I agree that if the album is delayed they need to add some exclusive U.S. material and I happen to think that material should be Spanglish/Spanish-language-influenced. The reason her last album didn't take off right away is because it was stripped of her trademark sound. This new material sounds cool but I don't think it's going to do well with U.S. audiences.
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"Don't Bother" is an awesome song! That's probably my favorite track off of Shakira's last album. She should've won Female Rock Vocal for that song, but sadly the category no longer exists.
But I agree American audiences only like the "hip shaking" Shakira and we all know she's so much more than that.
SHAKIRA: SEA WOLF If on her album Shakira defines the terms of her sexuality, she’s also defending her inalienable right to be a bit silly
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If last year, video-wise, was all about Beyoncé’s rumptacular display on Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It), any debate about the defining video of 2009 effectively ended with the return of Shakira. The song, of course, was She Wolf. If you haven’t seen the video, then most of what you need to know is summed up in the singer’s subsequent explanation of her actions on it. “When I was in the case,” she told Jonathan Ross, “I found myself taken by the moment.”
Thank God for the moment. Thank God for Shakira and her inspired decision to preview her new album with a song about a woman’s right “to defend her deepest desires with teeth and claws”. Perhaps most of all though, thank God for Shakira and her ability to levitate her bum from a horizontal position while keeping the rest of her body flat. That Shakira appeared to be stuck inside a giant urinary tract somehow underscored what her fellow Colombian Gabriel García Marquez referred to as her “innocent sensuality”.
In a world not short of female singers who foreground their sexuality while in the process obscuring their identity, Marquez’ s words were well chosen. If on Shakira’s third English- language album she defines the terms of her sexuality, she’s also defending her inalienable right to be, well, a bit silly. Anyone who remembers her 2002 breakthrough hit Whenever, Wherever will be aware that Shakira has a little previous in this respect. The woman who once sang, “Lucky that my breasts are small and humble/ So you don’t confuse them with mountains” is in ripe form here, not least on Gypsy: “I’m a gypsy/ Are you coming with me/ I might steal your clothes and wear them if they fit me.”
Shakira’s claims to have learnt English with the help of a rhyming dictionary are no less borne out by the fantastic Bedouin funk of Why Wait. Shakira impatiently shifts her gaze between the clock and the subject of her affections. “Why wait for later/ I’m not a waiter,” she exclaims.
Even allowing for the accidental second-language poetry which we have long since grown accustomed to hearing on our old Abba records, there’s a playful core at the centre of She Wolf that is no less discernible on the three bonus Spanish versions that append the CD. Perhaps because of her impoverished childhood, Shakira has the air of a woman who can’t keep a straight face, even when, on Mon Amour, cursing the former lover holidaying in Paris with his new girlfriend: “Hope the French fleas eat you both alive/ And your room smells/ And the toilet doesn’t flush.”
But just because, here and on a Wyclef Jean balcony scene duet called Spy, she remains poised on the brink of perpetual laughter, it shouldn’t detract from the meticulous attention to detail that distinguishes this as a superior pop album. In recent interviews Shakira has referenced Canadian electropop nihilists Crytal Castles and you can hear their influence all over She Wolf and Men in This Town. On the four songs recorded with Pharrell Williams, his streamlined future-funk creates welcome room for the insistent hot-tin-roof rhythms that made Hips Don’t Lie the most downloaded song to date. On the last of those songs, she declaims, “You know, a girl like me is difficult to find”. In a world where far more modest talents make far more immodest claims, who would dare to disagree?
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The album has been released worldwide, and as a long-time Shakira fan, I think this is the beginning of the end of her career as we knew it.
There's nothing to write home about in this album. It's kinda sad to witness what she has been reduced to in order to pander to American audiences: one more Britney.
我爱音乐
Posts: 728 | Location: China | Registered: April 19, 2008
Originally posted by DoubleD: "Don't Bother" is an awesome song! That's probably my favorite track off of Shakira's last album. She should've won Female Rock Vocal for that song, but sadly the category no longer exists.
But I agree American audiences only like the "hip shaking" Shakira and we all know she's so much more than that.
I agree DoubleD.She is so..........much more than that.I saw her live with my cousin and he hasn't been right since.She was on the drums,guitar,everything.I have much respect for Shakira as an artist.
Coming out of nowhere second US single will be "Give it Up to Me" featuring Lil Wayne and Timbaland, the song is gonna be part of the exclusive content of the US release.
I heard the song, is good but I dont think will be the next "Hips dont lie" and make a great debut for the album.
"Did it Again" is very interesting as second worldwide single but it sounds like a Fijación Oral 1 track.
Do you like "Give it up to me" ?
This message has been edited. Last edited by: musicboy,
Interesting album from Shakira. All I have to say is that I LOVE "Men In This Town." I can see this song being a huge hit. Other tracks I like are "She Wolf", "Long Time" and "Spy."
Posts: 8671 | Location: Canada | Registered: October 26, 2005
I can see why they pushed this album back. There's no strong 2nd single on the album.
Grammy FYC: Kanye West, 808s & Heartbreak; Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D.; John Legend, Evolver; Paolo Nutini, Sunny Side Up; David Guetta, One Love; Kelly Clarkson, "Already Gone"; Jordin Sparks, "Battlefield"; Kings Of Leon, "Use Somebody"; Maxwell, "Pretty Wings"
There is something really shady about Shakira's recent promotion for "She Wolf".
Sony is pretty much trying to screw up her career in the US. Remember that she's leaving for LiveNation and this is one of the last albums with them. Look at the push-backs, the cheap-looking video and the album cover.
The songs are either cowritten or written by other people but her. This is a Sony album, not a Shakira album. That's how I feel it as a fan.
我爱音乐
Posts: 728 | Location: China | Registered: April 19, 2008
Originally posted by DJWolff: There is something really shady about Shakira's recent promotion for "She Wolf".
Sony is pretty much trying to screw up her career in the US. Remember that she's leaving for LiveNation and this is one of the last albums with them. Look at the push-backs, the cheap-looking video and the album cover.
The songs are either cowritten or written by other people but her. This is a Sony album, not a Shakira album. That's how I feel it as a fan.
Yeah I herd that as well,and it's understandable that they would be bitter that they're loosing one of their best selling artists WW, but still why would they go that low. Just give her the promo that an artist like her deserves and captialize on her sales, and there, both end on a good foot. Didn't Warner do something similar to Madonna as well?
Posts: 5527 | Location: Denver, CO | Registered: October 29, 2007
Originally posted by DJWolff: There is something really shady about Shakira's recent promotion for "She Wolf".
Sony is pretty much trying to screw up her career in the US. Remember that she's leaving for LiveNation and this is one of the last albums with them. Look at the push-backs, the cheap-looking video and the album cover.
The songs are either cowritten or written by other people but her. This is a Sony album, not a Shakira album. That's how I feel it as a fan.
Yeah I herd that as well,and it's understandable that they would be bitter that they're loosing one of their best selling artists WW, but still why would they go that low. Just give her the promo that an artist like her deserves and captialize on her sales, and there, both end on a good foot. Didn't Warner do something similar to Madonna as well?
Yes, but the strange thing about this, is that "Celebration" is almost number 1 in every country of the world, and rigth now the number 1 album worldwide, so I think they are not trying to screw it up at all. "She wolf" is number 1 in Latin America and is doing great in Europe too, so Im not sure about this statement, Shakira´s biggest fanbase is in Europe, Asia and Latin America so if they were planning something to ruin her that is the target. The problem here is that they dont know how to market her here, of course she is so trying not to release another Hips dont lie- La tortura style song, she is not appealing US audience with the current single. In the other hand Madonna´s electro songs like "Celebration", "Sorry", "Get together" "jump" and "Give it to me" had never been hits in America, of course is true in some ways, Sony didnt ask MTV for her performing at this year VMAs, she always did it in every album since Laundry Service, but in the EMAs she will perform.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: musicboy,
Originally posted by DJWolff: There is something really shady about Shakira's recent promotion for "She Wolf".
Sony is pretty much trying to screw up her career in the US. Remember that she's leaving for LiveNation and this is one of the last albums with them. Look at the push-backs, the cheap-looking video and the album cover.
The songs are either cowritten or written by other people but her. This is a Sony album, not a Shakira album. That's how I feel it as a fan.
Yeah I herd that as well,and it's understandable that they would be bitter that they're loosing one of their best selling artists WW, but still why would they go that low. Just give her the promo that an artist like her deserves and captialize on her sales, and there, both end on a good foot. Didn't Warner do something similar to Madonna as well?
Yes, but the strange thing about this, is that "Celebration" is almost number 1 in every country of the world, and rigth now the number 1 album worldwide, so I think they are not trying to screw it up at all. "She wolf" is number 1 in Latin America and is doing great in Europe too, so Im not sure about this statement, Shakira´s biggest fanbase is in Europe, Asia and Latin America so if they were planning something to ruin her that is the target. The problem here is that they dont know how to market her here, of course she is so trying not to release another Hips dont lie- La tortura style song, she is not appealing US audience with the current single.
In the other hand Madonna´s electro songs like "Celebration", "Sorry", "Get together" "jump" and "Give it to me" had never been hits in America, of course is true in some ways, Sony didnt ask MTV for her performing at this year VMAs, she always did it in every album since Laundry Service, but in the EMAs she will perform.
How hard can it be to market a drop dead gorgeous woman, with a body to die for, can sing, dance, and write/compose/produce?
They should do a better job at that, Shaki deserves all the sucess she can get.
Posts: 5527 | Location: Denver, CO | Registered: October 29, 2007
I kind of like the album. It's nothing Earth-shattering or ground-breaking, but the songs are far from bad. "Did It Again" was probably one of my least favorite songs upon first listen but it doesn't seem so bad there - doesn't seem great either. The video is pretty hot though! Especially those few sauna shots...wow.
Posts: 8671 | Location: Canada | Registered: October 26, 2005
I love Shakira, but she needs to stick to singing in Spanish. The spanish version's of She-Wolf and Why Wait are AMAZING, but are ruined when translated!
