Tag Archives: Shakira

by

Song of the Day #904: ‘Addicted to You’ – Shakira

Best Songs of 2010 – Honorable Mentions

In 2010, Shakira continued her impressive win streak, releasing Sale el Sol just a year after the irresistible She Wolf.

After the latter record’s club-heavy focus, Sale el Sol was a return to the Latin dance and pop sounds that highlighted the early years of her career.

In a weird way, the record reminds me of Beck’s Guero, in that it’s a mature and measured synthesis of styles dabbled in over the previous decade. Probably the first time that comparison has been made.

Continue reading →

by

Shakira – Sale el Sol

Last year Shakira suffered her first commercial failure in some time, when her dance-heavy English-language She Wolf album failed to light up the charts.

Now, it seems a bit silly in this era to call 350,000 U.S. copies sold (not to mention 1.5 million worldwide) a disappointment but for an artist who’s sold more than 50 million copies of her previous five albums, I suppose the bar is set a little higher.

Despite its tepid sales, She Wolf was an artistic and critical success, its dance-pop sheen highlighting some of the most indelible melodies and infectious beats of Shakira’s career. But according to whoever writes the rules for pop music, the album has gone down as a failure.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #778: ‘Men In This Town’ – Shakira

Shakira’s next, and most recent, album was 2009’s English-language She Wolf. She threw her international listeners a bone by putting out a Spanish version of the lead single (titled ‘Loba’) a month before the album’s release.

She Wolf was a departure for Shakira in that it was more tightly focused than anything she’d released before. In part that’s because the album clocks in at around 30 minutes (not counting some bonus live tracks and alternate versions) and therefore doesn’t leave much room for rampant experimentation.

But mostly Shakira was going for a dance club vibe on these tracks, utilizing every studio trick at her disposal to deliver a slick modern sound heavy on beats and bass.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #775: ‘How Do You Do’ – Shakira

Here’s the Jungian album cover I promised. Thank you, Jung! As Shakira explained, “the reference is to a universal archetype of Eve and the original sin. I think that is something that is really subconsciously in our minds. On the cover of Vol. 2 I wanted to add another reason for Eve to bite the forbidden fruit – that would be her oral fixation.”

Works for me.

Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 might not be the best album Shakira has released, but I find it the most interesting. Stylistically it’s all over the map, with club songs ramming up against florid ballads and alternative rockers. And lyrically Shakira touches on a wider range of topics than she has in the past, including a dip into global politics with ‘Timor.’

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #774: ‘La Tortura’ – Shakira

For reasons either personal or commercial, Shakira remains committed to serving both her English- and Spanish-speaking audiences. Following Laundry Service, her next project was a two-volume release: the all-Spanish Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1 was released in June of 2005 (a long four-year wait since her last CD) and its partner, the all-English Oral Fixation, Vol. 2, came out in November.

This was an ambitious and successful project, even though neither album performed as well as her previous global smash. Laundry Service was a more pop-focused record, while Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1 showcased a return to more traditional Latin music, along with a healthy dose of rock and roll.

Continue reading →