Octavo Día

"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.

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.