Shakira is the girl on fire-literally. In her new music video “Empire,” she is outlined with a burning flame for the majority of the clip. This new video, which was released on March 25, already has over 13 million views.
This new music video has a wedding theme, beginning with Shakira in a wedding dress sitting in a ballerina-type style on the floor. From there, the viewer goes with her to the church, where she then turns around and runs out into the beautiful field with scenic mountains in the background. Other than that, there is only one other major scene to speak of-as the music changes near the end, the setting changes and the viewer sees Shakira in a sexy, flowing black dress rocking out and flipping her hair in the church that she had earlier abandoned.
In some ways, the overall feel of the video-especially the beginning church scenes-is similar to that of a Ralph Lauren spread in Vogue, with lovely scenery and neutral colors.
Yet why is there even a wedding theme? The words of the song don’t really require it, and at least externally, the wedding theme doesn’t seem to add much to the song. Is Shakira shaking up the idea that you have to be married to be bound to someone? Is this an outcry against social norms? What does run through this video (and similarly, is featured in the lyric video to the song) is the emphasis on nature. The lyric video showed various images of the night sky, and this new video focuses on the evening light on the beautiful rustic countryside.
Well, lets not get carried away. This theme of runaway bride and rebellious reaction is actually nothing new for Shakira, who has played with these ideas before. Nonetheless, this video is both entertaining and keeps true to Shakira’s style of dramatics in her visual work.
