Shakira’s New Album Needs To Be Let Out Of Its Cage

noah | October 14, 2009 3:00 pm

Shakira’s She Wolf came out in Europe and Latin America this week—a month in advance of its delayed U.S. release date—and thanks to my interest in the weird titular single, I decided to give it a whirl. And much like “She Wolf” the song, She Wolf the album is strangely seductive, a dime-store disco record that pulls from influences all over the globe as the Colombian singer purrs, mewls, moans, and threatens to dissolve into giggles simply because of how much fun she’s clearly having. I have no idea how this album will be sold to the American public, if it even will at all, but it’s certainly worth your time. She Wolf‘s European incarnation is fairly brief—only 12 tracks, although the final three songs are Spanish-language versions of other tracks on the record. (According to a preorder page, the U.S. version will be “expanded” somehow.) One of my favorites from first listen is “Spy,” which starts off with Shakira scatting like a particularly wounded trumpet and blossoms into a straight-up rollerskate jam that would easily fit into any downtown disco-revival night happening right now. Even the egregious Wyclef toasting sounds OK! Clip below.

I also dig “Why Wait,” which takes the opening of Britney Spears’ “Gimme More” and forces the track to grow up, take a trip to the Middle East, and ditch all that self-deprecating “bitch” talk. And Shakira was on Dancing With The Stars last night; there she performed another track from the album that I really like, “Did It Again,” while assisted by keytars and a phalanx of drummers:
Amazing, no? I really have no idea how the American market will take this, but at least she’s keeping things kind of interesting. Shakira – She Wolf – Spy [YouTube] Shakira Dancing WIth The Stars HD Did It Again NEW SONG! She Wolf DWTS [YouTube] Shakira [Official site]