Billboard and Telemundo hosted their first-ever Mujeres en La Música ( Latin Women in Music) event on Saturday, May 6 at the Watso Center in Miami and the program aired on Sunday, May 7 on Telemundo and Peacock. The inaugural event, which was cohosted by reggaeton legend Ivy Queen and television personality Jacqueline Bracamontes, honored Latin women in Spanish music. Several changemakers received awards including Mexican pop star icon Thalia; Grammy-nominated Mexican singer/songwriter Ana Gabriel; Venezuelan actress and singer Evaluna; Afro-Colombian singer and rapper Goyo; and Argentinian urban pop superstar Emilia Mernes. But the most prominent award went to global popstar Shakira, who was honored with the Woman of the Year award.

Shakira‘s attendance at the Mujeres en La Música event was her first public appearance since moving to Miami last month. She gave a very emotional speech that appeared to have moved the audience.

«It’s true that when I felt most lost, music put me in the road back to myself,» the artist said alluding to her recent and public breakup with soccer star Gerard Piqúe. «But the most important lessons I learned from other women, and for them I wrote what I wrote, and I sang what I sang. Because only a woman can love until she’s ripped apart; can speak with the most brutal honesty; can sing with anger; dance in ecstasy and be brought to tears with emotion. Only a woman can do that.»

Since her public breakup from Piqúe, Shakira has put out back-to-back singles that have broken numerous records including «Monotonía» featuring Ozuna, the biggest Spanish-language debut of 2022. Then in January of this year, her famous diss track «Shakira: BZRP Music Sessions #53» debuted at No.9 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. The track led to Shakira becoming the first woman to reach the top 10 on the chart with a song in Spanish. The megahit song was also the most streamed Latin track in 24 hours in Spotify history and the most viewed Latin track on YouTube in 24 hours with 63 million views, breaking 14 Guinness World Records.

It is for this reason that Billboard chose Shakira as their Woman of the Year.

«It was important to get for Woman of the Year, somebody that was super relevant for everybody, so I can’t think of anybody better than Shakira,» Billboard’s chief content officer for Latin/Español, Leila Cobo, told POPSUGAR in an exclusive interview. «Shakira is a global superstar. She’s recognized all over the world [and] she’s the most listened to female artist.»

Check out the clip of Shakira’s speech below!