In addition to singing career hits, the Latin pop star had the participation of MPB icons, such as Caetano Veloso and Maria Bethânia, Ivete Sangalo and Anitta, with whom he danced funk
Under the full moon, Latin pop star Shakira enchanted, on Saturday night (2), a crowd on Copacabana beach, in Rio de Janeiro, with a show lasting more than two hours marked by hits and declarations of love for Brazil.
A wolf, as the Colombian singer is called, drawn by drones, was projected into the sky minutes before she took the stage after 11pm Brasília, more than an hour late.
Shakira appeared dressed in the colors of the Brazilian flag, with the noise of fans opening and closing in the background.
“2 million people on the sands of Copacabana. Loba made history in Rio”, Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere (PSD) published in X, citing Riotur as a source.
“Brazil, I love you! It’s magical to think that we are here, millions of souls together, ready to sing, dance, get emotional and remind the world of what really matters”, Shakira said when greeting the audience, speaking impeccable Portuguese, on a monumental 1,345 square meter stage.
In addition to singing hits such as “Hips don’t lie”, “La bicycle”, “La torture” and “Estoy aquí”, she had the participation of MPB icons, such as Caetano Veloso and Maria Bethânia, Ivete Sangalo and Anitta, with whom she danced funk.
With this show, during which she made ten costume changes, the 49-year-old artist followed in the footsteps of Madonna, who performed on the same beach in 2024 for 1.6 million people, and Lady Gaga, who brought together 2.1 million in 2025, according to the organizers.
“I love Brazil very much”
A creator of the theme for the 2010 South African World Cup, “Waka Waka”, has a historical relationship with Brazil, where he has performed several times since 1996.
“I am very inspired by her. She is very strong. She is a Latin woman at the top,” João Pedro Yelin, a 26-year-old designer, who came from São Paulo, told AFP, wearing a coat made of patchwork representing the flags of Latin American countries.
“She loves Brazil very much. This love she has for us, we have for her”, said Graciele Vaz, 43, who slept on the beach after traveling on Friday from Paraty, a city on Rio de Janeiro’s Costa Verde.
She had a large tattoo on her back with Shakira’s name over the image of a wolf, a symbol of the “Las mujeres ya no lloran” tour.
It was exactly in Rio that, in February 2025, Shakira began this tour, the first in seven years, and which has already reached the Guinness record for the highest grossing by a Latin artist.
“The Little Ones”
In recent days, huge posters with the singer’s face have appeared in various parts of the city. In Copacabana, renamed “Lobacabana”, street vendors filled the sands and streets selling fans, caps, t-shirts and even small bottles with “Shakira’s tears”, a mention of the tour’s title.
Despite the language barrier, which leads many Brazilians to feel on the margins of Latin America and even to wonder if their own identity is also Latin, the country has gradually opened up to Latin American music, which today makes the whole world dance.
With 100 million albums sold, four Grammys and 15 Latin Grammys, Shakira won over several generations of fans with hits like “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53”, a song she recorded after her separation from former football player Gerard Piqué and with which she closed Saturday’s mega show.
Authorities mobilized almost 8,000 agents, drones, facial recognition cameras and 18 inspection points with metal detectors, in the largest security device Copacabana has ever seen at its mega shows.
Last year, after Lady Gaga’s performance, the Civil Police reported having thwarted, together with the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, an attack with explosives, orchestrated by a group that spread hate speech and which targeted the LGBTQ+ community.
Rio City Hall estimates that the event will inject more than 800 million reais into the city’s economy.
*AFP
