Shakira says her upcoming 12-show residency in Madrid was conceived in part as a response to the fear and persecution she has seen affecting Latino communities.
“This started with pain,” Shakira wrote in an editorial for El País on Sunday. “It started when I saw our people persecuted simply for being Latino, families forced to live in fear.”
The singer did not specify where that persecution was taking place. However, the op-ed linked her references to persecution and families living in fear to its previous coverage of ICE enforcement and the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in the United States.
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Shakira said that in the face of those circumstances, “anger is legitimate,” but that she chose to respond with “the biggest celebration we could imagine.”
Shakira also explained why she chose Madrid, arguing that Latin immigration in Spain “isn’t tolerated, it’s celebrated” and has made the country “younger, more dynamic, more creative.”
The residency begins September 18th at a temporary stadium being built at Madrid’s Iberdrola Music complex and runs through October 11th. The venue is expected to accommodate more than 50,000 people per night across six sections of temporary stands and the floor.
The surrounding complex will also feature eight pavilions forming “Mundo Macondo,” a cultural experience inspired by Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, with spaces dedicated to music, literature, art, fashion, film, and food. Look for deals and get tickets to sold-out shows here (where fans can save $20 on their first order of $200 or more with promo code CONSEQUENCE20 at checkout).