Released May 27, 1999 Genre Rock en Español Label Sony Latin | Recorded 1998 Length 4:32 (album version) | |
Writer(s) Shakira
Luis Fernando Ochoa | ||
"Octavo Día" (English: Eighth Day) is a song written and performed by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira. The song was released only as a radio single in some countries from her multi-platinum album Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998), but received more attention when it created controversy while performed live in her 2001-2002 world tour Tour of the Mongoose. This song expresses Shakira's opinion about God.
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Song information
The song describes how, on the eighth day, God decided to take the day off after creating the world, only to come back and find His creation in a disastrous mess.
No music video was filmed, so it was released only as a radio single. The song is also found on Shakira's live albums, MTV Unplugged and Live and Off the Record.
Political criticism in the Tour of the Mongoose
Shakira has since performed 'Octavo Dia' song during all of her tours before for the Oral Fixation Tour. In the Tour of the Mongoose, behind the stage was a black and white backdrop video of George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein playing chess, and on the stage some of the musicians were wearing masks of Richard Nixon and Cuba's president Fidel Castro. Shakira wanted to deliver a message more complex than just criticizing the war against Iraq.
However, some members of the audience were confused with Shakira's criticism when she performed "Octavo Dia." David Hiltbrand, a journalist from The Philadelphia Inquirer, said that it was an atypical show number. "I thought it was a mistake, personally, not as a journalist," said Hiltbrand referring to "Octavo Dia." "What I took from it [is that] our leaders are caught up with themselves," Hiltbrand said.
During the video at the show, Hussein's and Bush's puppets suddenly became restless and violent as they started playing with nuclear bombs instead of chess pieces. Then the Grim Reaper appeared behind the two leaders and moved the strings that control the puppets. Shakira said during the concert that pop singers typically do not talk about politics nor about politicians, but this time, her tour had a political view. "[Some] think pop stars are made to entertain. Period. I don't see it that way," said Shakira during her concert in Britain, which was reported by Siobhan Grogan from The Guardian.
The symbolism of the video clip was that Bush and Hussein were treating the war as if a game, as if not treating it with much importance.
In an interview with MTV, she said that sometimes governments do not represent their people nor make the right decisions because "governments are controlled by just a few." The video and the song ended with a quote from Jimi Hendrix in the back screen of the stage:
"When the power of love overcomes the love for power, the world will know the peace."
While the clip was playing, Shakira's speech was, as seen in Live & off the Record:
"Pop stars are not supposed to stick their noses into politics. I don't know if that's accurate or not, but tonight, I don't want to talk about politics...or politicians... I prefer to talk about something that is above all that...love. Because love is lacking leaders, and leaders are lacking love. Why is it so difficult to love each other and understand each other? I wonder. For example, would you hold the hand of the person standing next to you right now, even if you don't know him... and would you tell him that you love him? Would you forgive him? Can you love him? Can you love her? Can you love me? Can you love her, and him, and him(...) ?"
This speech garnered much favouritism amongst the audiences at various venues.