Posted March 21, 200718 yr Britons often have problems accepting rock music that comes from non-English-speaking countries. If Johnny Foreigner sticks to his own language, he at least retains an exotic allure, but when he starts to sing in English, we think "Eurovision" and instinctively wince. The success enjoyed in the UK by Shakira Isabel Mebarak Repoll, then, is all the more surprising. Since 2001, the Colombian singer-songwriter, hugely successful in the Spanish-speaking world, has been waging a serious assault on the anglophone market. When she was learning English, she would not only sing in the language but write in it, too: in 2005 she released two different albums, one written and sung in Spanish, the other in English, each wolfing down a smorgasbord of musical influences. Last July, her Hips Don't Lie single hit No 1 in time to become the last song played on Top of the Pops. Hips Don't Lie is saved until the end of this show, her first British gig in four years, and its blending of hip-hop, reggaeton, jazz, Latin, pop and soul influences results in an irrepressible moment of pop euphoria that Shakira works expertly. It ends with an elaborate Bollywood-styled set piece, six sari-wrapped dancers dipping and swirling amid an explosion of pastel- coloured ticker-tapeYet despite the carefully planned choreography, Shakira's music remains earthy and natural. There are times tonight where she and her multi-national band sound like a world music gazetteer. Shards of Middle Eastern influence (her father is Lebanese) collide with filigrees of flamenco guitar work in the epic No, and excitable hip-hop rhythms coexist with Caribbean moods and calypso bounce during La Tortura. While the influences are diverse and their application sometimes scattershot, the unifying constant is a hard-driven rock sound that gives the set momentum and purpose. It certainly helps that Shakira is an avid student of the art of rock performance. There are bits of every great pop show(wo)man here: a connect-with-the-people foray into the crowd taken straight from the Bono playbook; a black T-shirt donned for an Alanis-like high-decibel emote; respectful nods to, and lifts from, Madonna, Beyoncé and J-Lo. And, whether she is writhing during Pies Descalzos, Sueños Blancos or starting Whenever, Wherever with an elaborate belly-dance routine involving a silver rope, Shakira's expressive sensuality gives her show a power and potency that renders language barriers irrelevant.
March 21, 200718 yr good review, the opening line is correct, shakira will always struggle here cause some britons won't accept the fact she is singing in her 3rd language so she won't be taken seriously or will veer be in their mind credible, its their loss!! i can't see Madonna, Beyoncé and J-Lo be able to carry a tour with just them on the stage without back up dancers all the time plus shakira's musical journey is much broader where as M, B and J are quite narrow, shakira is different and unique in that sense
March 23, 200718 yr in todays guardian there is an article about shakira on page 20 (main section), its a profile on her.... http://www.guardian.co.uk/colombia/story/0,,2041358,00.html
March 23, 200718 yr Author in todays guardian there is an article about shakira on page 20 (main section), its a profile on her.... http://www.guardian.co.uk/colombia/story/0,,2041358,00.html Go to see the uk id accepting her, i like that article but it does make her sound like she had only 3 albums before laundry service but meh :lol: The upper class newspapers are picking up on her first which is a good thing but for her to be huge here, the tabloids need to kick in... i think they are starting to see her as a huge artist because she had the huge hit that was HDL last year and she is going to have another huge hit this year, in the form of beautiful liar, but she should release pure intuition after that and then have her3rd big hit... the only problem with shaki being big in the uk is that after this album isdone, she will also be done for a few years, that is bad for the uk music scene and i feel like that shaki will have to start all over again trying to get the uk's attention when she makes er comeback in quite a few years. In my opinion she should have another album out in 2 years but i doubt it... ido think she should have another album and then start a family before then making another one ^_^
March 25, 200718 yr the respectable newspapers are starting to understand and respect shakira as an artist and seperate her from her pop peers, its taken a while though she confuses the media and the public :wacko: i love this line from this independent review... "she has creative control as her own writer-producer that exceeds even Madonna's, and separates her from moulded, helpless superstars such as Britney. That explains the unpredictable, organic feel of tonight's show, which is clearly the creation of an artist, not a corporation" and this "the pop industry has not yet tamed Shakira into product" good analysis here is the full article.... http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/r...icle2378382.ece also heres another good one from channel 4's website.... http://www.channel4.com/blogs/page/music?e...y_knew_that_she i like this part.... "What sets Shakira apart from Britney, Madonna or Beyonce (apart from being more popular internationally, and smarter, and prettier, OK, we'll stop) is instead of going nuts, religious or boring, Shakira just seems to get nicer, happier, better. But all the time she's still the complete artist. The real deal. The people's popstar."
March 25, 200718 yr Author It is weird how everyone is complimenting her now.. if only she did a full uk tour...
March 25, 200718 yr Author Queston: why do all of the reviews claim she hs only sold 27 million albums, when it is actually past 40 non??
March 30, 200718 yr I think 27 million was the last official total released by her record company. Great review. The Guardian love Shakira, they've always been really generous with their reviews and seem to actually understand what Shakira is about, unlike when you read Heat reviews where they class her with the likes of Britney and other "divas". The only time they pissed me off was when they said FO1 only appeals to sexually repressed people in tapas bars :lol:
March 30, 200718 yr Author The only time they pissed me off was when they said FO1 only appeals to sexually repressed people in tapas bars :lol: Heat said that? why? :lol:
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