Songfacts®:

• "El Jefe" finds Shakira teaming up with Southern California Mexican band Fuerza Regida. "El Jefe" translates as "The Boss," and in this corrido anthem Shakira and Fuerza's frontman, JOP, belt out the hard truth: The working class grinds away for peanuts while the boss lives large. They're done with it, ready to ditch their gigs and boss up themselves.
  
  "It's a Mexican ska, and it sounds very fresh, very original, very punk in a way. It has tons of energy. The song is called 'El Jefe,' and it's about abuse of power," Shakira told Billboard. "We had the song and thought, 'Oy, who could we get for this?' and we thought of Fuerza Regida. JOP's voice is very special."
• Shakira's team reached out to JOP in July 2023 to ask if he was interested in collaborating on "El Jefe" with her. The Fuerza Regida frontman hopped on a flight from LA to Miami the very next day without listening to the track.
  
  "It's Shakira! Do you understand what I mean?" Jop told Billboard. "There isn't anything else to say. I grew up listening to Shakira, and after all the challenges to reach where I am now, to collaborate with one of the greatest artists in the world... It's crazy! It had me mind-blowed."
• Shakira dedicates the song to a woman named Lili Melgar.
  
  Lili Melgar
  Para ti esta canción, que no te pagaron la indemnización
  Otro pedo, como siempre, a la ve
  
  Translates into English as:
  Lili Melgar
  This song is for you, since they didn't pay you severance
  Another fool, like always, at once
  
  So who's Lili Melgar? She is a Bolivian woman who worked as nanny to the children of Shakira and her partner, Gerard Piqué, for years. After Lili told Shakira he was cheating on her with another woman, Pique fired her without compensation.
  
  Before this song, Shakira unleashed a string of singles, including her Karol G collaboration "TQG" and "Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53," where she doesn't hold back on her ex. By namechecking Lili Melgar, Shakira weaves Piqué into the story about ruthless bosses exploiting the humble workers. It's another shot fired at her former partner.
• While Shakira has dabbled in regional Mexican music, like the Mariachi trumpet in "Ciega, Sordomuda," this marks the Queen of Latin Pop's first full dive into the regional Mexican genre.
• Shakira recorded "El Jefe" at 5020, Sony's recording studios and rehearsal space in Miami. She co-wrote and co-produced the song with:
  
  Mexican-American songwriter Edgar Barrera, who has worked with Maluma, Peso Pluma and Grupo Frontera, among others.
  
  Colombian songwriter Keityn whose previous Shakira collaborations include "Te Felicito" "Monotonía," and "TQG."