Shakira's New Album 'She Wolf' in stores Oct. 13th

by Frank Liao | October 9, 2009 at 03:46 pm

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Shakira is set to release her new album "She Wolf" through SONY BMG. This will be her 3rd US release, following her highly successful albums Laundry Services (2001) and Oral Fixation Vol. 2 (2005), which sold for a combined 21 million copies world wide.

I got a copy of She Wolf and was looking forward to checking it out mainly because of the 5 songs produced by Pharrell Williams. Otherwise, I would not have had any inclination to listen to Shakira's music.

I was rather disappointed with the album overall and was not at all impressed by the Pharrell Williams produced tracks. They are all lazy club tunes that lack the creativity found in most Neptunes productions. The best track on the album is the title track "She Wolf", produced by John Hill and Sam Endicott. It's got a good beat and the vocals, well, let's just say they are not bad. The other standout track is by Wyclef Jean called "Spy". It's the kind of song that gets you a little bit excited the first time listening to it, but it just doesn't have a whole lot of replay value. In fact, I find that the whole album lacks replay value.

Maybe hardcore fans of Shakira will dig this album more than I did. One thing I am sure about is that her new album will not sell as well as her previous two US releases. I would be extremely impressed if she can sell even a million copies of She Wolf.

In recent interviews Shakira has referenced Canadian electropop nihilists Crytal Castles and you can hear their influence all over She Wolf and Men in This Town. On the four songs recorded with Pharrell Williams, his streamlined future-funk creates welcome room for the insistent hot-tin-roof rhythms that made Hips Don’t Lie the most downloaded song to date.

Discussing their time together, Shakira says: "In five days Pharrell and I did four tracks together. What was interesting is that he's very fast and immediate in the studio and I'm a little slower."