Shakira Hones Her Skills

After scoring a Top Ten hit earlier this year with the Spanish-language album Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1, Shakira is back with an English sequel, Oral Fixation, Vol. 2, due out November 29th. Expect this second installment -- also executive-produced by Rick Rubin, and featuring a guest performance by Carlos Santana -- to be more than its predecessor.

"The Spanish album is strictly romantic," says the Colombian pop star, "but the English album embraces more social-oriented topics. I always talk about my opinions in Spanish, but this time something told me to do it in English."

For Shakira, long a Latin pop star, this will be her second effort in the English language: her 2001 English-language debut, Laundry Service, became a crossover hit, peaking at Number Three on the album chart and producing the hits "Whenever, Wherever" and "Underneath Your Clothes."

"I look back at that time now, and I don't know how the heck I was able to put together an album in English and write my own songs in English," she admits, "when my command of the language back then was very limited."

"But today," Shakira adds, "I feel like I'm pretty bilingual. I notice myself sometimes writing in English without even thinking about it. I let a melody or a sentence suggest in which language I would have to write that song. It's been a much more spontaneous creative process."

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Song Stories

“Youth Knows No Pain”

Lykke Li | 2011

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”

More Song Stories entries »

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