2023 Video Music Awards - Arrivals©GettyImages
Latin Music

Shakira and Fuerza Regida’s new song: Here are the translated lyrics of ‘El Jefe’

Shakira’s fiery new song shows off a new side of her.

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.

Shakira©Shakira
A screenshot of Shakira in her new video

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

Sign up to our newsletter to stay in touch with your cultura. Get the latest on your favorite celebrities, royals, and the best beauty, fashion, and lifestyle news delivered right to your inbox!
More about