Shakira appeared at Billboard’s first-ever Latin Women in Music 2023 gala on Saturday (May 6) evening, and accepted the Woman of the Year award. While the trailblazer received the prestigious accolade at Miami’s Watsco Center, she expressed her gratitude towards her mother and other females who inspired her to find strength.
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Colombian singer Maluma presented the honor. The hitmaker spoke about leaning on other women during challenging times. During the acceptance speech, she indirectly addressed the cheating scandal involving ex-Gerard Piqué.
“This has been a year of seismic change in my life where I’ve felt more than ever and very personally what it is to be a woman. And what it means,” shared Shakira. “It’s been a year where I’ve realized we women are stronger than we think, braver than we believed, more independent than we were taught to be.”
After over a decade, Shakira and the professional football player called it quits in June 2022. The songstress and Piqué share two children: Milan, 10, and Sasha, 8. In 2021, she discovered her ex was having an affair with a new girlfriend, Clara Chia Marti.
Shakira continued to share with the 2,000 attendees, that she once lost herself in a relationship.
“What woman hasn’t at some time in her life forgotten herself because she’s seeking the attention and love of someone else?” she questioned. “It happened to me, more than once. There comes a time in the life of every Woman, where she no longer depends on someone else to love and accept herself just as she is,” explained the vocalist.
She continued, “A time when the search for someone else is replaced by the search for oneself. A time when the desire to be perfect is replaced by the desire to be authentic, and where finding someone who is faithful is less important than being faithful to ourselves.”
The “Hips Don’t Lie” singer said that she turned to women in her inner circle to lift her up during the self-discovery journey. The lessons have inspired her to persevere forward and display vulnerability through music.
“But the most important lessons I learned from other women, and for them I wrote what I wrote, and I sang what I sang,” she said. “Because only a woman can love until she’s ripped apart; can speak with the most brutal honesty; can sing with anger; dance in ecstasy and be brought to tears with emotion. Only a woman can do that.”
Maluma pointed out her knack for songwriting and how her authenticity shines through in each “feminine anthem.”
“I’ve seen firsthand that Shakira writes her songs from the heart and her experiences, and this year she was able to turn adversity into art, emotions, and pain into music, and made history with her lyrics,” shared Maluma in his introduction speech. “Creating a hit that today is a universal feminine anthem: Women don’t cry, women cash in!”
The star-studded affair comes on the heels of Shakira’s largest Spanish-language debut with the 2022 single “Monotonía” featuring Ozuna. She also scored No. 9 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart with her 2023 banger “Shakira: BZRP Music Sessions #53″ – becoming the first Spanish track by a female to earn a spot in the Top 10. According to Billboard, the hit broke 14 Guinness World Records.
The powerhouse has sold over 95 million records to date and has become the top-selling female Latin artist. Ana Gabriel [Living Legend Award], Evaluna [Tradition and Future Award], Goyo [Agent of Change Award], Emilia [Rising Star Award], and Thalia [Global Powerhouse Award] were also recognized for their contributions to the music industry.
The ceremony aired Sunday night, May 7, on Telemundo and Peacock.
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images
