SHAKIRA
Laundry Service
Epic
Already a Madonna-level rock star in Latin America, Colombian sensation Shakira has become the latest Latin artist to attempt an English crossover. But don’t expect the flimsy, if catchy, “Livin’ La Vida Loca” cheese of Ricky Martin. Laundry Service is a hot-blooded debut full of crackling electricity, from an artist with more passion than your average Jennifer Lopez.
The 24-year-old Shakira has been involved with music since the age of 13, when she signed her first record deal. At 18, she broke through in her native land with Pies Descalzos and went multiplatinum in several countries (including the United States) with Donde Estan los Ladrones. Even fellow countryman, Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, has sung her praises. It’s easy to know why. Her voice is a unique and powerful instrument, capable of going high and sweet, or dropping to deep, commanding rumble, while avoiding the vocal chord-abusing histrionics of Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson and Celine Dion (as a singer, the thin-voiced J. Lo makes a great actress). She gave show-stealing performances at awards shows like the Latin Grammies. In charge of her own music, she wrote (or co-wrote) all the songs on Laundry Service herself, with Emilio Estefan Jr. (who worked with Mandy Moore on her last album), as on los Ladrones. Shakira has created a Latin-tinged pop-rock album that is sexy, playful and spirited – a far cry from the homogenized, indistinguishable work of her forebears (i.e. Ricky).
Shakira kicks off the album on a high note, with “Objection Tango.” Not surprisingly, the song starts with a traditional tango flourish, which it soon pairs with a sped-up surf rock beat. Shakira tears through the song with a crazed, ardent energy, whirling through the beats like a Tasmanian devil. It starts the album with a blast. Unfortunately, the singer quickly stumbles with “Underneath Your Clothes,” which has a slight country lilt. That’s strike one, because I don’t like country. But then it couldn’t even have the guts to go all out and be respectable, “classic” country. Instead, she plays it safe, adopting the vapid brand of Faith Hill pop-country, which is worse.
Shakira regains her footing on first single “Whenever, Wherever,” co-written with Gloria Estefan. The video is utterly shameless with a belly-dancing Shakira writhing in the mud (what else do you expect from Francis Lawrence, the guy who turned Britney Spears’ “I’m A Slave 4 You” into Skinemax soft-core), but the song is incredibly catchy. It’s a sister to Enrigue Iglesias’ “Rhythm Divine,” but has added flavor with mandolins, Andean pan flutes and Brazilian drums in the background. It also highlights Shakira’s incredible range most dramatically. “Eyes Like Yours” has a de rigueur Middle Eastern feel to it (Shakira is part Lebanese). You can feel the heat as Shakira grunts and moans her way through the tribal drums. The song originally appeared as “Ojos Asi” on los Ladrones: Gloria Estefan translated the lyrics into English. Unlike many songs that ride the same bandwagon, “Eyes Like Yours” has forcefulness, a full-bodied muscle.
“Ready for the Good Times” brings back the good old days of the disco, with a beat that wouldn’t be out of place in the era of white leisure suits. “Fool” recalls the wounded girl angst rock of Alanis Morrisette (not for nothing has Shakira been compared to Alanis), with lyrics like “You might swear, you’d never hit a lady/ well let me say, you’re not too far from maybe/ everyday you find new ways to hurt me.” Her collaboration with populist hitmaker Glen Ballard (who worked on recent albums by the Corrs, Shelby Lynne and the Dave Matthews Band) is hamstrung by the regurgitation of bland clich
