In The Dirty Girls Social Club (2003) by Alisa Valdés-Rodríguez, a novel by a Latino author that landed on The New York Times bestseller list, we read: “Shakira…? She's a fucking disgrace. Blond hair. A disgrace to La Raza and La Causa”. [Shakira…? She is a fucking shame. Blond hair. A shame for La Raza and La Causa.] I remembered this passage now that the Barcelona-based singer from Barranquilla –both cities famous for their past of tolerance and cosmopolitanism– is receiving praise (as well as royalties) for her Pa' tipos como tú, although criticism is also raining on her extra-long hair. It must be exhausting that at all times they want to make you a symbol of something, or that they judge you for not representing a model well, be it a Latina or a feminist, although by now you must be cured of horror.
Shakira has been accused of being heteronormative, falling in love as an adult as a teenager, having said that women are intuitive (a reductionism!), being a capitalist businesswoman, a rentier of her body, her media image built (they say) on masculinist visions , not tearing down the system of power based on heteronormative criteria, having resorted to the scalpel, their body movements, etc. As Juan Villoro wrote, "no one had done so much for hip movement since Elvis Presley earned the nickname 'Elvis Pelvis.'"
The list of reproaches is very long, as is the series of tricky questions that are posed to us. Is Shakira's speech feminist for having spoken of women as a desiring subject and not just as an object of desire? If we keep pulling the thread, we could end up asking ourselves, as the writer Marta Sanz did in an essay: can she be a leftist and a fan of David Bisbal? Rejecting popular culture (a part of which Shakira embodies) as irrelevant, with its codes, its references and its aesthetics, reveals elitism, the same thing that is attributed to the Colombian culture, among other things, by the mention of luxury brands such as Rolex or Ferrari in his song, without taking into account that it is typical of the jargon of urban music. Many hip-hop artists and rappers, for example, nod to haute couture in their tracks.
Popular culture is the one that manages to make its message heard above the tangle of noise (although to do so they use all the marketing available to them), but it is also the one that connects with issues that interest a wide audience, and in that the charisma of the artists play by no means a negligible role. If Beyoncé has become more influential than Springsteen in the music industry, it has been her because of her ability to move with the times (including technological changes), and the chameleonic Shakira belongs to that same category.
When she is attacked for washing dirty laundry in full view (and listening) of the whole world, it is not noticed that this Caribbean artist, of Lebanese descent on her father's side, and Catalan-Italian on her mother's, throughout her career musical has sought inspiration in his personal life.
In his lyrics (attention: red flag) there are those who detect the sour taste of emotional dependence. Well, if so, you would just be talking about a common phenomenon not only in romantic relationships, but also among friends and family. But shouldn't you be ashamed to air your privacy? It was her ex-partner, if I am well informed, who made her new relationship public without waiting a reasonable time, a behavior that would have been reasonable considering their status as public figures. So I can't help but think that the former Barça soccer player has been paid with the same currency, although the artist's billing will show higher figures.
Haven't you thought about your children? They will appreciate (if not now, later, I think) that her mother has been able to channel the lack of love and express it in the way she knows best: with her job. No need to dramatize. Just as it is unnecessary to improvise sweetened versions to hide from children that the wolf in the story did devour Little Red Riding Hood, sooner or later they will discover that this joyous adventure that is life is accompanied by sorrows. And also another phenomenon that is often overlooked when Cupid shoots the arrow: the incompatibility of characters.
