Shakira Announces Madrid Residency as 'Celebration' in Response to Latinos 'Living in Fear'
Colombian pop star Shakira is set to perform a 12-date residency in Madrid this fall, an event she has framed as a direct response to what she describes as the persecution of Latinos around the world. The residency, which runs from Sept. 18 through Oct. 11, was announced alongside an op-ed she wrote for the Spanish newspaper El País, in which she explained the motivation behind the project.
In the op-ed, Shakira wrote: "This began with pain. It began when I saw our people persecuted simply for being Latino, families forced to live in fear." She continued, "Faced with that, anger is legitimate. But I chose to respond with a celebration: the biggest we could possibly imagine. Because the most powerful response to fear is to exist with all the strength, all the joy, and all the dignity in the world."
While Shakira did not explicitly specify where the persecution of Latinos is taking place, she highlighted Spain's approach to immigration as a model. "Something happens here that the world deserves to see: Latin American immigration isn't tolerated, it's celebrated," she wrote, according to both the Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone. "Spain has embraced it, and that embrace has made it younger, more vibrant, more creative." She added, referencing Madrid specifically, "It's said of Madrid that whoever isn't from anywhere else is from here."
Her remarks come amid a broader context of immigration policy in Spain. In April, Spain finalized an amnesty allowing up to 800,000 undocumented immigrants to apply for legal status, a measure defended by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. The limits of that openness were tested when 72,000 migrants arrived on the country's southern shores within a 48-hour period, triggering a humanitarian crisis that led to the deaths of nearly 100 migrants.
Shakira said she chose Spain for the residency because of its progressive policies, which she previously called home. "Something happens [in Madrid] that the world deserves to see: Latin American immigration isn't tolerated, it's celebrated," she reiterated in her op-ed.
The Residency and Its 'City'
The residency, a continuation of her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran world tour, will take place at a specially built "Shakira Stadium" within the Iberdrola Music complex, with capacity for more than 50,000 fans each night, as reported by Rolling Stone. Alongside the stadium, Shakira said she is constructing a 30-acre cultural "city" featuring exhibitions, talks, workshops, food, and shared cultural experiences, with more than a hundred participating artists.
The city is inspired by Macondo, the fictional town from Gabriel García Márquez's novelOne Hundred Years of Solitude — a fitting reference for an event celebrating Latin culture. "Alongside the stadium, we're building something more: a city," Shakira said. "Thirty acres to celebrate and understand our culture, with over a hundred participating artists."
A History of Advocacy
This is not Shakira's first statement on behalf of immigrants. She spoke with the BBC last year about moving as a teenager from Colombia to Miami in the 1990s. And at the Latin pop album Grammy ceremony in February 2025, she addressed what she called her "immigrant brothers and sisters in this country," saying, "You are loved, you are worth it and I will always fight with you."
In her op-ed, Shakira explained her decision to use music for this cause, writing that Latino culture is "a culture that transformed pain into rhythm, that learned in five centuries of mixing that no one is saved alone." The Madrid residency, she said, is her way of channeling anger over injustice into a positive, large-scale celebration of Latin identity and resilience.