Colombian singer Shakira set social media on fire on Thursday after releasing a song openly aimed at her ex-partner, retired Spanish footballer Gerard Piqué, which has been listened to 34 million times in 17 hours amid a cascade of reactions.
Entitled "BZRP Music Session #53," the collaboration with celebrated Argentine producer Bizarrap is making the rounds in the media and on social networks, with verses calling out the former athlete and his new girlfriend, the young 23-year-old Spaniard Clara Chía.
"Lots of gym work, but work your mind as well," raps the artist at one point. "You changed a Ferrari for a [Renault] Twingo, a Rolex for a Casio"; "I'm not coming back to you, not even if you cry or beg me"; "I've outgrown you and that's why you're with someone just like you," sings the artist to the rhythm of electronic music.
Just in case there were any doubts about who the song was aimed at, Shakira includes a couple of word plays using the names Pique and Clara.
A spectacular hype campaign paved the way for the song's success. On Monday, a small plane flew over the beaches of Mar de Plata with one of the lyrics from the previously unknown song: "Una loba como yo, no está pa' tipos como tú" ("A she-wolf like me is not for someone like you").
Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos, a friend of Piqué's and an active social media user, went viral with a video in which he reacted live to the song: "Rest in peace Gerard Piqué," he said, visibly impressed.
Other celebrities have responded both for and against the song, while the artists are trending internationally.
Reactions to the song began trending on social media, where Shakira has tens of millions of followers. It is the third song (after 'Te felicito' and 'Monotonía') that she has dedicated to the couple's separation, which was announced in June.
The couple were together for more than a decade and have two sons: nine-year-old Milan and Sasha, seven. They never married, and Shakira, 45, did not share her estimated US$300 million fortune with Pique, 35.
He retired in November after a glory-laden 18-year football career, earning enough to invest in several multi-million euro business projects.
Shakira had wanted to resettle with her two children, nine-year-old Milan and seven-year-old Sasha, in Miami but has been ordered to stand trial in Spain for tax fraud.
Prosecutors have requested an eight-year sentence and fine of 24 million euros (US$26 million) for evading 14.5 million euros worth of taxes between 2012 and 2014.
Pique was himself convicted of tax fraud in 2016 and later ordered to pay the tax office 2.1 million euros.
The Colombian artist defends her innocence and denies all the accusations.
"You left me as a neighbour to my mother-in-law, with the press at the door and the debt with the tax authorities, you thought you hurt me and you made me tougher, women don't cry anymore, women bill", the singer declares in the song.
– TIMES/AFP
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