's relationship with her partner. This however takes a turn after the disruption that happened alongside her love life, causing the evolution of this new album expunging her post-breakup emotions.
Shakira and her old partner Pique have been together for 11 years until the public announcement of their break up mid 2022. It was reportedly stated that he cheated on her for a woman much younger, so Shakira made up clever ways to indirectly call him and his actions out of some of the songs on the album. Her song “Vol. 53 ft Bzrp” states the phrase “perdon que te salpique” meaning “sorry I splashed you” and also mentions similarly repetitive phrases like “You traded a Rolex for a Casio.” This line immediately made me think of Shakira's ex-husband because of how similar the words sounded, and she directly bashes Pique that leaving her was practically a downgrade for him. New listeners will likely be clueless about her mentioning her partner and what caused the tear in the song, although the fans hooked on the drama will easily get the reference and the song mentioning the album title name which easily makes this a bold and memorable song on the tracklist following songs with similar elements like “TQG, ft Karol G” and “Te Felicito.”
Although this album was based somewhat on the relationship, many songs from Shakira's tracklist mention new love, sad ballads, and other topics to be included. Newer songs like “Nassau”, “Punteria”, and “Cohete” all include the topic of finding new love and getting happier all having in common summer-type beats making them easy to enjoy. Other tracks like “La Fuerte'', “Tiempo Sin Verte”, “Entre Parentesis, ft Fuerza Regida” and “Como Donde y Cuando” all have some sort of rock elements with electronic beats (excluding Entre Parentesis as it happens to be more western) mentioning how stressful life can be when you are missing someone you used to know in an angered manner. Sadder sounding songs with those same topics “Ultima” and “Acrostica” are at a slower tempo and both include piano features in the music making it easier to sympathize with the artist. A song particularly interesting that is found on the tracklist is “El Jefe” a quick and upbeat song with guitar and brass instrument backgrounds. This song summarizes the annoying routine of working hard all day and still not receiving what you desire when other people have it easier as millionaires. Although this song is great and relates to many people, I find it difficult for the song to be included in the album's overall theme.
Overall, I would give this album an 8/10 because of the different stages and topics the songs had, although some may have felt a bit repetitive. Shakira fans will most likely enjoy this album as most of the songs blend together for the album, and because it has similar features to her past songs consisting of pop.
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