Deep Album Cuts Vol. 403: Shakira
Shakira was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year, and didn't make it all the way to the class of 2026. But I thought it was interesting that she got a nod, between that and Mana's nomination last year it seems like they're making a concerted effort to get more Latin American representation in the Hall.
2. Quiero
3. Si Te Vas
4. Donde Estan los Ladrones
5. Rules
6. Poem to a Horse
7. Fool
8. La Pared
9. En Tus Pupilas
10. Animal City
10. Animal City
11. Costume Makes the Clown
12. Dreams for Plans
13. Spy f/ Wyclef Jean
14. Men in This Town
15. Long Time
16. Gordita f/ Residente
17. Devocion
18. Cut Me Deep f/ MAGIC!
19. You Don't Care About Me
20. Amarillo
21. Toneladas
22. Cohete f/ Rauw Alejandro
23. Como Donde y Cuando
Tracks 1 and 2 from Pies Descalzos (1995)
Tracks 1 and 2 from Pies Descalzos (1995)
Tracks 3 and 4 from Donde Estan los Ladrones? (1998)
Tracks 5, 6, and 7 from Laundry Service (2001)
Tracks 8 and 9 from Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1 (2005)
Tracks 10, 11, and 12 from Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 (2005)
Tracks 13, 14, and 15 from She Wolf (2009)
Tracks 16 and 17 from Sale el Sol (2010)
Tracks 18 and 19 from Shakira (2014)
Tracks 20 and 21 from El Dorado (2017)
Tracks 22 and 23 from Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (2024)
Shakira has been with Sony for over 30 years, releasing her debut at 14 years old in 1991, although her first two albums didn't chart and aren't on streaming services today. 1995's Pies Descalzos was the album that made her a huge star in Latin America, and it remains the album she's performed songs from the most. I remember when there was that big wave of Latin pop crossover success in the late '90s and early 2000s, the American media made Shakira out to be the Colombian equivalent of Alanis Morissette, and I can hear why that was the popular narrative when I listen to songs from Donde Estan los Ladrones?, but now that she's had decades of hits, Shakira just sounds like Shakira to me, she is who she is. Even her transition into a more dance-pop sound after those guitar-heavy early albums feels relatively organic compared to the way a lot of American singers just jump from one genre to another sometimes.
As with my Mana and Bad Bunny playlists, I will cop to my ignorant American privilege that not being fluent in Spanish means that my comprehension of the lyrics of over half of these songs is limited to how much I'm willing to google English translations. I do like Shakira's odd sense of humor that really shines through on a lot of her songs, though, some of my favorites here are "Poem to a Horse" and "Costume Makes the Clown," which opens with a reference to perhaps her most famous lyric from "Whenever, Wherever" ("Told you I felt lucky with my humble breasts").
A few years ago I wrote a Billboard piece about collaborators who made one giant hit together and then reunited for another song or two later on. And I wish I'd noticed Shakira and Wyclef Jean's second collaboration "Spy" to mention it in the piece. I've actually never been a big fan of "Hips Don't Lie," so I like "Spy" a lot more, that bit where Shakira sings a 'trumpet' part is hilarious. I was also surprised to realize that Shakira has multiple songs with the Canadian band MAGIC! of "Rude" fame, and that I enjoy one of them.
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