Posted by The way the Internet brings attention to new topics and things that may have been forgotten, following trends that ignite everyone’s enthusiasm, can be definitely curious. In January 2023, Shakira published a new song that went immediately viral for a simple reason: the lyrics are a direct attack against her ex-partner Gerard Pique and his new girlfriend, Clara. We explained everything here, and we suggest you read it to understand everything correctly. But the biggest curiosity is that the song triggered a new wave of public interest toward two brands that, apparently, are not well known to younger generations: Twingo and Casio, referred to in the lyrics of her song in Bizarrap (Bzrp) Music Sessions. Let’s discover everything about them.
You can watch the video of Shakira’s new song in the Bzrp Music Sessions here on Youtube.
Ferrari vs. Twingo, Rolex vs. Casio: Shakira lyrics explained
It’s pretty simple: in 2023, Shakira found a Zoom interview Pique made in 2021, when they were theoretically happy together, and she identified Pique’s current girlfriend, Clara Chía Martí, at their home while Shakira was traveling for work. Shakira was reportedly “devastated” about it. The song she made in Bzrp Music Session is a long rant against Pique and his girlfriend’s behavior.
In the song lyrics, Shakira mentions how Pique found a “supposed replacement” (“mi supuesto reemplazo,” in the original Spanish lines) for her. But she points out that the comparison between her and the new girl he dates doesn’t stand: for that purpose, she uses a couple of metaphors that triggered the audience’s attention. You can find them below in Spanish and English.
Cambiaste un Ferrari por un Twingo
Cambiaste un Rolex por un Casio
You changed a Ferrari for a Twingo
You changed a Rolex for a Casio
The metaphor is clear to those who know the four brands: Ferrari is an Italian luxury car manufacturer and a symbol of an expensive, high-quality car. Rolex serves the same role regarding watches, unanimously considered the top quality level for a wristwatch and one of the most expensive watch brands. In these comparisons, Twingo and Casio represent the cheaper options for people who cannot afford luxury brands. Let’s understand the comparison better.
Twingo is a car model produced by the French manufacturer Renault. The first model was born in 1993, with many restylings that allowed the car to survive until modern times. There was also an electric model released in 2020. Lately, Renault dismissed the Twingo line, though. The model is not well-known in the US because Renault doesn’t cover the American market since the 80s. Shakira has been living in Spain for years, that’s why she knows it.
Renault Twingo was a family-oriented car model whose starting price was around 21.000€, so affordable for an average European family. The comparison in Shakira’s song lyrics doesn’t want to imply that Renault Twingo is a low-quality car or an extremely cheap one: it’s simply a standard, normal, average car a person could buy, especially in Europe, compared to a Ferrari, which represents a top-level car only a few selected people can afford.
The same applies to Casio and the comparison with Rolex: Rolex is the world-renowned Swiss watch brand, considered the symbol of luxury watches, whereas Casio is a Japanese electronics manufacturer that, among many other things, produces affordable watches. Altough Casio offers also some expensive models, you can buy a Casio watch in Europe for 30 or 40€ (for the US market there are also models for less than 25$). That doesn’t mean that Casio represents the stereotype of a cheap watch: simply, it’s a brand someone can choose when it comes to average price ranges, whereas Rolex is specifically oriented to the luxury market.
In her new song about Pique and Clara Chía, Shakira implies that Pique substituted a precious, unique woman with an average girl. She also implies that his new, mediocre girlfriend is a better fit for him: she sings “a ti te quedé grande y por eso estás con una igualita que tú,” which translates in English with “I’m too big/too good for you, and that’s why you’re with a girl just like you.” Angry lines, sure. But as she said in the song, “I only write music”: she doesn’t want to feel guilty about expressing her emotions through her lyrics.
