1 hour ago
8
Colombian superstar Shakira gave a escaped performance connected Copacabana Beach successful Rio de Janeiro connected Saturday night, an lawsuit that the city's politician said drew 2 cardinal radical to 1 of the world's astir iconic waterfronts.
The show followed akin shows by Madonna successful 2024 and Lady Gaga past year, which besides were attended by immense crowds that danced connected the sprawling sands. For Shakira, it was portion of her "Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran," oregon "Women No Longer Cry," satellite circuit named aft her 2024 album.
Shakira's acceptable kicked disconnected astir 11 p.m., much than an hr aft the scheduled slot, to her fans screaming with excitement and frantic applause arsenic skywriting drones flew overhead, spelling retired successful the sky, "I emotion you Brazil" successful Portuguese.
The megastar spoke fondly astir the archetypal clip she came to Brazil, immoderate 3 decades ago.
"I arrived present erstwhile I was 18 years old, dreaming astir singing for you," Shakira told the assemblage soon aft coming connected stage. "And present look astatine this. Life is magical."
The much-loved popular prima sang instrumentality favorites specified arsenic "Hips Don't Lie," "La Tortura" and "La Bicicleta." She ended with "BZRP Music Sessions #53/66," which followed her separation from Spanish shot subordinate Gerard Piqué.
She besides took the clip to observe women's resilience during the show. "Us women, each clip we autumn we get up a small wiser," she said.
One of the archetypal places wherever Shakira became successful
Rio Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere said connected societal media that 2 cardinal radical attended the performance. "The She-Wolf made past successful Rio," helium posted, referring to Shakira's 2009 hit.
When Shakira archetypal performed successful Brazil successful the 1990s, she established an astonishing transportation with the Brazilian public, according to Felipe Maia, an ethnomusicologist pursuing a doctoral grade successful fashionable euphony and integer technologies astatine Paris Nanterre University.
That occurrence successful Brazil "has a batch to bash with the information that she comes from Colombia, a state whose civilization has galore similarities with Brazil," Maia said, adding that Saturday's show "crowns the narration she has had with Brazil for a precise agelong time."
Erica Monteiro, a 38-year-old accountant, said she has listened to Shakira since childhood.
"For maine she represents the spot of our Latino community," Monteiro said up of the concert. "We're treated arsenic if we were inferior but successful information we person overmuch much strength."
Heading location aft Saturday's show, Hellem Souza da Silva said Shakira's performance, similar Bad Bunny's concerts successful Sao Paulo successful February, helped consolidate Brazil's Latino identity.
These artists "are making it wide that Brazil, Puerto Rico, Colombia and different countries are portion of Latin America. And that America is not the United States," she said.
Crowds started piling onto the formation Saturday greeting to nab a bully spot for the show. Street vendors sold saccharine maize and different Brazilian snacks, bottled h2o and caipirinhas, the fashionable Brazilian cocktail, but besides toilet paper, deodorant and adjacent bags of soil for concertgoers to basal connected to get a amended presumption of the signifier acceptable up other Copacabana Palace, a historical luxury hotel.
Street vendor Simone Paula da Cunha arrived connected the formation connected Friday evening, hoping to merchantability each the brew and h2o bottles she had bought up of the amusement and marque astir $100 successful all.
Despite being tired, da Cunha was excited astatine the imaginable of seeing Shakira live. "I retrieve her from erstwhile she inactive had achromatic hair," she said. "I'm a immense instrumentality of hers."
An effort to boost the city's post-Carnival economy
The escaped concerts are portion of City Hall's effort to boost economical enactment aft Carnival and New Year's Eve festivities and earlier the monthlong Saint John's Day celebrations successful June.
"For us, parties are superior business. Because parties make jobs, income, development, and individuality for the city," Cavaliere, the mayor, said connected Wednesday arsenic helium presented the city's operational program for the event. "Our concern successful this amusement volition springiness america a fiscal instrumentality 40 times greater," helium said.
Shakira's show could make astir 777 cardinal reais (around $155 million), according to a survey by City Hall and Riotur, the municipality's tourism company, acknowledgment to the influx of tourists and currency spent successful restaurants, hotels and shops.
More tourists headed to Rio successful the period of May successful the years with shows — 2024 and 2025 — compared to 2023, according to City Hall data. In 2024, the maturation was 34.2% connected May 1, conscionable up of the concerts, compared to the erstwhile year. In 2025, the summation was 90.5% compared to 2023.
Amid past year's performance with Lady Gaga, Rio de Janeiro's authorities constabulary arrested 2 radical for an alleged weaponry plot. Police said the 2 arrested were allegedly portion of a radical that was spreading hatred code against the LGBTQ community, and they sought to radicalize and enlistee teenagers to transportation retired attacks utilizing Molotov cocktails and improvised explosives.
Ahead of Shakira's performance, Airbnb said successful an April 22 connection that it was seeing an summation successful guests expected to question from antithetic parts of Brazil, Latin America and adjacent European capitals specified arsenic Paris and London.
Wanderson Andrade, a 30-year-old architect, said helium flew successful particularly for the amusement from the metropolis of Goiana successful cardinal Brazil connected Saturday and planned to alert backmost the pursuing day.
"I tried to get tickets to spot her successful Brazil past twelvemonth but I didn't succeed," said Andrade, whose archetypal tattoo is simply a wolf successful grant of Shakira. "Today is simply a imagination travel true."
English (US) ·