From Love to Heartbreak: The Untold Story of Shakira’s Career and the Songs She Dedicated to Her Partners!

Shakira has made it clear that it is better not to mess with her. Ever since she called it quits with Gerard Piqué, the former FC Barcelona player and founder of the Kings League, the Colombian artist has been billing like no one else with songs of spite and heartbreak.

At the moment, there are already four songs that talk about the subject: Te felicito with Rauw Alejandro, Monotonía with Ozuna, the session with Bizarrap and the upcoming TQG (Te quedó grande) with Karol G. However, although this breakup has been so hard for him, it is not the first time he talks about his relationships in his songs.

In fact, it could be said that he has made a whole career out of talking about his partners and ex-partners, and his compositions have always been linked to his personal life. Let’s take a look at some of her timeless hits she has released over the years to analyze how her career has evolved in this regard

Within the album Laundry Service, this song is based on all the adversities that, according to Shakira, they had to go through before getting together. The song has very clear phrases that explain how their relationship was:

Antonio de la Rúa: a beautiful heartbreak
Antonio de la Rúa undoubtedly marked Shakira’s life, and the proof is in the songs he released in the following years. Día de enero is one of the most beautiful, which is dedicated directly to their relationship and everything they lived together, from the trips to the wounds suffered by De la Rúa himself, which according to Shakira managed to heal thanks to their love:

I met you one day in January

With the moon in my nose

And as I saw that you were sincere

In your eyes I lost myself

What a clumsy distraction

And what a sweet sensation

And now that we walk the world

Like Aeneas and Benitin

I’ve already found you several scratches

That were done to you out there

But my crazy love

Is your best doctor

And the chorus, again, makes it clear that this was Shakira’s most fruitful songwriting period: Voy a curarte el alma en duelo / Voy a dejarte como nuevo / Y todo va a pasar / Pronto verás el sol brillar / Tú, más que nadie, mereces ser feliz. (I’m going to heal your grieving soul / I’m going to make you as good as new / And everything will pᴀss / Soon you’ll see the sun shine / You, more than anyone else, deserve to be happy.)

This song already made it clear that something was not quite right with their relationship, but that they still loved each other and were going to overcome everything together. Many others of the time also spoke of De la Rúa, but the relationship was not eternal: in 2010 she left him, apparently because of wear and tear and the “monotony” of which Shak has spoken so much later. Although the truth would soon be known: that was the time when the singer started with Gerard Piqué.

Sale el Sol, released in 2010, is one of Shakira’s first straightforward heartbreak songs. But nothing to do with Casios and Twingos. Her relationship with her manager was beautiful, and she makes it clear in the lyrics:

These weeks without seeing you

Seemed like years

I wanted to kiss you so much

That my lips hurt

Look how fear made us

To commit stupid things

It left us deaf and blind

So many times

The chorus is finally hopeful and talks about coming out after a breakup, but without the toxicity he would later flaunt. Another heartbreaking song of the moment was Lo que más, in which he directly cites what it costs him to leave his relationship. But back then there was no such thing as hate. Everything was beautiful.

The arrival of Piqué: love and bicycles
Shakira’s life reached a new point after the World Cup in South Africa. The young Gerard Piqué filled the Colombian’s life with color, and she showed it in several songs that made it clear that she would do everything for her footballer. The clearest of them all was Me enamoré, from 2017, in which she explains how their relationship began:

Life began to change me

The night I met you

I had little to lose

And it went on like this

Me in my striped bra

And my hair half done

I thought: This is still a boy

But what am I going to do?

The chorus, already at a somewhat less compositional level than the previous songs, made his feelings clear: “Me enamoré, me ena-ena-namoré / Lo vi solito y me lanzé / Me ena-ena-namoré” (I fell in love, I fell in love, I fell in love).