Shakira Feels 'Free' After Breaking Up With Gerard Piqué: 'Now I Can Actually Work'

After a tumultuous breakup in 2022, Shakira and her ex-Gerard Piqué went their separate ways. Embracing her newfound freedom, the Colombian singer shared during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday that she relished the liberty to create her new album, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, as reported by PEOPLE. This record signifies Shakira's return to the music scene after seven years, following her split from Piqué, her partner of 11 years. She said, "I've been putting out music here and there but it was really hard for me to put together a body of work."

She added, "I didn't have time. It was the husband-factor. Now I'm husband-less. Yeah, the husband was dragging me down. Now I'm free. Now I can actually work." Additionally, the singer shared that the album's Spanish title translates to "Women no longer cry," and she elaborated on its significance.

Shakira said, "For too long we've been sent to cry with script in our hands and without an end just because we're women. We have to conceal our pain in front of our kids, in front of society. We have to heal in a certain way. And I don't think anyone is supposed to tell us how to heal. No one is supposed to tell a she-wolf how to lick her wounds, you know? I think that now women decide when to cry, how to cry, and until when. Nobody's supposed to tell us how to cope with the hardship of life."

The singer also mentioned that when she was coping with the breakup, she relied on her music, describing it as the thing that held her together. According to Entertainment Tonight, she said, "Each one of these songs really was like catharsis to me, and I felt better and better each time I wrote something."

Fallon displayed the vinyl covers for viewers, featuring emerald, ruby, diamond, and sapphire designs for the 16-track release, while Shakira explained its creation process. She said, "I was raw. I was dealing with a lot of stuff. I felt at times with a knife between my teeth. I was picking up the pieces of myself from the floor. I was trying to rebuild myself. Music was the glue."

"The resilience of a diamond, you know? So that's why I picked the metaphor of the precious stones, because of the resilience that us women have today when we have to face adversity," the star added. Shakira also discussed her new approach to making music in a recent interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. She said, "Now it feels totally different. Even though, it's more challenging because now I'm in charge of these two kids, these two babies that depend on me so much. And I'm a single mother, I don't have a husband at home to help out with anything. In a way, it's kind of good not to have a husband because that…I don't know why it was dragging me down, man."

Meanwhile, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran is Shakira's 12th studio album, following the release of El Dorado in 2017. The new record features eight new songs, a remix, and seven previously released singles. Shakira and Piqué began dating in 2011 and have two sons together, Milan and Sasha. However, the couple split in June 2022 amid reports of Piqué's affair. Just one month after the breakup, Piqué confirmed his relationship with Clara Chia Marti on Instagram in January 2023, according to US Weekly.