Shakira's Hot Take on Barbie: Modern Feminist or Traditional Latin American 'Doña'?

MIAMI - For over a year now, Shakira has been seeking to empower women to manage their heartache as they see fit and, if possible, make money from it. That's the ethos driving her new album, "Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran."

However, many are wondering now if behind the empowered artist who calls out her ex, his new girlfriend, and even her in-laws, there's still a traditional Colombian woman who wants to preserve the patriarchy for her two boys.

At least, that's what many on social media have gathered after her comments disparaging the "Barbie Movie" during an in-depth interview with Allure. Shakira's words have opened the door for those conclusions and more.

"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 them to feel powerful too, while respecting women," Shakira said, going on to add, "I like pop culture that attempts to empower women without robbing men of their possibility to be men, to also protect and provide." Provide...from the woman that has been saying, "Las mujeres ya no lloran las mujeres facturan" (Women no longer cry, women cash in).

The internet is not happy with Shakira

If Shakira goes on social media at all, she won't bet a happy woman. First came the first numbers for her new album. Spotify revealed that it had 68.1 million streams during the first week. It's not a bad number, but it fell very short of Karol G's "Mañana será bonito," with 203 million.

Then came the "Barbie" controversy, with fans calling her "contradictory," "hypocritical," a "defender of the patriarchy," and even wondering about how she is raising her kids, or if she used them to express her dislike for the movie. "Those boys are too young to know what 'emasculating' is," said one X user. Another one highlighted that the movie was PG13. Milan is 11 years old and Sasha is 9.

Her comments also sparked a conversation about the "old fashioned" and even "machista views" of some older women in Latin America. The debate was interesting and Shakira was dragged to the brink of cancellation.

"Shakira has lost her mask."

"Shakira releasing a female empowerment album but criticizing a movie that does exactly the same thing just because her sons didn't like it."

"At the end of the day Shakira thinks like a Latin American mother who has male children ouh-."

"You wouldn't last a day listening to the opinions of a Latina mother in her 40s, and it shows."

"Shakira's boomer-tinged Gen X came out in the interview with Allure, saying that "her kids hated Barbie" and that "men and women complement each other. Ay mi ciela, the incongruity."

"Shakira's macho violence was brought to her by her pendeja, how many years with Piqué?She goes out of there and makes a song to insult her lover and her mother-in-law. And now she didn't understand Barbie's movie because her two macho men feel assaulted. Chécate morra."

The memes were merciless