Brindar means 'to toast', as in raising a glass to celebrate or honor someone. It's a word deeply connected to celebrations and social gatherings.
In this song, Shakira uses this typically joyful word in a heartbreaking way. She sings "no me iré / Sin antes brindar a tu salud" (I won't leave / without first toasting to your health), highlighting her loneliness as she raises a glass to a love that's gone. This poignant contrast makes it a beautiful and memorable word to learn.
Colombian pop star Shakira pulls you right into a late-night bar scene in "Loca Por Ti", where she sits alone nursing a drink and refusing to let go of an old love. The song opens with writing a declaration of love directly in the sand, noting that not even ocean salt can wipe it away: "En la arena escribĂ lo que te llego amar y aĂşn no lo borra ni la sal de el mar" ("In the sand I wrote how much I love you, and not even the sea's salt washes it away"). She is deep in her feelings, picturing her lover against the moonlight while admitting that without them, she has nothing: "Me falta todo si faltas tĂş" ("I lack everything if you are missing").
Instead of packing up and heading home to sleep it off, she chooses to stay right there at the counter. She raises a glass in a bitter toast, singing "Me quedaré, bebiendo esta copa a tu salud" ("I will stay, drinking this glass to your health"). In Spanish, the phrase a tu salud literally means "to your health," which is the standard way people say "cheers!" before a drink. She knows the morning light will bring tears that blend into the morning rain, but she openly asks to stay drunk and lost in daydreams a little longer. It is dramatic, stubborn, and completely honest about wanting to linger in a fantasy just one drink more.
Shakira signed to Sony Music Colombia at thirteen, and her debut album Magia sold about 1,200 copies in Colombia. Born in Barranquilla in 1977 to a family of Lebanese, Catalan and Colombian descent, she was belly dancing by four, after hearing Arabic drumming at a Middle Eastern restaurant near home, and she has written or co-written most of what she records.
The breakthrough came with Pies Descalzos (1995) and its single "Estoy AquĂ", and ÂżDĂłnde Están los Ladrones? (1998) followed with "Ciega, Sordomuda" and "Ojos AsĂ". She moved into English on Laundry Service (2001), whose "Whenever, Wherever" was released in Spanish as "Suerte", then topped the US Hot 100 in 2006 with "Hips Don’t Lie", featuring Wyclef Jean. "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)", recorded with the South African band Freshlyground, was the official song of the 2010 World Cup. Her 2023 session with Argentine producer Bizarrap won Latin Grammy Song of the Year, and Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran took Best Latin Pop Album at the 2025 Grammys, her fourth Grammy next to fifteen Latin Grammys.