Review: Shakira Seduces With Follow-Up

11/28/2005 12:14 PM, AP
Michelle Morgante

Shakira, "Oral Fixation Vol. 2" Epic

She's a woman who thinks with her hips and follows her mouth. Or is it the other way around? In either case, Shakira is on the move again with the follow-up to this summer's hit album "Fijacion Oral Vol. 1" — this round in English. And again, her charm is seductive.

The 28-year-old superstar from Colombia shows off her rich voice, with its iconic yodel, which she plays like the powerful instrument it is — at times romantically soft, soaringly operatic, or times angrily rock.

The album's first single, "Don't Bother," will draw Alanis comparisons not only for the two artists' similar vocal warbling, but for the imagery of a woman cast aside for another who is "fat free" and practices Tai Chi. But, she purrs, "I'm sure she doesn't know how to touch you like I would." She also tackles weighty issues such as God, as in the opening "How Do You Do": "Hey do you feel our pain and walk in our shoes? Have you ever felt starved? Or is your belly always full?"

As with "Fijacion Oral Vol. 1," Shakira explores genres, often mixing multiple influences in a single song. "Animal City" gives a belly-dance shake to Shakira's paternal Lebanese roots, but with a surf-guitar undertone and mariachi-horn highlights.

Aside from a couple of songs carried over from Vol. 1, "Oral Fixation" is not at all a mere translation of her Spanish-language work. Shakira has written or co-written the lyrics in English. (She has said she lets the song dictate which language it needs to be written in.) The result is a collection that has an overall sound familiar to English-language radio, rather than the Latin vibe found in her Spanish albums: The pop-rock "Hey You" has a British invasion-sound to it.

Produced by the renowned Rick Rubin, "Oral Fixation" also features cameos by Carlos Santana and Gustavo Cerati, the Argentinian former lead singer for pop-rock band Soda Stereo.

Shakira has been performing since she was 8, and that may explain why an artist so young is able to so effortlessly move across cultural and musical boundaries. And when Shakira moves, it's hard not to follow.