Shakira has explained the reasoning behind her 12-date residency in Madrid, and it is not a routing decision. Writing an op-ed for the Spanish newspaper El Pais, the Colombian singer said she chose to stage the run for Latinos around the world who are living in fear.
"This began with pain. It began when I saw our people persecuted simply for being Latino, families forced to live in fear," she wrote, arguing that anger is a legitimate response but that she wanted to answer with the largest celebration she could imagine, because existing with strength and joy is the most powerful reply to fear.
She did not name Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the recent surge of arrests across the United States. What she did instead was hold up Spain as a counterexample. In April, Spain finalised an amnesty allowing up to 800,000 undocumented immigrants to apply for legal status, and Shakira, who has lived in the country before, credited those policies for her choice of location.
Her line on Madrid was blunt: something happens there that the world deserves to see, where Latin American immigration is celebrated rather than merely tolerated, and where that embrace has made the city younger and more creative.
Spain's own record is more complicated than the op-ed's framing. The limits of its policy were tested recently when 72,000 migrants reached the country's southern shores inside 48 hours, a humanitarian crisis in which nearly 100 people died. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has continued to defend the legislation through it.
The residency begins on Sept. 18 and wraps on Oct. 11, a compressed run rather than a rolling engagement. Shakira has raised the subject before, and she is not the only latin or pop artist weighing where and whether to play in the United States right now. The dates sit on the tour guide.
The facts
- Shakira's Madrid residency runs 12 dates, beginning Sept. 18 and ending Oct. 11.
- She explained the reasoning in an op-ed for the Spanish newspaper El Pais.
- She did not name ICE directly but pointed to Spain's treatment of immigrants.
- Spain finalised an amnesty in April for up to 800,000 undocumented immigrants.
- 72,000 migrants recently reached Spain's southern shores in 48 hours; nearly 100 died.
- Shakira has previously lived in Spain and cited that history in the piece.
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