Editor’s note: (A version of this article can be read in Spanish at CNNE.com.)
(CNN) Shakira feels emotionally empowered after her song with Argentinian producer Bizarab.
“I think I’d be in a completely different place if I didn’t do this song, [to have] An opportunity to express myself and reflect on the pain,” the Colombian singer told the Mexican journalist Enrique Acevedo In her first interview since releasing two songs, one with Bizarab and more recently with fellow Colombian singer Carol J.
The interview was broadcast Monday night on Mexico’s N+ network, which is part of Televisa, the CNN affiliate.
“BZRP Music Sessions Vol. 53” was released on January 11 and alluded to her breakup with former soccer player Gerard Pique.
“I guess somebody had to take a picture of the day I worked on Session 53 with Bizarab, before and after. I entered the studio one way and left in another. That’s one of the things I’m most grateful to Biza, for giving me that space, that opportunity to vent. It was It’s a huge relief, and also necessary for my recovery, and my recovery process,” said the singer.
She credits their collaboration, in part, to her 10-year-old son, Milan.
“It was a suggestion from Milan,” Shakira explained.
The singer said: “Milan told me: ‘Mom, you have to do something with Bizarab… He’s the god of Argentina!’ ”, adding that thanks to her son, she got to know the work of the producer.
The hit unleashed an outpouring of support and criticism on social media over Shakira’s artistic choice to heal the wounds of heartbreak.
Shakira said in the interview that she had always been “emotionally dependent on men” and that she “also bought into that story that a woman needs a man to complete herself, a family,” she said.
She added, “Now I feel complete because I feel that I depend on myself and that I also have two children that depend on me, so I have to be stronger than a lioness.”
Shakira explained that this strength comes from grief and the acceptance that sometimes things don’t go the way you think.
“I also had a dream to have a family where the children would have a father and a mother under one roof. Not all dreams come true in life, but life finds a way to make it up to you in some way,” Shakira said.
Shakira noted that women were at the center of the support she received after the couple revealed the end of their 12-year relationship.
“I’ve come to realize that women are a key moment in society. We are at a point where the support we can receive from each other is very relevant, and very important,” she added.
To describe this support, Shakira paraphrased a quote from the late former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
“She has a phrase that I love: ‘There is a place in hell reserved for those women who don’t support others.’” Shakira said. “I totally agree.”