And the distant star becomes a sun (2001-2004) - A Shakira Overview Pt 3

Three years separate Shakira’s flourishing into the mainstream from her explosion into the lucrative international markets with Laundry Service – an album that is, so far, the crown of her career and one of her most accomplished works, if not her best ever. As it happened since the beginning, the high points are impressive: the lead single Whenever, Wherever successfully rides the dying wave of Americanized Latin pop by trading the all too well known prefabricated Salsa rhythms that brought us people like Ricky Martin and gave Jennifer López’s awfulness a sheen of exoticism, for delicate Andean flutes. A rock-ified ode to all-encompassing, absolute love, it has some of the most contrived and stupid lyrics in history (both in English and Spanish), but Shakira’s feeble yodel and goat-like tremolo imbue the impossibly catchy melody of a passion that few songs could ever have.

Whenever, Wherever

The song managed a respectable number 6 in the US billboard charts, and shot to number one in the UK, paving the way for the more ellaborate singles to follow. Objection (Tango) is the freshest, most carelessly produced track in here, yet it’s also the most cohesive and original, combining an instrumental tango beginning with batucada and rock instrumentation. The lyrics deal, predictably, with a relationship gone awry - Shakira’s obsession with personal inadequacy and the proverbial what-does-she-have-that-I-don’t-have response to an ending love affair are bordering on pathologic fixation, but since the music is excellent, in this occasion these irritating facts are easy to oversee.

Objection (Tango)

Rules

Following the rocky vein we find a truly superb collection of tracks that manage to be appealing to the average Alanis Morissette-liking pseudo-intellectual while channeling the youthful exuberance of the Go Gos. The inescapable Rules is simply adorable with its urgent percussions and dynamic acoustic rock instrumentation, which injects the album with a healthy dose of conventional spontaneity that’s nothing short of refreshing. Not surprisingly at all, Shakira blossoms in these surroundings, and uses this organic naturalness to her best advantage in the adorable semi-ballad Fool, and the nonsensical lyrics driven Poem To A Horse, which seems to have been an attempted homage to Chrissy Hynde’s delicate, uniquely girlie contralto during its soft verses, only to turn into a rousing rock anthem with its beautifully melodic choruses.

Ready for The Good Times

However, Shakira still manages to surprise her listeners by reclaiming her status as a pop princess with the somewhat faltering homage to disco Ready for The Good Times, another trip through excellent music that fails due to utterly disastrous lyrics and a chaotic production. Still, It’s in the Spanish language tracks (or the horribly dull version of Ojos Así) when Shakira stumbles. Whereas Suerte and Te Aviso, Te Anuncio are saved by their freshness, Te Dejo Madrid/I’m leaving You Madrid is just en empty exercise of her tried and tested folk/pop-rock formula, while the insufferable Que me Quedes Tu/That At Least You’re Left To Me is one of the most insipid attempts at an faux acoustic ballad that anyone could have come up with. However, Shakira more than redeems herself with the record's only notable ballad, the Céline Dion-esque slip Underneath Your Clothes, which manages to escape the sugary Adult Contemporary cheesiness by deploying, for once, lyrics that are original in their strangeness.

Underneath Your Clothes

Overwhelmed by endless praise, awards and the additional sales of her Spanish greatest hits, the live DVD/CD compilation Off The Record and her immensely successful worldwide tour, Shakira decided to take things calmly and devote the next to years to produce what would be her most ambitious project ever: the double album Oral Fixation, delivered in two completely different versions both for the Spanish and English language markets. Before anything, I shall remind you to buy her records at Amazon.