Well, the Halle Bailey hive isn't feeling Shakira's mermaid era.
Shakira took to Instagram to seemingly tease new music on June 9, sharing a photo of herself dressed as a mermaid. The caption read, "You want thingamabobs? I got twenty," in reference to the Little Mermaid's Ariel, who called the things she found all types of names, including "dinglehoppers" and "thingamabobs."
While Shakira fans were thrilled to receive new music from their fave, Halle Bailey fans weren't too happy about the teaser. Actually, they found it to be shady.
"Is this shade?" and "She wants to be Halle so bad OMG" were just some of the comments spotted on Twitter in response to Shakira's mermaid cosplay.
Sure, Shakira's mermaid getup comes just days after Bailey's live-action film finally hit theaters — and proved to be as successful as everyone predicted. But Shakira shading Bailey's Ariel? Nah, we don't think so.
For starters, Shakira's mermaid moment isn't new. Photos of the musician dressed up as the half-human, half-aquatic creature surfaced in March as Shakira filmed a new music video.
The artwork for the alleged forthcoming song "Copa vacia" also leaked during that time, again seeing a fishtail-equipped Shakira grace the cover. Not to mention, she had pink hair (Ariel's is traditionally red).
Sure, by that time (again, March of this year), we were all anxiously counting down the days to Halle's debut as the IRL Ariel. But come on, have we also forgotten that The Little Mermaid is a certified classic that's been around for years now?
The original film came out in 1989, blessing us with unforgettable characters like Ariel and Sebastian and timeless hits you'll randomly find yourself humming to years later.
A bad example, but even the Kardashian-Jenner clan dressed up as Ariel for past Halloweens. Was it shady toward the cartoon? Not necessarily. However, Kylie's Fashion Nova-level costume and bad red wig is a different conversation in itself.
Since the first film, Ariel became one of those evergreen costumes. And we suspect to see lots of Little Mermaids trick-or-treating this year following the live-action movie, too.
In short, both Halle and Shakira look beautiful as Ariel. Simply, it looks like Shakira was showing love to the classic character while promoting new music, but the timing just fell right around the release of the new Little Mermaid. At the same time, there's no doubt that Halle was born for the role (we wouldn't have it any other way).
Also, could this mean a Shakira x Halle collab could be coming? After all, the "Hips Don't Lie" artist joined forces with Beyoncé, Chlöe and Halle's mentor, for "Beautiful Liar" years back.
Regardless, we say: support The Little Mermaid and "Copa vacia!" Everyone eats.
