Shakira has revealed the personal story behind her upcoming Copacabana performance, describing the show as a tribute to “the women who rebuilt themselves” following life-altering challenges.
The 49-year-old will headline a free concert on 2 May 2026 at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro as part of the Todo Mundo No Rio event, which regularly attracts millions of attendees and has previously hosted artists including Lady Gaga and Madonna.
In an open letter published by Globo, Shakira explained that the performance is rooted in a deeply personal period when her life “collapsed all at once”.
A personal story behind the performance
Reflecting on that moment, Shakira described the immediate need to keep moving despite upheaval, balancing motherhood, career, and responsibility.
“From that morning until today, I’ve had to entirely reinvent myself.
As a mother, as a provider, as an artist, as a woman.
And from that learning process, sometimes messy, sometimes illuminated by a kind of clarity only pain can bring, this tour was born: Las mujeres ya no lloran (Women No Longer Cry.)
It’s not a cry for revenge, nor a flag of victimhood. It’s exactly the opposite.
It’s the quiet realization that crying is no longer enough, that there are children to raise, bills to pay, lives to push forward.
And that it can be done, and it can be done with dignity.”
Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran era explained
The Copacabana show forms part of her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran era, shaped by personal reinvention and resilience. Shakira said that as the tour progressed, she began to recognise her own experience in the stories shared by fans around the world.
“As I travelled the world with this tour, I started to see my own face reflected in many others.
Women who waited for me after shows to tell me, in two minutes and with shining eyes, their own version of the same story.
Women who were alone but not defeated.
And I understood that what I thought was a deeply personal experience was actually the shared biography of an entire generation of Latinas.
Because the Latina woman has changed.”
Why Rio and why now
Shakira said her perspective deepened further when she arrived in Brazil and learned that around 20 million single mothers are raising families largely on their own, prompting a moment of personal recognition.
She also described Rio de Janeiro as a place that reconnects people with what matters, pointing to its natural environment and cultural energy as central to the meaning of the performance.
A symbolic moment at Copacabana
Framing Copacabana as a symbolic setting, Shakira positioned the concert as a shared experience between artist and audience, rooted in resilience and collective identity.
She concluded her letter with an invitation to fans to join her at the shoreline, where music and community meet.
