Colombian superstar Shakira will release her first new album in seven years, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (Women Don’t Cry Anymore), on March 22. The singer’s upcoming LP also marks her debut release on vinyl, featuring four distinct artwork editions, each paired with an exclusive colored vinyl variant (See the different covers here).
“Making this body of work has been an alchemical process,” Shakira said in a statement. “While writing each song I was rebuilding myself. While singing them, my tears transformed into diamonds, and my vulnerability into strength.”
The title of the album is a nod to the empowering lyrics from her Bizarrap session “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53,” where she declared, “las mujeres ya no llora, las mujeres facturan,” which loosely translates to, “women don’t cry anymore, they make money.”
Speculation about a new album began when Shakira posted on a short video on Sunday that began with a shot of a diamond followed by clips from her previously-released singles, including “Copa Vacía” with Manuel Turizo, her Bizarrap-produced music session and “Monotonía.”
“Stay tuned,” she instructed her more than 90 million Instagram followers.
Shak’s new album follows her 2017 set El Dorado, which spent five weeks at No. 1 on Billboard‘s Top Latin Albums chart, and included hit songs such as “Chantaje” with Maluma, “La Bicicleta” with Carlos Vives and the Prince Royce-assisted “Deja vu.”
Overall, the hitmaker has placed eight top 10 albums on the Top Latin Albums chart, six of those hit No. 1, including Dónde Están Los Ladrones? (1998), Fijación Oral: Vol. 1 (2005) and Sale El Sol (2010).
Last year, Shakira released back-to-back singles, including her hard-hitting “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53,” the aforementioned head-bobbing “Copa Vacía,” “El Jefe,” a riveting polka-tinged ska with Fuerza Regida, and her poignant ballad “Acróstico.”
Shakira had been mostly mum about her new album, but in a candid interview with Billboard for her September cover story, the global superstar — who is also a single mother to two young boys — shared why it had taken her six years to release a new album.
“The last time I released an album was six years ago. Now I can release music at a faster clip, although sometimes I think being a single mom and the rhythm of a pop star aren’t compatible,” she explained. “I have to put my kids to bed, go to the recording studio; everything is uphill. When you don’t have a husband who can stay home with the kids, it’s constant juggling because I like to be a present mom and I need to be there every moment with my children: take them to school, have breakfast with them, take them to play dates. And aside from that, I have to make money.”
This story originally appeared on Billboard
