Shakira Says She's 'Free' After 'The Man Dragged Me Down'

A weight has been lifted Shakira, and it has resulted in record-breaking new music. The 47-year-old Colombian superstar released her new album, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloranwhich translates to 'women no longer cry', last Friday and it has already become the most streamed album of the year.

On Mondays The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy FallonShakira explained the meaning behind the album's title.

“For too long we have been sent to cry with the script in our hands and with no ending, just because we are women,” she said. “We have to hide our pain in front of our children, in front of society. We have to heal in a certain way. And I don't think anyone should tell us how to heal. No one should tell us how to cured.” She knows how to lick her wounds, you know? I think women now decide when to cry, how to cry and until when. No one is supposed to tell us how to deal with the hardships of life.”

Shakira, who split from her longtime love Gerard Piqué in 2022, joked about the painful split, saying it gave her time to focus on her craft.

“I didn't have time because of the husband factor. Now I don't have a husband,” she teased. 'Yes, the man dragged me downstairs. Now I'm free. Now I can really work.'

She noted that as she mourned the end of the relationship, which produced her two children — Milan, 11, and Sasha, 9 — she turned to her music, calling it “the glue.”

“Each of these songs was really like a catharsis for me, and I felt better and better every time I wrote something,” she said.

She also features her sons on the album, joking that they are “asking for royalties” to save up for a car one day.

Shakira further explained her new perspective on making music during a recent interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1 saying, “Now it feels completely different. Even though it's more challenging because now I'm in charge of these two kids, these two babies who are so dependent on me. And I'm a single mother, I don't have a husband at home to help with everything. In a way, it's kind of good not to have a husband, because that… I don't know why it was dragging me down, man. Now I feel like working. I feel like writing songs. I feel like making music. It's a compulsive need of mine that I didn't feel before.”