Global superstar Shakira has been unveiled as the cover star of GQ internationally for the November issue. The cover drops as Shakira prepares for her mammoth international tour, with the first leg having just upgraded from arenas to stadiums following overwhelming demand. 

In this interview for GQ, Shakira discusses the healing experience of creating her recent album Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, remaining authentic to herself, and her upcoming tour.

Shakira on the healing process portrayed in her album Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran:

"It wasn't easy to recognize all the vulnerability I was feeling at the time I wrote this album, and then to lay it bare. For many months after my separation I had been silent, trying to begin my mourning, but I couldn't really begin to grieve until I started writing music. It was my way of healing. And it continues to be. Grief is a process that is not linear. It is full of peaks and valleys."

Shakira on the preparations for her upcoming tour:

“It is the most ambitious tour of my entire career, the biggest production I have had so far. Not because the public asks for it, but because I deserve it after so many years working in this world. I deserve the tour of my life. I am throwing the house out the window. I am happy because I will be able to go through the different stages of my artistic life, up to today. It will be the longest show I have done with the biggest screen and everything as big as you can imagine. More is more and better!"

Shakira on being authentic to herself and as an artist:

“The Shakira of Pies Descalzos is a girl that I know lives in me. A girl who went out with a guitar and leather pants looking to be heard. That girl is still there. I turn to her in many moments and she saves me, she gives me strength when I need it. But there is also the Wolf, who is the archetype of the wild woman, of a woman who finds a new freedom, who no one can gag, tie up. That wild wolf, that primal woman that I gradually discovered in myself and that gave me a lot of strength, a lot of power... The two coexist in me, and many more. They are multiple personalities, but they are real. They are not masks. They are not characters. They are genuine and they are part of me.”

Read the full interview here 

Photo credit - Nicolas Gerardin

Author: Adam Bailey

Adam is a regular contributor for established press release distribution website Release-News.com. He writes on a wide range of topics including music.