Posted by El Jefe is the new viral song released by Shakira in September 2023, a collaboration with the Mexican band Fuerza Regida. The song has different reasons for becoming a hit: it’s about the struggle that the working class lives on daily, a topic many people feel close to nowadays. But there is another reason, a mention that Shakira used at the end of the lyrics: the song is dedicated to a woman called Lili Melgar, and fans wanted to know who she is. Let’s discover the song’s meaning and the woman’s identity in this article. You’ll also find the complete English lyrics and the official video at the end.
Shakira, El Jefe, the English lyrics & meaning
El Jefe is a song about the demanding life conditions of the working class. In the lyrics, Shakira and Fuerza Regida describe the unfair struggle of those people working all day for a low salary that doesn’t allow them to have a worthy life. Meanwhile, the boss is wealthy; he comes to work in his expensive car and doesn’t pay you enough. “El Jefe,” the song’s title, is Spanish for “the boss.”
The first lyrics of El Jefe describe the typical routine of the working class: waking up early so you can bring the children to school and immediately go to work, a never-ending pattern where you sacrifice every day to work.
Seven thirty the alarm has sounded
I want to be in bed
But it can not be done
I’m taking the kids at nine
The same coffee, the same cuisine
The same old thing, the same routine
another sh–ty day
Another day at the office
Undoubtedly, many people worldwide can identify with this kind of sensation. We all want to live a life closer to what we consider necessary, and spending entire days at work just to pay the bills doesn’t allow us to reflect our vision into our lives. Shakira and Fuerza Regida express compassion for their conditions, telling them they deserve much better. In their hearts, they are already millionaires; they only miss the money. That’s what the chorus is about:
Are you dreaming of leaving the neighborhood?
You have everything to be a millionaire
Expensive tastes, the mentality
You only need the salary
Who’s Lili Melgar, the woman mentioned by Shakira?
Before the song ends, Shakira dedicates the single to a woman, Lili Melgar. Below are the lines translated into English:
Lili Melgar
This song is for you, they didn’t pay you compensation
Another fart, as always
Fans are curious to know who Lili Melgar is. After a quick investigation, many Spanish-speaking magazines found the truth: Lili Melgar is the woman who was working as a babysitter to Shakira’s kids, Milan and Sasha before she separated from her husband, Gerard Piqué. According to what the fans discovered, Lili Melgar was the one who told Shakira about Piqué’s infidelity, and as a result, Piqué fired her without compensation.
From this point of view, El Jefe becomes another song where Shakira manages to express her disappointment about how things went with her ex-husband. He cheated on her and failed to give fair pay to the woman who worked for them. The meaning of the lyrics in El Jefe is focused on the working class conditions, but by mentioning Piqué in a song against evil bosses who take advantage of humble workers, Shakira discloses another detail from her life with her ex-husband. Another element that will become a topic of discussion on the Internet.
Read other popular song lyrics and their meaning on Auralcrave
The English lyrics and the official video
Seven thirty the alarm has sounded
I want to be in bed
But it can not be done
I’m taking the kids at nine
The same coffee, the same cuisine
The same old thing, the same routine
another sh–ty day
Another day at the office
I have a sh–ty boss who 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- -h, yeah
Are you dreaming of leaving the neighborhood?
You have everything to be a millionaire
Expensive tastes, the mentality
You only need the salary
Bills pile up, being poor is rubbish
Mom always told me that studying everything ensures
I studied and nothing happened, damn life so hard
I work harder than a bastard, but I f–k less than a priest
What irony, what madness, this is torture
You kill yourself from dawn to dusk and you don’t even have a house
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
I have a sh–ty boss who doesn’t pay me well
I arrive walking and he arrives in a Mercedes Benz
They have me as a recruit
The very son of a b- -h
Are you dreaming of leaving the neighborhood?
You have everything to be a millionaire
Expensive tastes, the mentality
You only need the salary
You have a sh–ty boss who doesn’t pay you well
You arrive walking and he arrives in a Mercedes Ben
He has you as a recruit
The son of a b—
‘I’m dreaming of leaving the neighborhood
I have everything to be a millionaire
Expensive tastes, the mentality
I only need the salary
Lili Melgar
This song is for you, they didn’t pay you compensation
Another fart, as always
Are you dreaming of leaving the neighborhood?
You have everything to be a millionaire
Expensive tastes, the mentality
I only need the salary
