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Shakira, the graceful one, has been sneaking up on you-the
Grammys, the MTV Video Awards, those Pepsi spots. She's a
child prodigy who wrote her first song at age eight, a
blond-locked Colombian who speaks three languages and loves
only in Spanish. She's a perfectionist who spends hours in the
studio; she needs to be close to nature but her passion is the
crackle of electric guitars. She is in the blush of youth, but
she's far older than her 24 years. As her countryman, Nobel
Prize winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote, "Shakira's
music has a personal stamp that doesn't look like anyone
else's and no one can sing or dance like her, at whatever age,
with such an innocent sensuality, one that seems to be of her
own invention."
The swift ascent of Shakira's star is the stuff of Latin
American legend. At the age of 13, she signed her first
recording contract with Sony Music Colombia and released her
first album Magia. (Magic). After graduating from secondary
school, Shakira decided to dedicate her life to the music,
recording Peligro ("Danger") and Pies Descalzos, ("Barefeet")
in the years that followed, which broke her in Latin America ,
Brazil (over one million sales) and Spain.
Her next album, ?Dónde Están Los Ladrones? produced by
Shakira and executive produced by Emilio Estefan, established
her as the major force behind Latin pop-rock, going
multi-platinum in the U.S., Argentina, Colombia, Chile,
Central America, Mexico and platinum in Spain. Then came a
Grammy and two Latin Grammys, the key TV appearances, the
brave new world of Shakira, the star. Shakira is a walking,
living, breathing, singing contradiction. "I was born and
raised in Colombia, but I listened to bands like Led Zeppelin,
the Cure, the Police, the Beatles and Nirvana," said Shakira.
"I was so in love with that rock sound but at the same time
because my father is of l00% Lebanese descent, I am devoted to
Arabic tastes and sounds. Somehow I'm a fusion of all of those
passions and my music is a fusion of elements that I can make
coexist in the same place, in one song."
It's the songs that make her new album, LAUNDRY SERVICE, her
first with English-language tunes, the kind of breakthrough
work that will turn the pop world on its head. From the
tango-inflected "Objection (Tango)," to the Middle Eastern
flavor of "Eyes Like Yours," to the lyrical innovations of
"Underneath Your Clothes", to the richness of the melodies of
"The One," to the pop-rock of "Whenever Wherever," Shakira
will stand in the ranks of the best singer-songwriters in any
language.
"I think I am celebrating life more than ever," said Shakira.
"I had a slightly narrow vision of love. Now I am feeling
unguarded, and it feels great. I feel washed clean of the way
I looked at things in the past, which is why I am calling the
album LAUNDRY SERVICE."
The most extraordinary thing about LAUNDRY SERVICE is the way
she was able to translate her Latin American sensibility into
a new language. The idea to do songs in English first came up
during Shakira's partnership with Emilio and Gloria Estefan.
Gloria initiated the process by translating "Ojos Así," a song
that appeared on Shakira's last album, Dónde Están Los
Ladrones? (Where are the Thieves?). "I wanted to have her
involved in this somehow because she was one of the people
that really believed that I could make a record in English,"
said Shakira.
But nurturing the belief that she could write songs in English
was a strong challenge. "The first song I wrote by myself for
this record was "Objection," remembered Shakira. "I prayed and
asked God to send me a good song today, and I remember I
started writing the song a couple of hours after. I wrote the
music and lyrics at the same time, and when that happens it's
really magical to me." When she completed "Objection," she
knew that she could write ten more, so she packed up her loved
ones and set up portable studios in rural Uruguay. Taking in
the primordial energy of natural surroundings, Shakira came up
with a crop of new songs more introspective, more passionate
than any she had written before. "I had to find a way to
express my ideas and my feelings, my day to day stories in
English. So I bought a couple of rhyming dictionaries, read
poetry, and authors like Leonard Cohen and Walt Whitman," she
said.
"I would feel love in Spanish but I would think about how to
express that love in English. Afterwards that became such a
natural process, and if you check the subject of my songs,
most of them talk about my own experiences and feelings and
what I was actually going through in my life," said Shakira.
"Is impossible not to write about love.. It's the great
mystery of life. It makes me ask myself new questions every
day."
Shakira is one of the poetic songwriters of her generation and
considered the best female lyricist in Latin America: On the
ballad "Underneath Your Clothes," she claims as territory a
man she likens to "a song written by the hands of God"; on the
blues-rocker "Fool" her "tears make a sea of desert." But she
is still as quirky around the edges as she's always been-on
"Ready for the Good Times" she remembers close encounters with
roaches; on "Poem to a Horse" she scolds a friend dulled by "hydroponic
pot," and on "The One," she rewards her true love by shaving
her legs and learning how to cook.
"I try to represent only myself, but there are many women that
identify with me," said Shakira. "I am definitely not a woman
who washes her husband's clothes every day. I hope I don't
sound like a feminist leader saying these things. I just try
to be honest the way I write."
There's no doubt that Shakira has maintained her creative
integrity with her new project. But perhaps more importantly,
LAUNDRY SERVICE is a record that reflects her deep love for
the basics of rock production. "I felt that I needed to make
an organic record with real players in the studio playing live
music and doing it like they made records 30 years ago, in the
old times," said Shakira. "We used an engineer named Terry
Manning, who's worked with ACDC, Led Zeppelin, Lenny Kravitz.
He's somebody from the old school. I was determined not to
depend on too many electronic sounds, and he definitely
understood that."
On LAUNDRY SERVICE there is a very strong dedication to
old-fashioned rock riffs, to the soulful, bluesy singing
styles of a Bonnie Raitt, even the mournful, wailing guitars
of Aerosmith. But Shakira can't help being herself, and that
means that "Whenever Wherever," will bounce along with some
help from Andean pan flutes and Brazilian drums, and "Eyes
Like Yours" bursts from your CD player with navel-baring,
belly-dancing furor. And for those longing for Shakira in her
original language, four new tracks in Spanish are included.
"The world has become so small and music is so eclectic now,
and our taste is so broad that that's almost predictable that
all this crossover from one culture to another was going to
happen," she said, then paused for a second, making sure
everyone knew she had her priorities straight. "But I know
that rock and roll is never going to die." |
