Because the hauntological elements of our culture seem to dictate that nothing can ever be truly new again, Shakira’s latest video featuring Rauw Alejandro offers a version of “the future” from a decidedly 00s perspective. And why not? For that’s when she really started to make her mark on the U.S. (therefore, “worldwide”), with 2001’s Laundry Service establishing her as an instant cultural icon.
Maybe some part of Shakira couldn’t help but think about the 00s in this moment. Reflecting upon how, despite its problems, it seems to have been a “simpler time.” As many nostalgia-oriented narratives of the moment would like to remind us (see: Turning Red). Perhaps that rumination unwittingly infected the aesthetic of “Te Felicito” (“I Congratulate You”). A title that drips with sarcasm, as soon confirmed by the video, which commences with Alejandro opening the door to his apartment and accepting a delivery: a box with a card in it that features a digital girl singing “For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow” (in Spanish, obvi).
Directed by Jaume de la Iguana, who is no stranger to being part of Shakira’s videography, the color palette shifts to a hyper-saturated purple, with Shakira looking as though she took inspo from Christina Aguilera’s pre-Stripped era sets (think videos like “Come On Over [All I Want Is You]”). There’s also a touch of J. Lo’s 00s style incorporated as well, with aesthetic and “futuristic” similarities to videos such as 1999’s “If You Had My Love,” 2000’s “Ain’t It Funny” (the remix version) and 2000’s “Play.” In between these scenes of Shakira in a purple room with a corresponding purple ensemble (a latex catsuit, to be clear—a fashion choice that’s inherently always reminiscent of “Oops!… I Did It Again” Britney), we see moments of her in welder mode as she pieces together the robot that is about to be Alejandro (looking like a combination of Maluma and Drake because, in case you weren’t informed, we’re in a simulation).
We then see her in a lavender outfit, complete with the sort of cargo pants that were rampant in 00s videos, filled with choreo-heavy movements as they were. In point of fact, even when she has her welder’s mask flipped up atop her head, it somehow looks like a flat cap Britney would have worn circa ’03. Shakira soon breaks into the venomous insult, “Te felicito, que bien actúas/De eso no me cabe duda.” Or: “I congratulate you, you act well/Of that I have no doubt.” Yes, in English, the tone sounds more like, “My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”
Angered by her erstwhile object of affection’s unapologetic ability to play her for a fool, she continues to sardonically chide (by feigning praise), “You should receive an Oscar, you’re a great actor.” But as we all saw recently, “great actors” can be perfect cads, too
Elsewhere, the J. Lo parallels don’t merely stop at Shakira’s 00s emulations of her Super Bowl Halftime Show co-star’s music videos—or even at the fact that J. Lo, too, has collaborated with Alejandro. It also continues when Shakira declares herself to be real (“authentic,” if you prefer), specifically when she says, “Speaking to you clearly, I don’t need you/You lost someone real.” The theme of real versus fake being manifest in the robot element of the video. For that’s what (or is it who?) she’s working on as she tweaks and refines the machine that is this unfeeling man (he’s certainly not even close to being like the gentle, “empathetic” robot in Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man, despite being supposedly human).
But she seems to get her revenge by “re-wiring” him to the tune of this mid-tempo reggaeton jam that’s perfectly danceable (in a similar way as Anitta’s fast, yet slow “Envolver” is). For in the next scene, dressed in her best imitation of an Austin Powers fembot’s teddy (something Ariana Grande would surely sanction), she’s being waited on hand and foot (literally) by the presently Marshmello-looking robot.
At certain points, he appears with Shakira in the “Xtina meets J. Lo sets,” dancing along when she’s not suddenly pouring a circle of gasoline around herself and dropping a lit match so she can “shake that ass” in the ring of fire. When she’s dancing with Alejandro, it seems to be so that the two of them can enact a more “alive” version of The Robot, which has been making a comeback, apparently, ever since Amanda Seyfried appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and did it.
While “Me Gusta” (not to be confused with Anitta’s featuring Cardi B and Myke Towers) was her last Spanish-language song, released back in 2020, Shakira has had a few singles since then to prepare us for an upcoming album. Songs that included 2021’s “Don’t Wait Up,” during which she paraded her newly-acquired surfing skills. And, considering Shakira released a very 00s bop—with 00s emblem Black Eyed Peas no less—at the end of 2020 called “Girl Like Me,” maybe she wanted to go more full-tilt with the visuals of the decade as opposed to just the sound.
(Whenever,) Wherever her optic inspiration originated from, Shakira makes the prospect of turning one’s ex into a robot so as to render him a better “man” seem like the perfect way to give any puto a “second chance” in the wake of all those Oscar-worthy performances (read: lies) he gave as a “real boy” in the relationship. Though certainly never in the boudoir.
