Impact of Shakira and Bizarrap’s “Session 53” on X

Abstract

At the beginning of 2023, singer Shakira, in collaboration with musician Bizarrap, released the song “Session 53”, which had a significant international impact upon its release, garnering a high number of streams on digital platforms within the first 24 hours. The song also had a social impact, as Shakira addressed her personal life and that of her ex-partner while making direct references to four commercial brands: Casio, Twingo, Ferrari, and Rolex. Through a metaphor, she disparages the first two while positively valuing the last two. In this research, we aim to study the social metric impact that the song had on the brands that were disparaged. To achieve this, we applied a social media statistical analysis method to examine the X (formerly Twitter) accounts of Casio and Twingo during the song’s release, using metrics from four key variables: likes, comments, retweets, and views. We found that during the days following the song’s launch, there was a significant increase in all the elements studied on the official X accounts of these brands. After a few days, we found a decrease in all the variables studied. It is discussed how brands lack control over their own narrative.