“It doesn’t surprise me that Gerard (Piqué) is speaking ill of her children,” says Jairo de Jesús Martínez, producer and manager of Shakira.

Every story has a beginning, as well as the musical career of each artist. In its beginnings, Shakira received the support of the Colombian producer Jairo de Jesus Martinez, who introduced her to the renowned international producer Emilio Estefan. Legend has it that this meeting was the kick that catapulted the pop star.

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In an exclusive interview with Radio Cityalso known as the manager of the Colombian singer, remembers precisely those special beginnings with her, as well as her current perspectives on her career, especially the impact generated by her separation with ex-soccer player Gerard Piqué and the songs she has written about their separation.

How does it feel to see, as the gringos say, that protects yours who is now a global icon?

She was a ready-made “monster.” What I did was meet her on my way and be part of a wonderful process, which resulted in a spectacular friendship with her and with her parents and her family. She logically does not cease to be a source of pride for me, like a daughter who grows up and that from the beginning one puts all the faith in the world and sees incredible potential in her.

How did you manage at that time to see this monster as you say, in a good way, that Shakira was? What was your vision?

It was a matter of chemistry and good energy. I was in a restaurant in Cartagena 31 years ago, we have an anniversary on January 11, which was precisely the day she released this most recent song. I see this girl sitting next to me, at a table with her friends… When I found out that she was a singer, she did not know about her musical career, she had a very popular song in Cartagena at that time. I went up to greet her and told her “One day I want to work with you”. Later it turned out that she was part of Sony Music Colombia, I worked with international Sony Music, but at that time the record companies were autonomous in her country, it was not like today when everything is global. From there a friendship of hers was born and a job of many years with her that has really been very satisfying for me on a professional and personal level.

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What do you think of everything that is happening with Shakira? How do you see the worldwide impact that she has had with her latest song (Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53)?

I don’t think she even expected it herself, I’m honest… Even if someone helps her write some lyrics, she has control… Everything she writes she has to feel and in this song, well, that’s what everyone at a given moment he feels and does not say it publicly.

What she did was sing her feelings… If something keeps me going for 30 years with Shakira, it’s that I don’t get involved in what I shouldn’t, so what I’m talking about is my perception of what I know about her. If she talks about her mother-in-law, it doesn’t surprise me that at some point she shook hands with Clara Chía and that Clara Chía betrayed her, and it doesn’t surprise me that her mother-in-law is speaking ill of her children, it doesn’t surprise me that Gerard is speaking badly to the children about her. When she dares to express it, it is because she feels, I imagine, that she is being screwed over and she does what all women would like to say. There is no woman who separates that she does not want to send her husband’s entire family to hell.

Did you know Gerard (Piqué)?

I knew him very little, because it turns out that the years that she has been with Gerard are the ones that I came from Miami to Colombia to present my television program… If I saw it three or four times it was a lot, it never impressed me for better or worse Well, I was happy that she was happy. The moments that I saw them together, I always saw her happy, which was what has always mattered to me, her happiness.

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Did she call you at some point and say “Jairo, I’m going through a bad time with Gerard”… or did she make a confession to you?

Not at all, because she is even partly very private, maybe when she explodes, she explodes. But the years that she lived with him, I saw a couple of videos where I didn’t like his acting towards her, a little sometimes it’s annoying, a little foolish, but I said “well, all couples go through their moment as it did to Jennifer López with Ben Affleck at the Grammys… But for Shakira to call me to complain, never. There is a song that says something very true, “habit is stronger than love”.

During the years we lived in Miami, we had a day-to-day relationship all the time, I had had lunch at his house with his parents all my life, but by the time he left for Spain, I came to Colombia and it is there where we lost a bit of everyday life, not love or affection, but there was no longer that complicity that one is there every day. But yes, I have been very aware of her, of her career, of her life, of her family, I love them very much.

When you listened to the song with Bizarrap, each phrase… What was your reaction?

In an interview they asked me if Shakira still amazed me. Shakira doesn’t amaze me, but she does impress me. She has a capacity, an emotional intelligence, an intuitive intelligence, the world is never going to get to know Shakira in its entirety… She is a bald little brat, who not only dares to hit her husband and mother-in-law but also the girl .

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And in your time she was already like that?

It was always like this. Also, her relationship with her parents has always been very open, she is very transparent. And that’s what she represents in her songs, in part it’s even the thought of her talking about her… They ask me if that song is spiteful and I say no. It’s a song to bill, I’m sure here, she hasn’t discussed it with her, that she surely told Casio, Rolex, Twingo and Ferrari and (she said) I’m going to sell them… Casio’s sales have gone up… .

Why is Colombia a machine for making musical artists? What does Colombia have that no other country in the world has?

I appreciate you asking me that question. Where I go, I say it, and I told Sony Music 30 years ago: “here I bring you the next Madonna”. When I took Shakira to Sony and Emilio Estefan. We have the Queen of Pop in Colombia, if we go to rock we have Juanes, if we go to folk music we have Carlos Vives, if we go to urban music there is J Balvin, Maluma, there is Karol G; if we go to salsa, there is Grupo Niche; if we go to regional Mexican music we have Paola Jarra and Jessi Uribe, Pepe bueno. Colombia has the capacity for any musical genre to adopt it without losing the Colombian essence and the natural essence of that genre. (AND)