While many celebrities have voiced their love for Greta Gerwig’s smash hit Barbie, Shakira is sharing her criticisms.
In an Allure profile and cover story, the Colombian pop star, whose new album Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (Women No Longer Cry) tackles finding empowerment after being brought down by heartbreak, was asked her thoughts on the Oscar-winning film.
Shakira answered bluntly, saying, “My sons absolutely hated it. They felt that it was emasculating. And I agree, to a certain extent.
“I’m raising two boys. I want ’em to feel powerful too [while] respecting women. I like pop culture when it attempts to empower women without robbing men of their possibility to be men, to also protect and provide,” she explained.
Shakira clarified her comment, adding, “I believe in giving women all the tools and the trust that we can do it all without losing our essence, without losing our femininity. I think that men have a purpose in society and women have another purpose as well. We complement each other, and that complement should not be lost.”
Interviewer Patricia Alfonso Tortolani, who appeared to be taken aback by the artist’s thoughts, asked, “Just because a woman can do it all doesn’t mean she should?”
The singer responded, “Why not share the load with people who deserve to carry it, who have a duty to carry it as well?”
Alfonso Tortolani noted that the superstar’s opinion on Barbie is “part of the Shakira Paradox. Women deserve all the power, all the agency, and all the sexiness they wish to embody or express. And yet it doesn’t betray her brand of feminism to expect men to man up.”
While Shakira was among those who didn’t like Barbie, the film found plenty of success. It made history as the first movie to gross over $1 billion directed solely by a woman. It also received eight Oscar nominations, winning best original song.
