Shakira landed in Madrid this week with a mix of excitement and relief that she quickly shared with the world. Through an Instagram post that garnered over 600,000 likes in just a few hours, the Colombian singer acknowledged that her return to Spain carries a tremendous emotional weight.
“I am very excited to be back in Spain. Here I was happy and lived through some of the most important years of my life, but when I left, I went through one of the hardest times I had to experience, until I was able to rebuild myself as a woman, as a mother, and as an artist”, the artist wrote in her post.
The words resonate strongly because everyone knows the context: Shakira lived for over a decade in Barcelona with Gerard Piqué, with whom she confirmed their separation in June 2022 after 12 years of relationship, and a breakup that became one of the most publicized episodes in the world of entertainment and sports.
After months of tension and disputes, she definitively said goodbye to Barcelona in April 2023 and set off to Miami with her children. That pain, far from sinking her, became a creative fuel for her album “Women Don’t Cry Anymore” and the world tour of the same name.
In the message, the artist also had very warm words for her Spanish fans: "Throughout that journey back and forth, my Spanish fans have always been with me, supporting me, loving me, and wishing me the best."
To describe what it means to return, she drew on an image borrowed from tango: "To return, as Gardel said, surrounded by so much love fills me immensely. This time, I am whole and with all the strength to offer you the best of myself in these 12 concerts."
And he concluded with a phrase that encapsulates his vision of the relationship between Spain and Latin America: "The Atlantic is no longer an ocean that separates us but a bond that unites us."
This attitude of turning pain into strength is not new to her. In a conversation with Henar Álvarez, Shakira reflected: "The difficulties I face, I turn them into a reason to joke. We have to laugh at life before life laughs at us."
The return also has a spectacular dimension. The 12 concerts of her residency in Madrid will kick off on September 18 at the so-called "Shakira Stadium," a temporary venue specifically set up for the occasion in the Iberdrola Music space in Madrid, with a capacity for more than 50,000 people per night.
The organization expects a total of approximately 600,000 people to pass through during the scheduled dates in September and October. Next to the stadium, "Macondo Park" —a temporary city inspired by the universe of Gabriel García Márquez— will offer cuisine, art, fashion, cinema, and literature from noon until midnight on each concert day.
"Thank you to all my European fans, from Colombia and around the world who are already coming to support me in this historic moment for me. I love you," concluded Shakira in her post.
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