And as Shakira might say, women don’t cry anymore. They write hits.

South Africa, 2010. The FIFA World Cup. Shakira had just been commissioned to perform the tournament’s official anthem, Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) . Piqué, the 23-year-old Spanish heartthrob, was about to win the first of his two European Championships and a World Cup.

In January 2023, she released BZRP Music Sessions #53 with Argentine producer Bizarrap. It was not a sad ballad. It was a scalpel dipped in battery acid.

They even collaborated professionally. Piqué appeared in the music video for La La La (the 2014 World Cup anthem), and Shakira became a fixture in the VIP boxes of Barcelona’s stadium, cheering for her man in the stands while wearing his jersey number—3—on her back. The fairy tale began to splinter in the summer of 2022. The first hint wasn’t a tabloid leak, but a mysterious, uncharacteristic silence. Shakira stopped posting photos with Piqué. She moved back to Miami with the children for a "work project."