‘TQG’: The hidden references in the new song by Shakira and Carole J

TQG, the new single by Shakira and Carol G, brings together the two Colombian artists with the world’s biggest show devoting darts full of pride and heartbreak to their former partners. For three and a half minutes, the song, which works over a slow reggaeton base, reaffirms his redemption after grieving and mourning a breakup: “Get back with you.” neverYou misfortune, for now blessings are pouring down on me”; “I saw what your girlfriend threw at me, it does not make me angry, I laugh, I laugh.”

Gerard Pique and Anuel AA, relationships overcame

Both verses, which are part of Carole G’s fourth studio album ‘Mañana ser bonito’, have two recipients: In June 2022, a brief joint statement confirmed the end of the relationship between Shakira and former footballer Gerard Pique after twelve years. Two years and two children together. Two months later, the 46-year-old spoke for the first time about their breakup to the magazine deer Spain admitted that it was the “hardest and darkest hour” of his life. With the wound open and after admitting that writing music again is “like going to a psychiatrist”, Shakira released the song “Monotonía” in October 2022, a collaboration with reggae artist Ozuna who published through bachata a heartfelt message that justified both the failures in their relationship: “It was not Your fault, nor mine, it was the monotony’s fault,” exclaims the chorus. Things have changed since then. On “TQG,” Shakira brings it back with “You were looking for food outside, and I say it was a monotonous.”

The Barranquilla woman launched the offensive in January 2023 with “Session 53,” a duet with Bizarab that broke Spotify and YouTube listening records for a Latin artist. On the flip side, Karol G ended his relationship with Puerto Rican rags picker Anuel AA in March 2022 after three years of dating. And though the speculation that she’s trying to match her latest lyrics to supposed infidelity doesn’t stop (“What doesn’t work, that doesn’t get in your way, you especially scored for being clumsy” in “Mamiii”), the woman from Antioquia has yet to point directly To your ex like Shakira did.

TQG: More than just a message of support

Ten days after the release of ‘Session 53’ with Bizarrap, Karol G appeared on the front row of the Crypto.com Arena, home of the Los Angeles Lakers, wearing a tank top with the legend ‘It’s too big for you'”. At the time the message was seen as an act of solidarity towards Shakira, however, the appearance of the initials “TQG” on giant screens in Times Square accompanied the message “Your reality show Favorites ends” Hours before the song’s premiere, he confirmed that it was the title of the new collaboration.

Simulation output

At the beginning of the video, Karol G and Shakira appear on the screens. The broadcast, watched wildly from giant panels and the plane’s entertainment system, is cut short when the “Tusa” interpreter is thrown into the void of a building, all from the video mixing table where the man appears to be overseeing the recording. The theme continues its course and the scene does not return until the end, when both singers appear, in high boots and dressed in full black, in a door frame flanked by a descending staircase and a backdrop pretending to be the sky. The main idea of ​​the video, escaping the simulation, is a direct reference to “The Truman Show” (1998), Peter Weir’s sci-fi classic where Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) lives in a fantasy setting, kind of like reality show It is broadcast on TV until he realizes that everything around him is a lie and he searches for a way to escape.

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