Hot on the heels of the gloriously weird commercial stiff
She Wolf,
Shakira wrote and recorded
"Waka Waka," a football anthem that swept the globe during the throes of 2010 World Cup fever.
"Waka Waka" provided the perfect pivot to the quickly recorded new album
Sale el Sol, a set that shows no allegiance to any one sound or language.
Shakira mostly ditches the electro-throb of
She Wolf in favor for a pan-global approach that's decidedly pop in flavor, sometimes riding heavy rhythms --
Pitbull and
Dizzee Rascal do show up on bonus English-language versions of
"Loca" and
"Rabiosa" -- but always relying on melody and texture, creating a tight 12-track record that's casual in its eclecticism but no less dazzling because of its relaxed tone. Particularly when compared to the stylized ambition of the two-part
Oral Fixation,
Sale el Sol feels breezy,
Shakira never calling attention to just how much ground she covers. Opening with a dose of anthemic soft rock in its title track,
Sale el Sol eventually winds its way through the dancefloor (
"Loca," "Gordita"), catches its breath on the ballad
"Antes de las Seis," offers up an infectious piece of pure pop in the vein of
the New Radicals on
"Mariposas," beats all
U2-inspired arena rockers at their own game on
"Devocion," adopts a cool new wave pulse on
"Tu Boca," and finds warmth within the art pop of
the xx, whose
"Islands" is a shimmering peak here. Despite all these sounds,
Sale el Sol never once sounds disparate or overworked -- it's sunny and easy, its natural buoyancy disguising
Shakira's range and skill -- but listen closely and it becomes apparent that nobody makes better pop records in the new millennium than she does. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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