Shakira's 'latinx' remark sparks backlash in Madrid
Shakira announces 12 concerts and 600,000 tickets in Madrid, but a single word ('latinx') ignites an identity controversy.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Shakira, 'latinx' and the battle for Madrid
When Shakira announced her 12-concert residency in Madrid, the business headline wrote itself: 600,000 tickets, the largest residency in European history, at a 55,000-seat stadium built in Villaverde for music, not football. The noise, however, hasn't come from the capacity. It has come from a line in her El País op-ed: «In Madrid, we are all latinxs».
An anglicism called 'latinx'
The term divides even those it refers to. 'Hispano' is the word much of the criticism uses to point out that 'latino' in Spanish refers to Latium and Latin, not to American cultural identity. 'Latinx', by contrast, is a loanword from English that seeks to neutralize gender. To some, it's inclusion; to many, it's a mistake that erases Spanish.
The economics of the Villaverde stadium
The Villaverde stadium, designed for music, turns Madrid into Europe's epicenter for major concerts. Some read the residency as a challenge to Barcelona, which hosts no equivalent series. And the suspicion that the artist uses identity language as a commercial megaphone hangs over the conversation, though the numbers already speak for themselves.
The analysis stalls exactly there: 'latinx' is a linguistic, political and commercial minefield. Nobody questions the 600,000 tickets. Everyone questions the word. And in the background, Madrid and Barcelona are measuring their strength in the live music business.
When Shakira announced her 12-concert residency in Madrid, the business headline wrote itself: 600,000 tickets, the largest residency in European history, at a 55,000-seat stadium built in Villaverde for music, not football. The noise, however, hasn't come from the capacity. It has come from a line in her El País op-ed: «In Madrid, we are all latinxs».
An anglicism called 'latinx'
The term divides even those it refers to. 'Hispano' is the word much of the criticism uses to point out that 'latino' in Spanish refers to Latium and Latin, not to American cultural identity. 'Latinx', by contrast, is a loanword from English that seeks to neutralize gender. To some, it's inclusion; to many, it's a mistake that erases Spanish.
The economics of the Villaverde stadium
The Villaverde stadium, designed for music, turns Madrid into Europe's epicenter for major concerts. Some read the residency as a challenge to Barcelona, which hosts no equivalent series. And the suspicion that the artist uses identity language as a commercial megaphone hangs over the conversation, though the numbers already speak for themselves.
The analysis stalls exactly there: 'latinx' is a linguistic, political and commercial minefield. Nobody questions the 600,000 tickets. Everyone questions the word. And in the background, Madrid and Barcelona are measuring their strength in the live music business.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (15 replies).
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