She is cool, has attitude and doesn't seem like a dumb bimbo and diva unlike many others. Maybe she shouldn't have gone mainstream pop/r&b like she did but I guess that's what she had to do if she wanted to make it outside Latin-America, especially after the mighty latino-wave vanished. I really liked her first English album, that's how I prefer her (when it comes to English speaking albums) and I think her special voice gives a cool edge to her music.
[Edited 12/2/09 3:47am]

Who can forget the moment she ruined this already awful song by Aerosmith?



but who knew she could play harmonica?

proof that sex still sells

She got it like that, i guess. take a look -


















She just has "take it or leave it" voice as some would say.
She got signed as a child at like 13 years old and found first sucess at 1995/1996.

I dare to say Shakira has more "musical talent" than Beyonce who is viewed as some "music genius/prodigy" - not talking about voice but involvement in music, songwriting,...

japanrocks said:

can you make aerosmith worse?

1 word: Knees

Graycap23 said:

She signed when she was 13 years old.

sextonseven said:

Not is the U.S.

Graycap23 said:

The Sony label is worldwide.

sextonseven said:

Exactly. It was Sony Columbia. Period. They're an international company.

ernestsewell said:

She started out singing Spanish music. That is not marketed 2 the U.S.

I think she's waaaaay different then the likes of Britney or Rihanna. Unlike them she can actually play guitar and writes alot of her music. Also unlike them her music has been spread out throughout genres. She has pure pop songs like Wherever, Whenever. She has R&B hip hop like Give it up to me, Hips Don't Lie. She has lite rock songs like Don't Bother (my personal favorite). She has electronica like She Wolf. She's not your average pop star, she's quirky with songs that have lyrics like "For you I would give up everything I own and move to a communist country" or "Lucky my breasts are small and humble so you don't confuse them with mountains" personally I love how much more human she comes off than Britney.

I get that She Wolf is awful...and yet, I'm somehow totally addicted to it.

I like the part where she says she's being used like an office coffeemaker. That's some kind of genius.

Graycap23 said:

Unless the artist is signed to the Sony Latin imprint in the states.

Forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who have trespassed against us
Give us this day our daily bread
Daily bread, daily bread

In cello et in terra fiat voluntas tua
Gloria Spiritui Sancto

What language do you speak
If you speak at all?
Are you some kind of freak
Who lives to raise the ones who fall?

Hey, could you tell me why
The cat fights the dog?
Do you go to the Mosque
Or the Synagogue?

And if our fates have all been wrapped around your finger
And if you wrote the script then why the troublemakers?

How do you do?
How does it feel to be so high
And are you happy?
Do you ever cry?

... I sometimes cry ...

You've made mistakes
Well that's OK 'cause we all have
But if I forgive yours
Will you forgive mine?

Hey, do you feel our pain
And walk in our shoes?
Have you ever felt starved
Or is your belly always full?

How many people die
And hurt in your name?
Hey, does that make you proud
Or does it bring you shame?

And if our fates have all been wrapped around your finger
And if you wrote the script then why the troublemakers?

How do you do?
How does it feel to be so high
And are you happy?
Do you ever cry?

... I sometimes cry ...

You've made mistakes
Well that's OK 'cause we all have
But if I forgive yours
Will you forgive mine?

Forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who have trespassed against us
...Sameh Zoonoobee Allah... [Arabic. English translation: "Forgive my sins, Oh, Lord"]
Give us this day our daily bread
...Mechila... [Hebrew. English translation: "Forgiveness"]
Daily bread
...Ya Allah (S'lach lanu)... [Hebrew. English translation: "Oh, Lord (Forgive us)"]
Daily bread
...Ya Allah (S'lach lanu)...

Forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who have trespassed against us
...Sameh Zoonoobee Allah...
Give us this day our daily bread
...Mechila...
Daily bread
...S'lach lanu...
Daily bread
Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory
Amen!

How do you do?
How does it feel to be so high
And are you happy?
Do you ever cry?

... I sometimes cry ...

You've made mistakes
Well that's OK 'cause we all have
And if I forgive yours
Will you forgive mine?

... Will you forgive mine? ...

How do you do?
How does it feel to be so high
And are you happy?
Do you ever cry?

... I sometimes cry ...

You've made mistakes
And that's OK 'cause we all have
But if I forgive yours
Will you forgive mine...?

El octavo dia Dios
despues de tanto trabajar

Para liberar tensiones
luego ya de revisar

Dijo todo esta muy bien
ya es hora de descansar

Y se fue a dar
un paseo
por el espacio
sideral

Quien se iba a imaginar
que el mismo Dios
al regresar

Iba a encontrarlo todo
en un desorden infernal

Y que se iba a convertir
en un desempleado mas

De la tasa
que anualmente
esta
creciendo
sin
parar


Desde ese entonces
hay quienes lo han
visto

Solo en las calles

transitar
La
La
La

Anda esperando
paciente por alguien

Con quien
al menos,
tranquilo
pueda
conversar




Mientras tanto
este mundo
gira y gira
sin poderlo
detener

Y aqui abajo
unos cuantos
nos manejan
como fichas
de ajedrez

No soy
la clase de idiota
que se deja convencer

Pero digo la verdad

Hasta un ciego
lo
puede
ver







Si a falta
de ocupacion
o de excesiva
soledad


Dios no resistiera mas
y se marchara a otro lugar

Seria nuestra perdicion
no hubiera remedio mas



que adorar a
Michael Jackson
a
Bill Clinton
o
a
Tarzan


Es mas dificil
ser rey sin corona

Que una persona

Mas normal

La
La
La

Pobre de Dios,
que no sale en
revistas

Que no es modelo
ni artista
O de familia real


Mientras tanto
este mundo
gira y gira
sin poderlo
detener

Y aqui abajo
unos cuantos
nos manejan
como fichas
de ajedrez

No soy
la clase de idiota
que se deja convencer

Pero digo la verdad

Hasta un ciego
lo
puede
ver
Mientras tanto
este mundo
gira y gira
sin poderlo
detener

Y aqui abajo
unos cuantos
nos manejan
como fichas
de ajedrez

No soy
la clase de idiota
que se deja convencer

Pero digo la verdad

Hasta un ciego
lo
puede
ver

the eighth God points out so much work
to free tensions already revising
he said everything's fine and it's and hour of resting
and he left for a walk in given space
who will imagine that the same God upon returning
will find everthing out of order
and that one more will be unemployed
at that rate annually growing without stopping

for that then who has seen him
alone in the streets and traffic
he's waiting for somebody patient
one who's calm
and can converse

while so much of this world rotates and rotates
without being able to stop
and here below some manage us as chess records
i'm not the idiot's class
that allowes you to convince, but i say the truth
and until a blind man can see it

if a lack of occupation
or excessive solitude
God didn't resist more
and left to another place
ti would be our perdition
there would not be another remedy more
to adore Michael Jackson
Bill Clinton or Tarzan

it's more difficult to be a king without a crown
who is a more normal person
poor God doesn't leave in the magazines
that it's not a model nor an artist or a real family

while so much of this world rotates and rotates
without being able to stop
and here below some manage us as chess records
i'm not the idiot's class
that allows you to convince, but i say the truth
and until a blind man can see it

RKJCNE said:

i lover the way she uses the English language.

ehuffnsd said:

Maybe that's what makes her lyrics sound so fresh, the fact that its her second language and she doesn't have the normal use imprinted in her brain the way we do. My favorite lyrics of hers is probly "My body's craving, so feed the hungry"

ass

Shakira also adds an Middle Eastern flavor to her Latin style as well.

shorttrini said:

she is one hell of a poet this one.

This woman sings like a pig caught in barbed wire.

Graycap23 said:

lol

she is hotness

and i liked this performance w/Wycleff



but before y'all ever heard of her, i had to listen to her in Spanish cuz this fine little Peruvian chick i used to date would listen to that stuff every day
[Edited 12/3/09 6:38am]

Graycap23 said:

Ya, that's it. All really attractive women suck cock to get ahead in the music bizz.

Please. That tired answer is so pathetic.

JustErin said:

The woman is nice 2 look at.....but I see ZERO singing talent.
How do u explain it?

Graycap23 said:

"The woman is nice 2 look at"

And saying she has zero talent is just flat out wrong. You might not like her style of singing but the girl can actually sing.

The excuse that she is sucking cock to be famous is sooooo stupid. Is she sucking the cocks of all the record buying public to get them to buy her shit?

Face it, you guys might not like her, but millions of people do.

The end.

JustErin said:

Lol.....the question was about record contracts, not the buying public.

The public will buy anything. Just look at the Billboard 200.

Graycap23 said:

I'll say it again: Shakira's first album came out on the Sony label when she was 13 and she's been on one of their imprints ever since.



Sony was not about to let her sign to a different label in the states for her first English album when her last few Spanish language albums were so successful worldwide.

Now if you want to say someone else got on their knees to get her signed back then, well, that's a different story.

sextonseven said:

the misogyny on this thread is kinda sicking.