Shakira - Biography; Photos, Pictures, Videos, NEWS, Articles
"This album represents exactly the way I am—my state of mind today, as an artist and as a woman," says Shakira. "Some of the songs remind me of my beginnings, so it’s kind of like going back to where everything started, but from a new perspective, with the way I see things now." On her ninth album, Sale El Sol/The Sun Comes Out, one of the few truly global superstars of our time continues her creative journey by looking both forward and back. The disc comes on the heels of Shakira's worldwide smash "Waka Waka," the theme song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which turned into a global phenomenon. It's also the next chapter after 2009's critically-acclaimed, dance-oriented She Wolf, which was the long-awaited follow-up to 2005's groundbreaking one-two punch comprised of Fijacion Oral, Volume 1 and Oral Fixation, Volume 2—a pair of albums which combined to sell over 12 million copies worldwide and secured the young Colombian-born singer's place among pop music royalty.
Sale El Sol marks a return to the eclectic approach that defined Shakira's music and established her unique sound and style. "This album has three directions," she explains. "There's the romantic direction, which I hadn’t tapped into for the past three years, but it suddenly came to me and I couldn’t hold it back. So it’s got songs that are very intense, very romantic.
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"And then there’s the Latino, tropical side of the album," she continues. "I grew up listening to merengue—that was a big part of my life, and I was missing it. I went to the Dominican Republic, the source of merengue, and I started working with El Cata and producing songs like 'Loca' and 'Rabiosa' in this tiny studio in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t planned, I was just following my instincts. So this album is very genuine, and very personal as well."
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A similar spontaneity led to the video for Shakira's new single “Loca,” which features UK star Dizzee Rascal and Dominican artist El Cata (on the English and Spanish versions, respectively). At the last minute, she scrapped plans for a studio shoot and took to the streets of Barcelona with a handheld camera. "The spirit of song is all about freedom, being yourself and not holding back," she says.
This sense of artistic exploration is no surprise coming from a woman who began writing songs at the age of eight; learned to speak English by studying the work of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Walt Whitman; and took history classes at UCLA during her break between albums. The compassionate side of Shakira is most obvious in the remarkable work of her Pies Descalzos (Barefoot) Foundation, which she started at the age of 18 and has now opened its sixth school. The foundation currently provides education and nutrition to over six thousand impoverished children in Colombia and is expanding its work to other countries, including newly launched projects in Haiti and South Africa.
"We shouldn’t think of this as charity” she has said. “Every child has talent to be developed and the potential to become a productive member of society. Education is a powerful tool to unlock those talents—and to break the cycle of poverty that too often traps them.” Shakira has also become a leading advocate for universal education, speaking to world leaders on the topic and advocating policy change to governments around the world.
Over the course of her career, Grammy winner Shakira has sold close to fifty million albums. Her collaborations with such stars as Beyonce and Alejandro Sanz have helped keep her audience expanding continually. She is the only artist from South America to have a Number One song in the US, and her performance was a highlight of the 2009 concert celebrating President Obama's inauguration. She has four of the twenty top-selling hits of the decade, more than any other artist—including 2006's unforgettable "Hips Don't Lie," the biggest-selling single of the 21st Century, which reached the Number One spot in an astonishing 55 countries.
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The response to the song revitalized Shakira, and inspired both the direction of Sale El Sol and the plans for her recently launched world tour. "When I flew to South Africa, I never received so many hugs and kisses," she says. "In the airport, all the immigration officers were dancing the 'Waka Waka' dance! I was already missing the contact with fans, and that showed me the path so I could finish the album with all my energy and joy."
For Shakira, the title of the new album provides the key to her current outlook. "I was a little bit down at the end of last year, but as soon as this year started, the sun started shining for me," she says. "I find myself smiling more often, I feel more free and liberated.
"You go through difficult moments, everybody does, but there’s always the sun inside of us that never extinguishes, and it has come out for me. And, hopefully, it will be a long day in the sun." SOURCE>QUELLE>SURSA http://www.shakira.com/
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After achieving superstardom throughout Latin America, Colombian-born Shakira became Latin pop's biggest female crossover artist since Jennifer Lopez. Noted for her aggressive, rock-influenced approach, Shakira maintained an extraordinary degree of creative control over her music, especially for a female artist; she wrote or co-wrote nearly all of her own material, and in the process gained a reputation as one of Latin music's most ambitiously poetic lyricists. When she released her first English material in late 2001, she became an instant pop sensation, thanks to her quirky poetic sense and a sexy video image built on her hip-shaking belly dance moves.
Shakira Mebarak (full name: Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll) was born February 2, 1977, in Barranquilla, Colombia, into a poor family. Her mother was a native Colombian and her father was of Lebanese descent, and so as a child Shakira soaked up music from both cultures; she also listened heavily to English-language rock & roll, listing her favorite bands in later interviews as Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, the Police, the Cure, and Nirvana. Shakira wrote her first song at age eight, began entering (and winning) talent competitions at age ten, and started learning the guitar at age 11 (one story runs that around this age, she was kicked out of her school choir for singing too forcefully). In 1990, at age 13, Shakira moved to Bogotá in hopes of pursuing a modeling career, but wound up signing a record deal with Sony's Colombian division instead. Her 1991 debut album, Magia, was comprised of songs she'd written over the past five or six years, including some of her earliest efforts. Although it didn't break internationally, the record started to make a name for her in her home country. Dissatisfied with the pop inclinations of the follow-up, 1993's Peligro, Shakira changed direction for a time, joining the cast of the Colombian soap opera El Oasis in 1994.
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When Shakira returned to recording in 1995, she asserted more control over the direction of her music and worked more rock & roll rhythms -- as well as occasional Arabic tinges -- into her Latin pop material. The first results were Pies Descalzos, which was initially released in 1995; a slow seller at first, the album gradually caught on thanks to "Estoy Aqui," which became a hit all over Latin America, as well as Spain. After that breakthrough, Pies Descalzos just kept spinning off singles: "Dónde Estás Corazón?," "Antología," "Pienso en Ti," "Un Poco de Amor," "Se Quiere, Se Mata." The album hit number one in eight different countries and eventually went platinum in the U.S. as well; Shakira toured for nearly two years promoting it (she finally left El Oasis in 1997).
Seeking to build on her success, Shakira signed Emilio Estefan -- Gloria's husband and a highly successful music-biz insider -- as her manager and producer. The move paid off when her follow-up album, 1998's Dónde Están los Ladrones? (Where Are the Thieves?), became an even bigger worldwide hit than its predecessor. What was more, it cracked the lucrative U.S. market wide open, spending 11 weeks at number one on Billboard's Latin album chart and producing two U.S. number ones (on the Latin chart) with "Ciega, Sordomuda" and "Tu." The album's signature track, however, was the worldwide hit "Ojos Así," her most explicit nod yet to the Arabic music she'd picked up from her father (not to mention its latent belly dancing connotations). Dónde Están los Ladrones? was also the most effective presentation yet of Shakira's strong-willed persona; her self-analysis made her even more popular among female fans, while her anger over love gone wrong drew comparisons to Alanis Morissette.
When Gloria Estefan offered to translate "Ojos Así" into English, the prospect of a crossover suddenly seemed tangible, and Shakira decided that the most effective way to maintain control over her material was to learn English well enough to write in it herself. In the meantime, she set the stage for her crossover bid with a performance on MTV Unplugged, the channel's first Spanish-language broadcast. MTV Unplugged was released as an album in early 2000, and topped the Latin charts for two weeks on its way to becoming her third straight platinum album; it also won a Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album. At the inaugural Latin Grammy Awards ceremony in 2000, Shakira delivered a much-discussed, show-stopping performance of "Ojos Así" and took home Unplugged-related trophies for Best Female Pop Vocal ("Ojos Así") and Best Female Rock Vocal ("Octavo Dia").
Mainstream pop stardom beckoned. Shakira dyed her long brown hair blonde, romanced Antonio de la Rua (son of the former president of Argentina), and went to work on her first (mostly) English-language album, Laundry Service. The single/video "Whenever, Wherever" was released in advance of the album in late 2001, and made her a star in the English-speaking world almost overnight. Laundry Service entered the American pop charts at number three, and "Whenever, Wherever" climbed into the Top Ten of the singles chart, peaking at number six. The follow-up, "Underneath Your Clothes," also hit the Top Ten, halting at number nine; less than a year after its release, Laundry Service had gone triple platinum. Reviews of Laundry Service were divided as to the effectiveness of Shakira's English lyrics, but nearly all agreed on her unique poetic imagery.
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Extensive touring to support Laundry Service led to a long break for the singer, so a remix collection (2002's Laundry Service: Washed and Dried) and a live album (2004's Live & Off the Record) appeared in lieu of a new album. Revitalized, Shakira began the writing process for her next release and soon had 60 songs ready to go, some in English, some in Spanish; 20 of those songs were selected and divided up by language to make two different albums. Both appeared in 2005 and both hit the Top Ten, with the Spanish-language album Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1 leading the way in June with a number four placing and the English-language album, Oral Fixation, Vol. 2, following in November at number five. As sales of Oral Fixation began to slow in early 2006, Epic reissued the album in March with a bonus track, "Hip Don't Lie." The newly recorded song went on to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart in June, becoming one of the summer's biggest hits and reviving sales of Oral Fixation, as well as Shakira's entire back catalog.
Shakira signed a ten-year contract with Live Nation in 2008, prompting Forbes to deem her the fourth top-earning female musician in history. She also worked heavily on another album, traveling to multiple cities while collaborating with such producers as RedOne, Wyclef Jean, and Luis F. Ochoa. She Wolf was completed in 2009 and readied for release in October, marking her third English-language album. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi
SOURCE>QUELLE>SURSA http://www.mtv.com/
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