In a rare interview, the Colombian star will speak for the first time publicly about her creative process, her history of No. 1s on the Billboard charts and what comes next.
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00:00 It's a gift to feel that I have so many sisters out there,
00:05 because I feel like a sister to my female audience.
00:09 I feel that there are so many women who have gone through what I have gone through,
00:12 even who have lived even worse experiences than mine,
00:17 or better, but we have so much in common that I'm not alone.
00:25 And it's nice.
00:28 And I feel like I have a task to empower,
00:35 that women feel more and more free to express themselves,
00:45 in the way we are told.
00:48 And I'm glad to be able to live this moment and be part of it.
00:56 I'm not Shakira, I'm Lena.
00:59 [Laughter]
01:01 But before we end the panel and conference session,
01:07 I remind you that before we finish,
01:09 we'll cross the street and go to Netflix,
01:11 but our closing with a golden brooch doesn't need much introduction.
01:19 Ladies and gentlemen,
01:21 it's a tremendous pleasure for us to introduce Shakira to Billboard.
01:26 [Music]
01:31 Wow.
01:33 [Applause]
01:48 [Spanish]
02:17 [Music]
02:24 Wow.
02:25 [Applause]
02:28 That was a change.
02:29 Yes, the song was fun, right?
02:31 Very fun.
02:32 I had a lot of fun.
02:33 Tell us a little bit about how that song came about.
02:36 Today we had Katie and Edgar Barrera here in the panel.
02:39 Tell us.
02:41 Well, I love working with Katie and Edgar.
02:44 I have a great time.
02:46 We're great friends.
02:49 And we wanted to make a song that portrays the reality of many people,
02:55 a universal reality.
02:57 I've played with people from my environment,
03:00 and I wanted them to be represented in a song like this.
03:05 I also wanted to do something of the Mexican regional genre,
03:10 and I wanted to give it a touch of ska, a universal touch.
03:17 So if you notice, the song has a little bit of that sensitivity,
03:23 like it could be Balkan music or British ska,
03:28 but no, it's all within a framework of the Mexican regional,
03:32 which was something I've been flirting with for a while.
03:36 And I loved the dance.
03:38 You know I made it all up in the dressing room before I went out to film.
03:46 I put on a hat in front of the mirror and started doing everything you see there.
03:52 It was an improvisation.
03:55 It looked like I was very fresh, but it was like, I don't know how many degrees of heat,
03:59 at least 40 degrees, or 60 degrees in the shade.
04:04 It was a very hot day, but I had a great time.
04:09 And making up the dances is something you do a lot on the spot, right?
04:14 Yes, well it depends.
04:15 There are things I plan out with more time,
04:18 and there are things that I feel will come out better organically,
04:23 and this was one of them.
04:25 Well, tell us creatively, how are you?
04:30 I'm good. I'm very inspired, I'm excited.
04:35 I don't know what's going on with me, I have no idea.
04:38 It's not like that in all the stages of my life.
04:41 There have been stages where I had to take a crane to the studio.
04:46 They had to drag me.
04:49 But, you know, sometimes you fight with your work.
04:54 It happens to everyone.
04:56 But now I'm on a honeymoon with making music and with my career.
05:02 I'm in love with what I do.
05:05 And with the…
05:07 Well, more than revenge, I see it as something traumatic.
05:16 Maybe it was the inspiration you needed to start creating in a very prolific way, right?
05:22 Because you've been doing one song after another, and all of them extremely successful, Shaki.
05:28 When you write them, are you thinking about that?
05:33 Are you looking for the number one?
05:35 Or is it always like an emotional catharsis?
05:37 Definitely a catharsis.
05:39 Definitely.
05:41 Composition has always played a therapeutic role in my life.
05:48 And the more I write, the worse I feel.
05:53 Life hits me hard, and I've learned a lot from this.
05:58 I feel stronger.
06:00 I never thought I would have so much vital energy to overcome the obstacles in life.
06:10 And yes, it turns out I was less fragile than I thought.
06:14 And my music has been the main tool for survival, I think.
06:21 Have you been surprised to find not only the creative force, but the force in general?
06:30 The rigid force.
06:32 You know J-O-P was here too.
06:36 Yes, they told me.
06:38 I lost him.
06:39 I'm going to see if I can find him.
06:43 What has surprised you in this process?
06:47 About yourself.
06:49 The possibility of making lemonade with the most sour lemons.
06:58 I didn't think I had that ability.
07:01 I was always afraid that certain things would happen to me, and everything that happened to me, I ended up running.
07:08 And it turns out that I was able to survive everything, and my music has been that hand that has pulled me out of the mud.
07:24 And that has also been because of my audience, the people who have accompanied me, my fans.
07:36 I never thought that my fans, my audience, could support me in the way they have done.
07:45 In the hardest and most critical moments.
07:49 I thought that it would be the family.
07:55 The family. That the moment I had to face life with my gloves on, it would be the family, the only people who would support me.
08:05 But no, they support my audience.
08:07 And how?
08:08 They have given me all the energy, all the inspiration, all the strength I need for all the injection of spirit and desire.
08:21 And that has come from my audience. I really didn't think they would be there in so many ways.
08:29 As an emotional support.
08:31 As an emotional support.
08:33 That's how it has been.
08:34 Thank you.
08:35 And I love you all.
08:37 Thank you.
08:38 You were telling me the other day that before all this happened, the audience was obviously something you always looked at.
08:46 You interacted with your audience, you were very involved in your social media.
08:51 But the truth is, the audience was there. You were on stage and the audience was there.
08:58 And this time, more than ever, you felt that the audience was by your side.
09:02 By my side, taking me by the hand.
09:05 That's how I felt it.
09:06 By taking me by the hand, comforting me, motivating me, inspiring me.
09:15 I didn't feel alone because I have an audience that has been with me since I have been able to use my reason in the world of music.
09:26 Since I was 14, little by little, my relationship with the audience grew.
09:34 My experience of being an artist for people.
09:42 And the truth is that I was very surprised, especially to see that, well, during the time I was living in Barcelona,
09:54 I was on the brake, my career on pause, in a way, doing a little bit of everything,
10:05 but going on tour every six years, making music every six months, a song every year,
10:15 or maybe even two years and nothing was done.
10:18 And suddenly I realize that all those people that are with me today, that had never forgotten me,
10:24 that had been there, that had been waiting for me, that had been supporting me.
10:31 And it was so beautiful, so beautiful.
10:36 It's like a reaffirmation and the feeling that they will be there.
10:41 And a peace of mind, too, that it doesn't matter what I do,
10:44 that I can really express myself freely with my music, that I can say any nonsense in my songs
10:50 and that no one will be scared or that they will understand me.
10:55 There is a very deep understanding between my audience and me.
11:01 I love that you can say nonsense in your songs, because the truth is, you didn't say nonsense,
11:09 you said what you felt, but I imagine that at some point there were people who said,
11:15 "Oh, stop this lyric a little bit."
11:18 And you were in a moment when you said, "No, I'm going to say what I want."
11:22 Yes, my team told me, "No, you're crazy, you have to change that lyric,
11:25 that change with the session 153, for example, no, no, change the lyric, please, that can't come out."
11:30 And I, well, I'm not a diplomat of the United Nations,
11:35 I'm an artist, and I'm a woman, and I'm a wounded wolf,
11:41 and I'm going to leave everyone alone and let myself be.
11:47 So that's what I did, and Bizarrap came at the right time,
11:51 he fell from the sky, like an angel from the sky, he fell there in my recording studio,
11:57 and we had one of the best sessions of my life.
12:02 You were a little scared before that song came out,
12:05 you said, "Let's see what my audience says," and you said, "I don't give a shit."
12:09 After everything that has happened to me, it's true,
12:14 you're losing fear of things, right?
12:18 Life, suddenly, doesn't have the fangs as sharp as you imagine.
12:24 But you have hard skin, Shaki, I'm surprised.
12:27 Do you have very hard skin?
12:29 Yes, now I do. Now I do. A little more than before.
12:35 Well, tell us a little bit about how you write.
12:38 If the process has always been from the beginning,
12:41 I know that you like to write with different people, you like to write alone.
12:45 The session with Bizarrap, for example, which I heard again today,
12:48 and I said this session is very bright, really, like all the atmospheres you have.
12:55 How did you do it? Tell us a little bit about the creative process of that particular session.
13:00 Well, sometimes the way of composing changes, it's not always a formula.
13:09 Many times I write alone, I write ideas, even melodies,
13:17 I can think of them, I record them on my phone, I write on the planes, I write in the shower.
13:23 And sometimes I love to meet friends, people I feel comfortable with,
13:28 because it's a very intimate process, the composition process.
13:32 And suddenly it has happened to me that you sit with a co-author or someone,
13:37 the company, and you say, "Why don't you try to sit with that person?"
13:41 And suddenly it's like, "Hello."
13:44 And it's like there's no chemistry, there's no rapport, no communication.
13:56 And so those sessions usually don't work.
14:01 You come up with something because there's always a song that comes up,
14:06 not because you're satisfied or because you've experienced something incredible.
14:15 But when you do it with friends, it's different.
14:18 And those songs stay in the drawer, the ones that don't have chemistry.
14:22 Yes, they stay in the drawer, in the drawer.
14:27 And the songs that I've enjoyed the most are the ones I do with colleagues,
14:35 with whom I have a more friendly relationship.
14:40 I love that the one with Bizarrap came partly because it was Sasha or Milan.
14:45 Milan, it was Milan.
14:46 Milan said, "Oh, mommy, why don't you do something with Bizarrap?"
14:49 Yes, he was the one who showed me the music of Bizarrap,
14:52 and he was the one who told me that he saw it, and he said, "Mommy, I see it, I see it.
14:56 When you do a song with Bizarrap, it's going to be a world number one."
14:59 I know.
15:00 And suddenly, when Bizarrap texted me on WhatsApp, he had sent me a DM,
15:07 he had sent me a message that I hadn't seen, but then he sent me a message on WhatsApp,
15:13 and I said to Milan, "Look who's texting me."
15:15 He said, "Yes! The Argentine god."
15:18 [Laughs]
15:20 And the truth is that Milan was very good there.
15:25 He has a good intuition, he has a good instinct.
15:30 I listen to them a lot.
15:32 Every time I'm going to release something, I tell them, "Let's see what you think of this song,
15:36 what do you think of the boss?"
15:38 I show them the videos, I ask them, let's see what they think.
15:42 But I congratulate you, for example, the idea of the robot in the video was Sasha.
15:47 Oh, I didn't imagine that.
15:49 Yes. And the idea of the green fire was Milan.
15:54 And the idea of the mermaid was yours.
15:56 That's right. [Laughs]
15:58 Well, that story impresses me.
16:00 Tell us about the story of the mermaid.
16:02 The story of the mermaid?
16:03 Yes.
16:04 The empty glass, because I also heard the song, and well, yes, I heard the song,
16:10 but when you unblocked the video, I said, "Wow."
16:13 So, do you all know what the mermaid video is about?
16:17 Do you have it captured like that? I didn't have it captured. Tell us.
16:21 Well, the mermaid, well, it's like the mermaid outside of her element,
16:27 it represents a little bit my own experience,
16:33 having been a little bit removed from my environment,
16:40 and the mermaid ends up in a dumpster, surrounded by rats.
16:47 And, well, in the end, we also understand that the mermaid has done it all out of love,
16:54 she has been, let's say, kidnapped a little bit from her own dreams, from her own realization,
17:03 and she returns to the sea.
17:06 Any resemblance to reality is a coincidence.
17:09 We want to think that the sea is Miami.
17:11 Sorry? The sea is Miami.
17:14 But do you feel like that, Jackie, at this moment?
17:18 You've been, as you've said, for several years, for six years,
17:24 you haven't really released an album, you haven't gone on tour for six or seven years.
17:29 It's not like you haven't been doing anything, because you've done things,
17:32 Yes, I've done little things.
17:33 but never at the pace of before, and not at the pace of now.
17:37 Not at the pace of now.
17:38 So, do you think that the locality, beyond the emotional state,
17:43 does the locality affect you?
17:45 Yes, because being in Barcelona was being practically alone.
17:51 There's no active music industry there,
17:56 and every time I had an idea, I had to wait for someone to be available,
18:02 for a producer to come by, to be in Europe,
18:06 to feel like coming to Barcelona.
18:11 It was all very slow, and I had a lot of ideas in the void,
18:17 and I didn't have the power to execute many of my plans.
18:22 So, I think that's why I'm a little unmotivated.
18:26 So, now, being here, close to so many colleagues, producers, musicians, and friends,
18:33 is a great motivation.
18:35 Do you feel like you're in a manic state,
18:37 like you don't have enough time for everything you want to say?
18:41 Yes, time is a luxury that not everyone has.
18:46 There are many things I want to say, many ideas I want to try,
18:50 I have a list of things and things to do,
18:54 but the time will come.
18:57 I also have to divide myself between my children and my family,
19:02 and my many obligations beyond music.
19:07 So, the truth is that days are short, but energy is a lot.
19:12 But yes, I keep planning, I keep dreaming,
19:18 and it's nice to be in this state,
19:22 to feel like doing so many things.
19:25 How do you distribute that energy?
19:27 We talk a lot about success, and what you have to do,
19:32 and what you have to sacrifice, etc.
19:35 But we almost never talk about how to do that when you're a mom,
19:39 of young children who take a lot of time.
19:42 A single mom, too.
19:44 Now, a single mom.
19:46 When they come from the preschool, I have to run from the studio to be there.
19:50 It's not easy, because I'm working with young artists,
19:58 who don't sleep until 5 in the morning,
20:01 and don't wake up until 2 in the afternoon.
20:04 So, I go to the studio when they've just woken up,
20:08 and they arrive there half-naked,
20:11 and I have to leave in 4 hours,
20:13 because I have to be at home when the kids arrive.
20:17 So, what do they do? You're making them do morning Viserrab.
20:20 Juggling. Like all moms.
20:25 What has been the most challenging part of that,
20:27 and what do you think can change for moms in that sense?
20:30 What do you need so that you can do it all?
20:35 What do you need? Can you do it all?
20:38 I'm trying to do it all at the same time.
20:41 I think you can't do everything, but almost everything.
20:45 And that's enough.
20:47 I want us to look back at your career.
20:52 Joyce, can we play "Whenever, Wherever"?
20:56 [Music]
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21:14 [Laughter]
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24:18 Let's watch a little bit of "Hip, Stone, Lie."
24:22 Joyce, "Hip, Stone, Lie."
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44:24 [BLANK_AUDIO]