The singer went with the DJ to the famous late night show where she explained that the controversial song about her divorce “has been a very healthy way to channel my emotions”
The meeting was highly anticipated: the Colombian singer and the Argentinean producer were traveling from their respective cities of residence to New York to appear on the very well-known late night show hosted by Jimmy Fallon. On top of that, she was accompanied by her children. For Shakira it was not the first time: she had been there in 2014 with the release of her tenth studio album, Shakira, in which she performed a song with Rihanna (Can’t remember to forget you), which helped relaunch her career after her marriage to Piqué. Last year, when there were already rumors of estrangement between the singer and the footballer, she returned to the program, where she participated in a viral challenge with the presenter.
This year, the diva has come to perform the song whose release caused a global commotion because of all the explicit allusions to her husband’s infidelity and which a month later is still number one globally: “It’s a monster hit,” said Fallon at the beginning of the interview with the singer and the producer in which both unraveled the secrets of the process behind the creation of the tune. Shakira, after making it clear that her children were in the audience, told Fallon that the initial idea to do the song in collaboration with Bizarrap came from her son Milán: “He is also a musician and in general my children are my advisors. Milán was the one who told me: ‘You have to collaborate with Bizarrap’ He even sent a voice note to my manager telling him that we had to do it because we were going to be number one”. On the other hand, the first approach from the Argentine producer towards the singer came when he was still celebrating the huge success of his collaboration with Spaniard Quevedo. He sent her a message via Instagram that took her two months to respond to. When the connection finally came, Shakira showed the message to her son who said, “Oh my god! The Argentine god!”.
Before performing the song live, the singer explained the enormous emotion that the great reception to this song, which, Bizarrap said, is inspired by two Depeche Mode rhythms, has meant for her. “I’m waiting to be woken up. I’m so mind-blown by people’s reaction,” Shakira said. “It’s become an anthem for a lot of women. I’ve had a rough year after my breakup. Writing this song has been a very healthy way to channel my emotions. Since we released it I don’t feel like I have fans out there but a sisterhood of women who have gone through the same thing and endured as much shit as I have. A lot of women out there have found a voice that represents them.”
Shakira wore two different outfits for her appearance on the show. During the interview she wore a short black dress with scoop neckline and black high boots. For the performance, however, she wore a leather, mesh and flossing bodysuit that played with transparencies and the subtle “danger” of showing her nipples. Tied to this bodysuit were black leather pant-boots reminiscent of the collection created by Rihanna in collaboration with Manolo Blahnik.
