Shakira
She wolf

THE REVIEW

Shakira lets four years pass before offering us her new work, which leaves a bit of a bitter taste due to its brevity (9 new songs and 3 versions in Spanish). This time, mindful of the successful episodes of "Hips don't lie" and "Beautiful Liar" that catapulted her into the North American market, the Colombian-born singer employs a diverse team of producers and songwriters, from Wyclef Jean, with whom she has already collaborated, to Sam Endicott of The Bravery, not forgetting the famous Pharrell Williams of the Neptunes.

Unfortunately, it is precisely the four tracks written with Williams that represent the real weak point of the album from a strictly musical point of view. Williams offers his usual sound, previously used by other singers including Gwen Stefani. A sound with a strong r&b matrix and enriched with various embellishments (not precisely influences, but purely decorative in themselves). The album is thus weighed down by four rather impersonal songs that have little to do with Shakira's style. Aside from "Did It Again", vaguely melancholic and supported by percussion that imitates a kind of military march, we have "Long Time", whose rhythm closely recalls Gwen Stefani's "Rich Girl" and "Why Wait", the lowest point of the album with its skimpy electronics (the intro is very reminiscent of Britney Spears' tacky "Gimme More"), faux-tribal percussion, and randomly inserted oriental sounds. In short, a decidedly kitsch track that is soon forgotten in favor of the subsequent "Good Stuff", a real mish-mash of sounds, featuring even a marimba xylophone, but that benefits from a more successful melody.

After this block of songs by Williams, we finally breathe fresh air and the album happily takes off, intriguing the listener again as it did with the initial track, "She Wolf", steeped in 70s disco and enriched with a dirty and bizarre sound. "Men in This Town" sheds all r&b influences and presents itself as a strongly electronic dance track. A real breath of fresh air after four catchy yet contrived songs. Abandoning the femme fatale tones of "She Wolf" (let's be honest, femme fatales are old news now) , follows "Gypsy", a very sunny and colorful song that relies solely on acoustic instruments, including a banjo. "Spy", sung with Wyclef Jean, instead picks up the 70s rhythms of the title track, incorporating purely black influences without overdoing it. We then conclude with "Mon Amour", a convincing pop-rock descendant track that closes the album worthily. There are then the Spanish versions of "She Wolf", "Did It Again" and "Why Wait", of which I must mention only "La Loba", better than the original in English thanks to the greater smoothness that the Spanish language provides to the melody.

In conclusion, after four years we expected a little more from Shakira, an artist who is mainstream, yes, but who also proved to be interesting and ingenious in her previous works, rich in multiple influences and musical inventions. We hope that the Spanish album that should follow this "She Wolf" is not a stand-alone work but complements it since only nine songs do not fully satisfy. She could have included a few more tracks, perhaps a couple of ballads, whose absence is felt.