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Shakira has had a busy year. Following an astonishing performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, Shakira has released a new song, this time, a collaboration with the Mexican regional band Fuerza Regida. “El Jefe” is broadly about a really bad boss, and dropped alongside a music video that shows Shakira wearing all manner of colorful outfits while sporting a cowboy hat and some braids.
“El Jefe” is a different type of song for Shakira, referencing some different emotions than the ones she’s discussed in her most recent hits, which have explored her heartbreak and her relationship with her sons. Still, “El Jefe” remains a personal song, especially with the reference of Lili Melgar, the name of her kids’ nanny, who rumoredly discovered Gerard Pique’s infidelity and lost her job. “Lili Melgar, this song is for you, they didn’t pay you the compensation,” she says at the end of the song.
Scroll down to read the translated lyrics:
English lyrics - ‘El Jefe’
Shakira
Stick it to the man
7:30 the alarm goes off
I want to be in bed
But I can’t
I take the kids at 9
Fuerza Regida
The same coffee, the same kitchen
The same as always, the same routine
Another s--- day
Another day in the office
Pre-Chorus: Fuerza Regida
I have a s--- boss that doesn’t pay me well
I arrive walking and he arrives in a Mercedes Benz
He has me as a recruit
The son of a b----
Chorus: Shakira
You’re dreaming of leaving the neighborhood
You have everything to be a millionaire
Expensive tastes, the mentality
You only need the salary
Fuerza Regida
Bills pile up, being poor is rubbish
Mom always told me that studying assures a good future
I studied and nothing happened, d--- this hard life
I work harder than a b------, but I f--- less than a priest
Shakira
What irony, what madness, this is torture
You kill yourself from dawn to dusk and you don’t even have a book
They say that there is no evil that lasts more than a hundred years
But there is still my ex-father-in-law who has not set foot in the grave
Pre-Chorus: Fuerza Regida
I have a s--- boss that doesn’t pay me well
I arrive walking and he arrives in a Mercedes Benz
He has me as a recruit
The son of a b----
Chorus: Shakira
You’re dreaming of leaving the neighborhood
You have everything to be a millionaire
Expensive tastes, the mentality
You only need the salary
Pre-Chorus: Shakira
You have a s--- boss that doesn’t pay you well
You get there walking and he arrives in a Mercedes Benz
He has you like a recruit
That son of a b----
Chorus: Fuerza Regida
I dream of leaving the barrio
I have everything I need to be a millionaire
Expensive tastes, the mentality
I only need the salary
Shakira
Lilly Melgar
This song is for you, they didn’t compensate you
Shakira and Fuerza Regida
You’re dreaming of leaving the neighborhood
You have everything to be a millionaire
Expensive tastes, the mentality
I only need the salary