Shakira was honored with the first-ever ‘Woman of the Year’ award at the 2023 Billboard Latin Women in Music gala. The night was made extra special by the “Hips Don’t Lie” icon’s chic and sultry LBD that helped flaunt her signature sizzling style as well as her ample curves, toned legs and tiny waist.
The 46-year-old “Te Felicito” singer touched fans at Miami’s Watsco Center as she accepted her trophy, and gave an inspiring message about sisterhood, embracing fellow women in music and how significant the past year has been for her regarding her personal and musical growth. And she did it all in style, of course!
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Shakira Simmers In Flirty, Thigh-Skimming LBD At Billboard Latin Women in Music Gala
The “Whenever, Wherever” hitmaker’s classic, strapless little black dress featured a flirty thigh-skimming hemline with a leather belt-like piece. To accessorize her simple and sleek get-up, Shakira added a shiny gold statement ring. She also stepped out in epic black platform heels with edgy layered straps.
As for her glam, the mom of two wore her signature golden, buttery blonde tresses down, parted to the side and styled into voluminous, elegant curls. For her makeup look, the stunner went for black winged liner, rosy blush on her high cheekbones, and she topped it all off with a dark pink lipstick.
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Shakira Gives Powerful Acceptance Speech About Sisterhood & Post-Breakup Strength
At the ceremony, Shakira was presented with the major award by fellow Colombian musician Maluma (who notably collaborated with her on danceable bops like “Chantaje” and “Clandestino”). She accepted the honor with a beaming smile and was visibly grateful and moved.
In her speech, she said, “This has been a year of seismic change in my life where I’ve felt more than ever and very personally what it is to be a woman, and what it means.”
| Shakira com o prêmio ‘Mujer del Año’ da #BBMujeresLatinas. pic.twitter.com/O7DzaRH9iZ
— Shakira Brasil | Fan Account (@Shakira_Brasil) May 8, 2023
The Grammy winner added, “It’s been a year where I’ve realized we women are stronger than we think, braver than we believed, more independent than we were taught to be. Because what woman hasn’t at some time in her life forgotten herself because she’s seeking the attention and love of someone else? It happened to me, more than once.”
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Shakira, as fans know, split from former soccer player Gerard Piqué last year, her ex-partner and father to her two sons, 10-year-old Milan, and 8-year-old Sasha. The athlete and “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)” crooner called it quits in 2022, after 11 years together.
Shakira and Piqué confirmed their separation in June 2022, and two months later, he was spotted with 22-year-old Clara Chía Martí (who he was rumored to have had an affair with while still in a relationship with Shakira).
She seemed to refer to the tumultuous break-up in her acceptance speech, adding, “But there comes a time in the life of every woman where she no longer depends on someone else to love and accept herself just as she is.”
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She eloquently went on, “A time when the search for someone else is replaced by the search for oneself. A time when the desire to be perfect is replaced by the desire to be authentic, and where finding someone who is faithful is less important than being faithful to ourselves.”
Shakira also explained how music helped her heal from this heartbreaking moment, and how it also helped her bond with other women. “It’s true that when I felt most lost, music put me in the road back to myself. But the most important lessons I learned from other women, and for them I wrote what I wrote and I sang what I sang. Because only a woman can love until she’s ripped apart; can speak with the most brutal honesty; can sing with anger; dance in ecstasy and be brought to tears with emotion. Only a woman can do that.”
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In the touching speech, she also thanked her mother, Nidya Ripoll, single mothers and fellow women musicians for inspiring her. “I receive this honor with lots of love, but for me, more than celebrating the women of the year, we should celebrate the year of the woman,” she said.
“A year where us women have touched subjects that couldn’t be touched, and said things that couldn’t be said. And though some may have complained, there’s no going back. Together, we’ve taken a step forward, and with each step we’re more free and more fulfilled.”
The first-ever #BBMujeresLatinas Woman of the Year, @shakira
Watch more on @Telemundo at https://t.co/4fHRzBxC2w pic.twitter.com/3Ug3p5zPi1
— billboard (@billboard) May 8, 2023
(Echoing her fans on social media who continue to hype up her outfit and words of wisdom at the awards show, congrats Shakira!)
