Shakira

Shakira's domestic MTV breakthrough as a writhing, sand-caked temptress in the "Whenever, Wherever" video inadvertently defined her rebirth as a virile pop star in the States. Preceded by three years of chart-topping hits in the Latin music market, it was the point where her moldable image (cascading brown hair now bleached blonde; booming, confident attempts at English) caught up with recent changes in her songwriting (the belly-dancing beat of "Ojos Así," a steamy taping of [i]MTV Unplugged[/i], a disco detour on "Ready for the Good Times").

As the most successful crossover Latin artist since Jennifer Lopez, Shakira first worked her way into our CD changers with the Americanized songs of [i]Laundry Service[/i]. As many of our Next Steps show, her overnight fan base then turned to four previous, immensely popular Spanish albums for further listening. These rock-solid selections include the piano-propelled, promenade serenade of "Tú," the tropical sway of "Un Poco de Amor," and the accordion stomp of "Se Quiere, Se Mata."

It took Shakira four years to follow-up her gauntlet-dropping English debut, [i]Laundry Service[/i]. And what a successor she struck — 20 carefully constructed songs split between Spanish ([i]Fijación Oral, Vol. 1[/i]) and English ([i]Oral Fixation, Vol. 2[/i]) efforts. Tinges of techno creep into the cracks of "Timor," rock guitars rise and fall during "How Do You Do," and the quivering synths of "Las de la Intuición" are strong enough to set a dance floor on fire.

A pop phenomenon in her native Colombia (and most of South America) well before her mainstream U.S. hit, [i]Laundry Service[/i], Shakira has achieved a seldom seen level of success with both English- and Spanish-speaking audiences Stateside. It's in no way contrived, either, as she was raised in the rich, culture-clash environment of a Lebanese father, Colombian mother, and a radio that beamed in such American rock bands as Nirvana, the Police, and the Cure. As a result, Shakira's songs ignore genre boundaries as well, mixing traditional (accordions, sexualized rhythms built upon Latin percussion) and modern (dance beats, backup rock bands) sounds in a postmodern approach to pop.