Shakira Shares The Surprise Reason She Isn’t A Fan Of Barbie Movie

Shakira would’ve liked to have seen a bit more “Kenergy” in the 2023 blockbuster Barbie.

In an interview with Allure published on Monday, the Colombian pop singer shared her less-than-glowing take on Greta Gerwig’s acclaimed movie, which starred Margot Robbie in the title role.

“My sons absolutely hated it. They felt that it was emasculating,” she said, referring to her sons, 11-year-old Milan and nine-year-old Sasha, whom she shares with her ex-boyfriend, Gerard Piqué. “And I agree, to a certain extent.”

The three-time Grammy winner said she wanted her sons “to feel powerful too” while “respecting women,” something she felt Barbie didn’t adequately portray.

“I like pop culture when it attempts to empower women without robbing men of their possibility to be men, to also protect and provide,” Shakira said.

“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.”

Margot Robbie in character as Barbie
Margot Robbie in character as Barbie

Warner Bros

“Just because a woman can do it all doesn’t mean she should?” journalist Patricia Alfonso Tortolani asked on social media in response, with Shakira replying: “Why not share the load with people who deserve to carry it, who have a duty to carry it as well?”

Released in July last year, Barbie debuted to praise from critics and was a tremendous hit, raking in over $1 billion at the box office worldwide.

The movie also garnered a total of eight Academy Award nominations, including acting nods for Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera.

Despite the accolades Barbie received, a number of dissenting voices did emerge. Among those was director Oliver Stone, who criticised Ryan Gosling for not focusing on “more serious films”.

“Ryan Gosling is wasting his time if he’s doing that shit for money,” he told City A.M. in June last year. “He shouldn’t be a part of this infantilisation of Hollywood.

“Now it’s all fantasy, fantasy, fantasy, including all the war pictures: fantasy, fantasy.”

When Deadline reprinted some of his City A.M. interview in January, the Natural Born Killers director clarified that his remarks on Barbie were made before he’d had a chance to view the movie in its entirety.

“I was able to see Barbie in July and appreciated the film for its originality and its themes,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “I found the filmmakers’ approach certainly different than what I expected. I apologise for speaking ignorantly.”

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Jennifer Lopez Felt Sharing Super Bowl Stage With Shakira Was ‘Worst Idea In The World’

For fans, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s 2020 Super Bowl halftime show was a peak cultural moment in a year that came to be defined by both political divisions and a pandemic.

J-Lo, however, had a much different opinion on the massively hyped performance ― or at least she did in the days leading up to it. In her Netflix documentary Halftime, the actor and singer is shown in rehearsals with her music director Kim Burse and appears visibly stressed over the time constraints.

“We have six fucking minutes,” J-Lo proclaims, according to Entertainment Weekly. “We have 30 seconds of a song, and if we take a minute, that’s it, we’ve got five left. But there’s got to be certain songs that we sing, though. We have to have our singing moments. It’s not going to be a dance fucking revue. We have to sing our message.

“This is the worst idea in the world to have two people do the Super Bowl,” she continues. “It was the worst idea in the world.”

Elsewhere in Halftime, J-Lo doesn’t hold back as she maps out the logistics of the show with Shakira directly. “If it was going to be a double-headliner, they should have given us 20 minutes,” she says. “That’s what they should’ve fucking done.”

Catch the trailer for Halftime below…

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In the end, J-Lo and Shakira’s performance lasted about 14 minutes. By comparison, Madonna in 2012 and Lady Gaga in 2017 were each given about 14 minutes to perform in the Super Bowl show. This year’s halftime show, featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem and Kendrick Lamar, clocked in at nearly 14 minutes.

J-Lo’s manager Benny Medina shared his client’s frustrations over the NFL’s choice of a co-headlining performance.

“Typically, you have one headliner at a Super Bowl. That headliner constructs a show, and, should they choose to have other guests, that’s their choice,” he said, according to EW. “It was an insult to say you needed two Latinas to do the job that one artist historically has done.”

In spite of their limited stage time, J-Lo and Shakira each turned in a dazzling performance that won raves from critics and even managed to deliver a subtle political message. The Los Angeles Times applauded them for having “fused old-school razzle-dazzle with an of-the-moment sense of Latin American pride,” while Entertainment Weekly called it “punchy, political, and flat-out electric.”

Halftime, which premiered on Wednesday at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival in New York, follows J-Lo as she “reflects on her milestones and evolution as an artist, and navigates the second half of her career continuing to entertain, empower and inspire,” according to press notes.

It’s now available for streaming on Netflix.

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