On her second studio album as a solo artist, Beyonce teamed up with Shakira to create “Beautiful Liar”, which combines aspects of U.S. pop and R&B with Shakira’s Latin and Middle Eastern roots. The song’s lyrics tell the story of two women who discover that they’ve been cheated on by the same man; rather than arguing over the man, the two women decide that their man is not worth an argument. Shakira and Beyoncé sing that they “can live without him / [because he’s] just a beautiful liar” after conveying their original feelings of betrayal. The song’s instrumentation reflects both the women’s backgrounds and current emotional states.
The collaboration marks Shakira’s first major collaborative work with an American artist. While she had previously recorded songs with Michael Jackson and Wyclef Jean, the former was created for charity and never officially released, and the latter was a collaboration with a Haitian rapper. “Beautiful Liar” went on to be nominated for multiple awards, including the Latin Grammy Award for Record of the Year. The track also received acclaim as the winner of the MTV Video Music Award for Best Collaboration. In collaborating with Beyoncé, who is traditionally an American pop and R&B artist, Shakira was able to bridge the divide between American and Latin music. Prior to the track’s release, there were very few popular collaborations of American and Latin musical styles, and the genres existed primarily separate from one another.
Beyoncé and Shakira. Beautiful Liar. B’Day (Deluxe Edition). Sony Music Entertainment, 2007.