For those who thought Shakira was all embitterment and revenge with her song subjects of late (hear: “Te Felicito” and “Shakira: BZRP Music Sessions #53”), Gerard Piqué isn’t the only topic occupying her mind (therefore, songwriting tendencies) lately. With “Acróstico,” the newest single that will likely appear on her twelfth album, Shakira focuses her mind instead on maternal sentiment—which was just in time for Mother’s Day weekend, as the song was released on May 11th. Accordingly, Shakira has no shame in getting Oedipal (just as John Lennon didn’t have any), talking about a mother’s transcendent, inimitable love for her children; in this case, two sons named Sasha and Milan (yes, they sound as though they were plucked right out of a season of RuPaul’s Drag Race).
It is these two names that are spelled out via the first letters of the verses in the song (though Shakira cheats more than a little bit by not having them spelled in a direct row—perhaps proving that acrostic poems are not exactly “elementary school child’s play”). A slow piano ballad, the beat drops around the one-minute, twenty-second mark as Shakira sings, “Se nos rompió solo un plato no toda la vajilla/Y aunque no sé poner la otra mejilla/Aprender a perdonar es de sabios/Que solo te salga amor de esos labios.” This meaning, “We only broke one plate, not all the dishes/And although I don’t know how to turn the other cheek/Learning to forgive is wise/May only love come out of those lips” (instead of the bullshit that came out of Piqué’s). As usual, everything sounds better and more poetic in Spanish than it does in English. But these are hardly the most standout or “maternal” expressions conveyed in the song. Elsewhere, Shakira gets even mushier with lines like, “The only thing I want is your happiness and to be with you/A smile from you is my weakness/Loving you serves as an anesthesia for pain/It makes me feel better/For whatever you need, I am here/You came to complete what I am.” How Jerry Maguire.
Of course, with Shakira’s sons only being ten and eight, it’s easy to feel such warm fuzziness toward them. But hopefully, they never take the route of Britney Spears’ spawns and veer more toward the path of Pamela Anderson’s. Depending on Piqué’s (and Clara Chía’s…if she lasts) influence, that feeling could change as they grow older (plus, if we’re drawing a comparative line, Piqué is technically Shakira’s K-Fed). Indeed, Britney is no stranger to the “write a song for my sons” genre only to have it backfire, having released both “Someday (I Will Understand)” and “My Baby” in years before the sting of Jayden and Sean’s betrayal. Years when they weren’t sentient enough to backstab (hence, lyrics such as, “Tiny hands/Yes, that’s you/And all you show/It’s simply true/I smell your breath/It makes me cry”—that last sentiment sounding more like an insult than a compliment).
But, for now, and despite Britney as a cautionary tale about writing songs for your sons, Shakira is hedging all her emotional bets on them by claiming ownership (almost as though marking her territory more strongly than Piqué can because he ain’t a singer). So it is that she declares, “You taught me that love is not a scam and that when it’s real it doesn’t end.” No pressure or anything for these sons to be her love “catch-all,” even as they grow up and inevitably try to distance themselves from their madre. Or worse, if they decide not to…meaning whoever they end up with will be marrying Shakira as much as her sons (though that might be motivation enough for some people).
This is when it becomes worth noting that “Acróstico” is just as overbearing as it is “sweet.” And while there have been plenty of other pop stars who have used their children as lyrical inspiration (e.g., David Bowie’s “Kooks,” John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy,” Lauryn Hill’s “To Zion” and Madonna’s “Little Star”), this particular slow jam feels more like additional leverage against Piqué somehow. Forgive the jadedness, but it’s hard not to picture Shakira diabolically laying down this track as further proof of her beneficent superiority over her shady, two-timing ex.
The album artwork, fittingly enough, features a teddy bear popping out of an unpacked box…seeing as how Shakira has relocated from Barcelona to Miami with Sasha and Milan after the fallout with their father. The box above it also has a sticker stamped on with a broken heart icon and the words, “Fragile Handle With Care.” Shakira believes her sons will do just that, the antidote to every other ill and heartbreak that might come along. Seemingly not realizing that a mother’s son can be just as much of a bane as a boon to her emotional well-being. Perhaps fellow celebrity mom Madonna put it best when she wrote in part of her own Mother’s Day message, “I have experienced my highest highs and my lowest lows as a Mother. No one could have prepared me.” Maybe Shakira herself has yet to be prepared for the potential disappointment that can come with putting so much weight on a child’s love if it isn’t reciprocated in the “right” way somewhere down the line. To add to the “aggressive, sticky maternal love!” (as Marcello in La Dolce Vita would say) vibe, Shakira also offers an accompanying lyric video featuring animated scenes of a mama bird protecting and tending to her nest of two eggs. Heavy-handed, to be sure. But not as much as when she defends her nest through a violent storm before the eggs hatch.
Upon “safely” bringing her two babies into the world (as though anyone is ever safe once they’re here), she proceeds to “activate” as a mother by foraging for food to bring back to them—the maternal instinct innate (or so the video would like to suggest). Jumping up and down in excitement as she watches them learn to fly, the trio soon soars off together into the sunset. And, in an alternate universe, one could even imagine a Spanish version of Princess Diana having her time with William and Harry soundtracked to this. However, for those who are maudlin-averse or perhaps have a more Mommie Dearest experience with their own mother, this song—brief though it may be—might not be easy to stomach.
Genna Rivieccio
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