Shakira landed in Madrid at midday on Monday, returning to the country she left years ago following a highly publicized breakup, to begin a run of 12 concerts closing out her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour.
A celebration broke out at Barajas Airport, with music playing and a crowd of journalists waiting to catch her first words. But the shows to come amount to more than a typical closing leg of a tour. What Shakira has put together for this final stretch goes beyond anything previously seen in a music residency.
On Tuesday night, the singer posted a heartfelt message on Instagram addressed to her fans. She said she was very excited to return to Spain, adding that the country had been her home, where she had been happy and had lived some of the most important years of her life.
She did not shy away from the difficulties that followed once the spotlight faded. She said that when she left, she went through one of the hardest moments of her life, until she managed to rebuild herself as a woman, a mother and an artist.
Fans who stayed by her side
Shakira is one of the best known Colombian singers in the world and has spent more than three decades at the top of the Latin music industry. In her message, she credited her Spanish fans directly, saying that throughout that back and forth journey, they had always stood by her, supporting her and wishing her well.
She framed her return using a Latin cultural reference, saying that returning, as Carlos Gardel used to say, surrounded by so much love filled her with immense joy. Gardel was a legendary Argentine tango singer closely associated with the theme of homecoming.
"The Atlantic is no longer an ocean that separates"
Shakira said this return stood at the emotional opposite end of the moment she once had to leave. She said that this time she was coming back whole, with the full strength to give her best across the 12 upcoming concerts, and to share the best of what she called the great Latin nation, adding that the Atlantic was no longer an ocean that separates people but a bond that unites them.
She closed her message by thanking her European fans, her fans in Colombia and fans around the world who she said were already on their way to join her for what she called a historic step for her, adding that she loved them.
The message came a little more than 48 hours before the doors were due to open at the venue in Villaverde, a district in southern Madrid, for the celebration of what she described as an entire culture, the one she said connects Latin America directly with Spain across the Atlantic.
What comes next
The residency is built around Es Latina, a festival Shakira has created to frame the shows. Details of the concerts are still emerging, including which songs she has chosen for the setlist. She had already said there would be new additions compared with the more than 150 dates she has played so far on the tour, and it remains to be seen which fellow artists she may invite to join her on stage in Madrid.
