Spanish prosecutors are seeking an eight-year sentence for Shakira on tax fraud charges. In a new Elle cover story, the international pop star weighs in on those charges, calling them “false” and alleging that she has paid everything she owes to the government.

[Sighs] Because I have to fight for what I believe; because these are false accusations. First of all, I didn’t spend 183 days per year at that time at all. I was busy fulfilling my professional commitments around the world. Second, I’ve paid everything they claimed I owed, even before they filed a lawsuit. So as of today, I owe zero to them. And finally, I was advised by one of the four biggest tax specialist firms in the world, PricewaterhouseCoopers, so I was confident that I was doing things correctly and transparently from day one. However, even without evidence to support these fictional claims, as they usually do, they’ve resorted to a salacious press campaign to try to sway people, and apply pressure in the media along with the threat of reputational damage in order to coerce settlement agreements. It is well known that the Spanish tax authorities do this often not only with celebrities like me (or [Cristiano] Ronaldo, Neymar, [Xabi] Alonso, and many more), it also happens unjustly to the regular taxpayer. It’s just their style. But I’m confident that I have enough proof to support my case and that justice will prevail in my favor.

The story also touches on Shakira’s upcoming album, her split from Spanish soccer star Gerard Piqué, how superstar peers like will.i.am and Chris Martin are part of her support system, and more. It can be read here, and an accompanying video feature is below.