BORN:
February 2, 1977
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."