Speaker 1: It's nineteen ninety nine. Everyone's ringing in the new year.
Speaker 2: So tonight we're gonna party like it's nineteen night.
Speaker 1: People are either dancing along to Britney's spears, sometimes on
Speaker 1: a random boardwalk.
Speaker 2: Or looking out the window crying to Rickey Martin's She's
Speaker 2: a living.
Speaker 1: But people were also slightly panicked.
Speaker 2: The Y two K panic was a real. People were
Speaker 2: stalking up on supplies.
Speaker 1: There was even a Ywok task force. Listen. In the end,
Speaker 1: it wasn't a big deal. Clock struck midnight and all
Speaker 1: of our bank accounts were safe, and the world did
Speaker 1: not collapse.
Speaker 2: And I didn't get drunk in wake up at some
Speaker 2: Miranda's house with chocolate all over me.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure that part actually did happen.
Speaker 2: Let's just call it two truth and a light, babes.
Speaker 2: What did happen when we entered the white k area.
Speaker 1: So we're just glossing over your chocolate one night.
Speaker 2: Stamp Kier's natural dark blocks were no moss. Gone were
Speaker 2: those dark breeds with ribbons. The epitome of Latin rock
Speaker 2: in came Shakira, La Nena Rubio del Barrio. In the
Speaker 2: New Era, the US takeover.
Speaker 1: Now, that was a real shocker. At this point, we
Speaker 1: already knew who Shiquido was. Diehard fans knew how she
Speaker 1: grew up and that she dreamed of changing the music industry.
Speaker 2: Spoiler alert she did.
Speaker 1: All the way from Barranque, Columbia, where her father once
Speaker 1: showed her the poverty they could overcome and the people
Speaker 1: she could help. She set out with a mission of
Speaker 1: becoming successful enough to help those who needed it most,
Speaker 1: so successful that she was able to share one of
Speaker 1: the largest stages in the world with.
Speaker 2: It's not going to have heard ourselves, Lil's that's another episode.
Speaker 1: Wait, I wasn't going to say this super Bowl either way.
Speaker 1: On today's episode, we're going to jump into the next
Speaker 1: phase in Shaquida's evolution. Joseph and I are going to
Speaker 1: revisit her journey to learning English, releasing an album, and
Speaker 1: pulling off one of the most successful crossovers in music history.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Liliana Oscaz and I'm Joseph Carrio and
Speaker 1: This is Becoming an Icon a weekly podcast where we
Speaker 1: give you the rundown on how today's most famous latinv
Speaker 1: stars have shaped pop culture.
Speaker 2: And given the world some extra level.
Speaker 1: Sit back and get comfortable.
Speaker 2: Because we are going in the only way we know how,
Speaker 2: with whenas us.
Speaker 1: When assas and a lot of opinions as we relive
Speaker 1: their greatest achievements on our journey to find out what
Speaker 1: makes them so iconic. Joseph, what would you do if
Speaker 1: I told you that Shakida regretted going blonde?
Speaker 2: I'd call you a liar, the same way you promised
Speaker 2: you'd show up to my birthday party. I didn't lie, Okay.
Speaker 2: Denial is a river in Egypt. Well.
Speaker 1: In a recent interview from twenty two twenty one, she
Speaker 1: admitted just.
Speaker 2: That missing out on my awe fantastic birth day bash.
Speaker 1: Now switching up her hair color.
Speaker 2: I think we're also regretting the low rise genes, so
Speaker 2: I can understand regretting bleach.
Speaker 1: She misses her dark black hair, sharing this, I change
Speaker 1: my hair so many different ways throughout my career. I
Speaker 1: love dark hair. I sometimes miss my super shiny dark hair.
Speaker 1: It never got to be the same because once you
Speaker 1: put bleach on your hair, it just never shines the
Speaker 1: same way. Back preach girl, I went through a blonde phase.
Speaker 1: Please do not google that. It was real bad, real
Speaker 1: bad in my hair has never quite been the same. Now,
Speaker 1: Shakira is no stranger to switching it up and having fun,
Speaker 1: but we all know something is true when it comes
Speaker 1: to hair.
Speaker 2: Hair is everything, and.
Speaker 1: When it came to her fans, well, I think they'd agree.
Speaker 2: Shak You not changing up her entire look made many
Speaker 2: believe she was ashamed of her roots.
Speaker 1: Very clever, Joseph clever.
Speaker 2: I'm a wordsmith manny thought she was changing to increase
Speaker 2: her appeal to the US market.
Speaker 1: To be honest, it kind of worked, but that's not
Speaker 1: why she did it. Shakira keeps it simple. She just
Speaker 1: thought her curls would look cool with beachy blonde hair,
Speaker 1: and she wasn't wrong.
Speaker 2: Listen, even now, it's hot. I mean it doesn't necessarily
Speaker 2: have to be blonde, but I will say textured curly,
Speaker 2: not necessarily barrel curl, like real natural curl is hot.
Speaker 2: It's in It's everything.
Speaker 1: So we can see why she would be interested in
Speaker 1: trying out that look. But I can also see why
Speaker 1: that look could feel so jarring to so many. In
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine, she does MTV and plug in New
Speaker 1: York City. Next thing you know, you have her rocking
Speaker 1: the same look as everyone else, right.
Speaker 2: I mean it's not shade, but just think about it.
Speaker 2: Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, Pink, Christina Aguilera, and yeah, even
Speaker 2: Beyonce was rocking in a little bit of the blonde
Speaker 2: at the time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's something about blonde that has the mass appeal
Speaker 1: in the US, I'm not saying globally, and all of
Speaker 1: these young artists at the time were looking for the
Speaker 1: biggest mass appeal so that they could become icons one day,
Speaker 1: and sometimes a little blonde can go a long way.
Speaker 2: Do you think that this was her most iconic look?
Speaker 1: I'm going to say that it was her most attention
Speaker 1: getting look because I don't necessarily think that it's hair
Speaker 1: color or an image that makes somebody iconic. But for me,
Speaker 1: it's what made her stand out. And when I went, WHOA,
Speaker 1: So I think what you said about that kind of
Speaker 1: beachy textured wave look being hot. It was hot, and
Speaker 1: whether it's right or not, we look to our music
Speaker 1: icons and our music superstars to be hot.
Speaker 2: What do you think was different between the blonde and
Speaker 2: the red because they were both really bold, because remember
Speaker 2: she had at dark first and then it was red
Speaker 2: and then blonde. I mean, obviously you need those steps
Speaker 2: to kind of get to blonde, but red was still
Speaker 2: kind of a loud color.
Speaker 1: We can have so many conversations about how sexist the
Speaker 1: music industry is and how the men behind the scenes
Speaker 1: kind of like pulling the puppet strings probably had one
Speaker 1: standard of beauty, one definition of beauty at that particular time.
Speaker 2: You guys have to remember it's nineteen ninety nine.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think in nineteen ninety nine there was one
Speaker 1: look that really dominated this kind of like sexy pop
Speaker 1: star vibe, and it was blonde hair and a mid drift.
Speaker 1: That's what it was. It was nineteen ninety nine. And
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that that's okay. What I'm saying is
Speaker 1: that that's the image that we as consumers were fed
Speaker 1: over and over and over again. And when you see
Speaker 1: the same thing over and over again, you see it
Speaker 1: and go, oh, that's supposed to be hot, that person's
Speaker 1: supposed to be popular, and you kind of like entangle
Speaker 1: all of that together, and that's why it becomes such
Speaker 1: a standout look for her. I don't think it's her
Speaker 1: most iconic looking back at her career, I actually think
Speaker 1: it's the fiery red hair. To me, that's what made
Speaker 1: her unique in an individual. But I think for a
Speaker 1: lot of people, their introduction to Shakita was very sultry, blonde, sweaty, dancing, barefoot,
Speaker 1: belly exposed. I feel like we can look back at
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine and say that what was happening at
Speaker 1: that moment in time in the music industry, those looks
Speaker 1: that were being manufactured definitely were attributed to what I
Speaker 1: think is a Eurocentric standard of beauty. Doesn't take away
Speaker 1: from anything, but in nineteen ninety nine, those times were different, right,
Speaker 1: But let's stay in nineteen ninety nine for a second.
Speaker 1: Shaquita had just.
Speaker 2: Released and it was everywhere.
Speaker 1: She had proven the estephans right. Shakira was good enough
Speaker 1: to cross borders and oceans.
Speaker 2: So soon she got the call for one of the
Speaker 2: biggest shows at.
Speaker 1: The time, MTV Unplugged. The set was incredible.
Speaker 2: That's one of those events that if someone asked me,
Speaker 2: if you could travel in the past, where would you go?
Speaker 2: I would say take me there.
Speaker 1: Hany wait, in all of history, that's where you're going, bitch.
Speaker 2: I have my priorities.
Speaker 1: Just the energy of it all fair, This is a
Speaker 1: judgment free Zone and every song she performed got a
Speaker 1: standing ovation. The place was hyped.
Speaker 2: She was rocking those straight red locks, and she had
Speaker 2: her signature leather pants. You can tell she was having.
Speaker 1: So much fun, right, Oh, totally sort of the mood.
Speaker 1: That had to be by far one of the best
Speaker 1: things ever. She had originally wanted to bring live animals
Speaker 1: on the set, and MTV was like, no, girlly, that
Speaker 1: violates like twenty health codes here in New York City.
Speaker 2: Wait, it does.
Speaker 1: Why are you asking me that? Have you violated health code?
Speaker 2: This isn't about me.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about mtvn plugs a little bit. We talked
Speaker 1: about Ricky Martin's MTV and plug performance, how important and
Speaker 1: pivotal wasn't his career. If you put these side by side,
Speaker 1: do you see similarities or do you think they're just complete, standalone,
Speaker 1: unique episodes.
Speaker 2: Gosh, I hate to say. The reason I see similarities
Speaker 2: is because it feels so intimate and I just feel
Speaker 2: like they are just going off of the energy of
Speaker 2: the people. So that's why it feels the same. But
Speaker 2: I don't know, And it kind of feels sexy to me.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's super sexy. They both had a very are.
Speaker 2: Just so sexy. That's why I want to say they're
Speaker 2: the same. They're sexy, but they're different type of sexy.
Speaker 1: Can we say sensual instead of sexy, because I think
Speaker 1: it's just a very different way to project sexuality and
Speaker 1: intimacy and passion. Start Joseph would like to teleport there.
Speaker 1: But I feel if you were in the audience that night,
Speaker 1: you not only saw the music, you felt the music,
Speaker 1: You could touch the music. It just felt like a
Speaker 1: very sensory experience, and that is what makes MTV unplugged
Speaker 1: so special. God, I wish they would bring it back, but.
Speaker 2: It was everything everywhere, all at once. Let me tell you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's so many songs that you can go back
Speaker 1: and watch, but if you have not seen this particular performance,
Speaker 1: I highly encourage you to go back and watch it,
Speaker 1: and if you only have four and a half minutes,
Speaker 1: obviously finished this podcast first, but then go watch at
Speaker 1: least her performance of C I Guess or La Mula
Speaker 1: like just.
Speaker 2: Go so good you won't regret it.
Speaker 1: No, and these live mini concert experiences, I think, especially.
Speaker 2: Those, especially those when it was raw. Now everything is
Speaker 2: such a fucking production.
Speaker 1: That's exactly what E and what I think it does
Speaker 1: is MTV Unplugged for certain artists, specifically are icons Ricky
Speaker 1: and Shakita.
Speaker 2: Hello.
Speaker 1: If you just watch that, you understand why they reach
Speaker 1: icon status later in their career. You cannot look away
Speaker 1: from those performances. You literally are so in a state
Speaker 1: of trance watching.
Speaker 2: Them, but not like a shrooms trance, like a fun trance.
Speaker 1: It is a I cannot take my eyes off of
Speaker 1: this person. And if they got you like that at
Speaker 1: the start of their career, imagine where they're going to go.
Speaker 1: That is how they became icons because I think everybody
Speaker 1: in that room saw their performance, saw the passion, saw
Speaker 1: the raw talent, and thought, oh wow, we're going to
Speaker 1: be talking about these musicians for forever for an eternity.
Speaker 2: Listen.
Speaker 1: Just getting an invite to unplug is a big deal.
Speaker 1: But there have been a lot of forgettable performances. But
Speaker 1: true artist icons use the show to take themselves to another.
Speaker 2: Level, and Shaki was ready to make Philip.
Speaker 1: People loved her performance so much that it also turned
Speaker 1: into a record, with the acoustic versions competing against the
Speaker 1: og production versions on the radio. For the staff MTV
Speaker 1: at the time, It was reported to have been the
Speaker 1: quickest and easiest concert they had ever produced.
Speaker 2: That's our boot.
Speaker 1: She's a bad bitch.
Speaker 2: And you know, she went in there and had shit
Speaker 2: straightened out. She was like it should be like this, this, this,
Speaker 2: and this, because she's been doing music for the.
Speaker 1: And if you know how long it takes to make
Speaker 1: an album. I remember we talked about her album. It
Speaker 1: took nine months to make her album. This girl went
Speaker 1: in did a live performance and was like printed like
Speaker 1: that's it. And this album would actually later earn Shakita her.
Speaker 2: First Grammy, No, not a Latin Grammy, a Greeno Grammy,
Speaker 2: as our boy Benito likes to say, specifically the Grammy
Speaker 2: Award for Best Latin Pop Album.
Speaker 1: And that was more than enough proof that she was
Speaker 1: ready to cross over. Shakita's live recording of MTV and
Speaker 1: Plug would be the last time she would collaborate with
Speaker 1: Immdio Estefan Junior.
Speaker 2: Wait what.
Speaker 1: A lot of things were changing in Shakida's life.
Speaker 2: She was living in Miami and worked on her next album.
Speaker 1: She had recently been declared the Colombian Artist of the
Speaker 1: Century by the magazine tv Emo Venas.
Speaker 2: Of the Century.
Speaker 1: Damn but she didn't want to let her Colombian fans
Speaker 1: down and lose their respect by chasing the English market.
Speaker 1: She had a lot to lose living in a post
Speaker 1: Bad Bunny world. It might be hard to understand why
Speaker 1: this was risky back then. If you didn't try the crossover,
Speaker 1: you were kind of a nobody facts. But if you
Speaker 1: did and failed, then you had turned your back on
Speaker 1: your real fans for nothing. You were at risk of
Speaker 1: being labeled a sellout.
Speaker 2: Well, Shakita was definitely selling out. She was selling out shows,
Speaker 2: wrecords all across the globe. Yet people had the nerve
Speaker 2: to say she still wasn't somebody because she wasn't big
Speaker 2: in the States.
Speaker 1: Okay, but continue, no, no, go for it. Speak your truth, Joseph.
Speaker 2: If one thing's for certain when it comes to Shakida,
Speaker 2: she's very, very proud of being Columbs. She dedicates all
Speaker 2: of her wins to her country.
Speaker 1: And that's the feeling she couldn't shake. She didn't want
Speaker 1: to be seen as any less Colombian for singing in
Speaker 1: English and living in the US.
Speaker 2: I mean Miami, come again. Yes, Miami's technically the US,
Speaker 2: but it's also Latin America. That's been fact checked by me.
Speaker 1: Soon she was booking deals with Calvin Klein Pepsi, she
Speaker 1: was out touring doing press media interviews.
Speaker 3: She was also overwhelmed, which meant that soon her next album,
Speaker 3: Laundry Service, was delayed. That album was actually supposed to
Speaker 3: come out in ninety.
Speaker 1: Nine before the Latin explosion, but the album for MTV
Speaker 1: and Plug took its place. No one really knew when
Speaker 1: Laundry Service would actually drop.
Speaker 2: I'm sure the procrastinators are feeling very seen right now.
Speaker 1: Shakuda decided to switch up managers. She went from mister
Speaker 1: Stephan Junior to Freddy de Men, who was very well
Speaker 1: known for managing Michael Jackson, Madonna and now Shakida.
Speaker 2: You sure there's no tea.
Speaker 1: You're always looking for the tea. And yes, there was
Speaker 1: speculation over call them creative differences, but ultimately Shakidah left
Speaker 1: it at the fact that Emilia was a busy man
Speaker 1: with many clients. She wanted someone who could be more
Speaker 1: present and dedicate more time to her.
Speaker 2: That's as can delicious.
Speaker 1: It's not scandal, Joseph, it's just work. And to be honest,
Speaker 1: she was probably in a really vulnerable place at this point.
Speaker 1: She needed this to work.
Speaker 2: And it's not like she was going to ask Gloria's
Speaker 2: man to pay more attention to her than his own wife.
Speaker 1: I would, But the bottom line is the a Stephans
Speaker 1: kept hyping her up. Even after this, while she was
Speaker 1: still working on Laundry Service, Emilia kept telling the press
Speaker 1: to get ready because she was about to be the
Speaker 1: next best crossover since Selena and Ricky Martin. Long gone
Speaker 1: were her nights sitting down with Gloordia, translating her lyrics
Speaker 1: and learning English.
Speaker 2: Y'all, you used to sit with a rhyming dictionary next
Speaker 2: to her white whitman. Oh, captain, my captain.
Speaker 1: That was really beautiful.
Speaker 2: Do you think it was because of demand? Like do
Speaker 2: you think that Shakira No would have played it safe
Speaker 2: for the stefan.
Speaker 1: Shakita was going to be an icon. But I think
Speaker 1: having the right management is critical, and I think it
Speaker 1: happened at a critical time for her. Speaking of time,
Speaker 1: at this time, could Laundry Service do what Ricky's album did?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 2: Why we needed a heart throb. We needed to be
Speaker 2: captivated by someone that wasn't white and be handsome and
Speaker 2: be tall, like be tall, dark and handsome and be
Speaker 2: taken aback to make room for If it started with
Speaker 2: the sultry pop rock chick, it wouldn't have been a
Speaker 2: Latin explosion, you know, it would have just been a
Speaker 2: Latin crossover.
Speaker 1: I have to agree with you, as much as I
Speaker 1: hate to agree with that statement because I think it
Speaker 1: reflects where we were as a coltura at that time.
Speaker 1: But I think you're right. I think that it had
Speaker 1: to be Ricky at that point in time in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety nine to open the doors for this type of music,
Speaker 1: our music, right Latin music, to then come to the
Speaker 1: US and be ultimately what it became, which was this
Speaker 1: massive wave of hits. I don't think Shakida could have
Speaker 1: done it at the time because it had to be Yeah, imad, dude, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I hate saying that it did.
Speaker 2: It's just because we needed to be eased into it.
Speaker 1: Her career was taking off, but she still couldn't shake
Speaker 1: her insecurities about the world judging her for how she looked,
Speaker 1: not how she sounded.
Speaker 2: Everyone from Asia to Latin America was trying to look
Speaker 2: like Shakita. People were asking their stylists for fiery red
Speaker 2: dye with some colorful braids to.
Speaker 1: Boot leather pants were selling out all over the globe,
Speaker 1: but still she.
Speaker 2: Was having something of an identity crisis.
Speaker 1: Shakita didn't want to lose her artistry. In nineteen ninety nine,
Speaker 1: she's invited to perform at Miss Columbia.
Speaker 2: And Homegirl shows up the way gentlemen prefer Blonde.
Speaker 1: Great movie, by the.
Speaker 2: Way, Sign of the Cross, Rest in Peace, Maryland.
Speaker 1: Shakita was more than a look, and she knew.
Speaker 2: That, but other people disagreed.
Speaker 1: During an interview, she settled the matter by saying, this,
Speaker 1: a lot of people told me, no, Shakita is brunette. Jeez,
Speaker 1: I'm not my hair. Preach Shakita. Why do you think
Speaker 1: people wanted to look like her so much?
Speaker 2: She was pretty, she was different, she was everything we
Speaker 2: wanted to be, really, and that's why everyone was wearing
Speaker 2: these goddam on other pants.
Speaker 1: I was, I mean I couldn't find them at West.
Speaker 2: Seal five seven nine bites. What didny?
Speaker 1: I think everybody wanted to look like her because she
Speaker 1: was so exotic.
Speaker 2: But also familiar. I mean maybe because she was speaking Spanish.
Speaker 1: I mean, she felt so far away from the world
Speaker 1: that I knew.
Speaker 2: Really, Yeah, remember I told her like she felt like
Speaker 2: a bima to me. Really she could look like my
Speaker 2: pretty cousin from Colombia.
Speaker 1: All I know is that for me, she felt so exotic,
Speaker 1: and I wanted to capture some of that. Like in
Speaker 1: my wardrobe, I was like, Ooh, if I get these
Speaker 1: low rise leather pants and this cropped shirt and put
Speaker 1: a little braid in my hair, maybe I can also
Speaker 1: be perceived as exotic, because let's be honest, most of
Speaker 1: us were kind of like basic bitches in nineteen ninety nine,
Speaker 1: and here was Shakira changing it all up with this
Speaker 1: unique style, this unique sound. I wanted to be an
Speaker 1: individual like her. I respected her individuality so much that
Speaker 1: I was trying to recreate some of that in my
Speaker 1: own life. And I can't sing like Shakida, I can't
Speaker 1: dance like Shakida, but I can dress like Shakida. Shakita
Speaker 1: was ready to put aside her worries and just go
Speaker 1: for what she wanted. On September thirteenth, two thousand, Shakida
Speaker 1: performed almost Essi at the inaugural ceremony of the Latin
Speaker 1: Prammy Awards, where she was nominated in five categories. The
Speaker 1: ceremony was the first time a bilingual transmissi and aired
Speaker 1: on primetime television.
Speaker 2: Ever, it was proof that the Latin market was growing
Speaker 2: in the United States.
Speaker 1: Just to set the stage for you, it was one
Speaker 1: hell of a night. They kicked it off with a
Speaker 1: tribute to the Bopwent the performed by Sheila E on
Speaker 1: the drums, Celia Cruz, Gloria Stefan, and of course Ricky Martin.
Speaker 2: Her Grammy performance of a Hotel See was a hot
Speaker 2: ticket and with good reason. Milo Rita was up there
Speaker 2: stroking that mic stand like nobody's business.
Speaker 1: There was fire, it was red and we got a
Speaker 1: taste of her roots with the Doomback.
Speaker 2: The what the doom Beck, The Doomback.
Speaker 1: Hello, the doom Back. Remember about the night when her
Speaker 1: dad would take her to the restaurant and she would
Speaker 1: dance on tables. She was moving around to that rhythm
Speaker 1: that she connected to instantly. She found her soul seduced
Speaker 1: by the Doomback. That evening, the Colombian singer took home
Speaker 1: two Latin Grammy Awards.
Speaker 2: Okay, but come on, I'm getting impatient up in here.
Speaker 1: That's how everyone at that point was feeling. Shakito as
Speaker 1: we've learned, is a perfectionist. Donzano Ledronz took nine months.
Speaker 2: That was nineteen ninety eight. It was about to be
Speaker 2: two thousand and one. Ricky Martin had performed La Combe
Speaker 2: La Vida at the Grammys. Mark Anthony was killing it
Speaker 2: on the salsa scene. Jennifer Lopez had already released her
Speaker 2: debut album Now was a good time as any Don't worry.
Speaker 1: Shakida was more than ready to take over the American
Speaker 1: sound waves. Or, as she said in a Rolling Stone
Speaker 1: interview from two thousand and two, I come to seduce,
Speaker 1: which is different.
Speaker 2: I've used that line before, to be honest.
Speaker 1: How did it work out for you?
Speaker 2: Heny? I do just fine.
Speaker 1: Shakida spent a year working on the album, a lot
Speaker 1: of it at an isolated estate in Uruguay.
Speaker 2: Talk about a writer's retreat.
Speaker 1: But obviously she wasn't alone. When it came to the
Speaker 1: actual record. The source of inspiration was super clear. Dozan
Speaker 1: Leedronz was an emotional album, and it was rumored rumored
Speaker 1: to have been inspired by her relationship with Puerto Rican
Speaker 1: actor osvald Rios.
Speaker 2: Yo the moodikos out there getting people to write songs about.
Speaker 1: Them ish, Hey, you know we do just fine.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well, Rios and Shaki were dating at that time,
Speaker 2: so even at Toddler could connect the dots on that album.
Speaker 1: Laundry Service, on the other hand, was openly dedicated to
Speaker 1: Antonio de Larua, an Argentine lawyer and the son of
Speaker 1: former President Fernando de Larrua.
Speaker 2: There was no heartfelt message like Jayla with ben affleck
Speaker 2: Eli Kodre Presidente had this Columbiana's heart. He was everywhere
Speaker 2: Asta la sopa. He was even in the music video
Speaker 2: for Underneath Your Clothes.
Speaker 1: By September of two thousand and one, Shaquida's album wasn't out,
Speaker 1: but pre release copies had already been sent to music critics.
Speaker 1: A few lucky people got their hands on what so
Speaker 1: many had been waiting for for three years now.
Speaker 2: Very much like Gullum and The Lord of the Rings,
Speaker 2: this was some precious cargo.
Speaker 1: But before anyone could celebrate, the world seemed to stop
Speaker 1: and shift. When news broke out that the US World
Speaker 1: Trade Center had been bombed. Shakita acted quickly and spoke
Speaker 1: up about the matter.
Speaker 2: Shakida's father is Lebanese and she was not going to
Speaker 2: let the hate slide.
Speaker 1: She shared at the time, the Arabic world is not
Speaker 1: all Muslims, nor are all Muslims terrorists.
Speaker 2: To deny her Middle Eastern heritage is to deny her entirely.
Speaker 1: It's in everything she does. It was going to be
Speaker 1: in her new album and she would continue to let
Speaker 1: everyone know it's a part of her.
Speaker 2: Many told her to stay in her place and to
Speaker 2: keep quote her political statements in hotel rooms.
Speaker 1: Shaquida wasn't going to do that, She said, I am
Speaker 1: a pop star, but I also have an opinion. I
Speaker 1: grew up in a country that has existed under the
Speaker 1: whip of violence for forty years, so how can I
Speaker 1: not You know, in my country, of five year old
Speaker 1: kid knows not only of Disney and Mickey Mouse, but
Speaker 1: also of gorillas and paramilitaries. You grow up with that
Speaker 1: kind of awareness of what the world is really like.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like this says a lot about who
Speaker 1: Shakida is as a human being, not just who she
Speaker 1: is as an artist.
Speaker 2: One thousand percent to speak up and not really care
Speaker 2: about the risks about to happen. You're just saying what
Speaker 2: you need to because it's a lenase. I don't know
Speaker 2: how you say that in English, but lenase to like
Speaker 2: say it. And I don't think she cared. I think
Speaker 2: she just had to get her point across.
Speaker 1: And we keep saying this in this episode. But you
Speaker 1: have to remember the timing of this. It's now twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three. People expect you as an artist to speak
Speaker 1: up for what you stand for. But back then, Taboo,
Speaker 1: our celebrities, our musicians, our icons kind of kept quiet
Speaker 1: and mom on political and social issues because, like you said,
Speaker 1: there was such a huge risk with speaking out that
Speaker 1: most people weren't going to take that risk. They'd worked
Speaker 1: so hard to get to this level and with one
Speaker 1: statement you could erase all of that success. But Shakida
Speaker 1: didn't care.
Speaker 2: You know, I will say I bel believe that Shakira
Speaker 2: does really see herself as an artist, and I don't
Speaker 2: think that she saw herself as a pop star to
Speaker 2: run the risk of people leaving her music. Right, She's
Speaker 2: an artist. People are following her.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Once everything was settled, she decided the best way
Speaker 1: to heal was through music. But she wasn't going to
Speaker 1: simply release the album.
Speaker 2: No. She decided to drop a single mm hmmm Whenever,
Speaker 2: Wherever and alongside it a music video.
Speaker 1: More like the music video, the song originally written in Spanish,
Speaker 1: Assuerte was heavily influenced by Dan music, including the charango
Speaker 1: and pan flutes in its instrumentation. It was co written
Speaker 1: with Clodia Stefan and you hear a lot of Latin
Speaker 1: influence but also a little pink Floyd.
Speaker 2: My girl really be throwing everything in there.
Speaker 1: And it was a hit. It's skyrocketed tostardom amongst American listeners.
Speaker 2: Basically what Living Levey to Loco was to Ricky Whenever
Speaker 2: Wherever was to show Kira why had she been so nervous?
Speaker 2: She sounded confident as fuzz on this record.
Speaker 1: I think the world agrees with you on that. This
Speaker 1: song reached number six on the Hot one hundred. The
Speaker 1: album release quickly followed one month later, on November thirteenth,
Speaker 1: two thousand and one.
Speaker 2: And just like the end of that video, Shakida emerged
Speaker 2: from the water and made landfall in America.
Speaker 1: Do you remember that video?
Speaker 2: I do ah, she like comes up, bitch. I try
Speaker 2: to do that all the time.
Speaker 1: Releasing Whenever Wherever as a single alongside the video ahead
Speaker 1: of the album, did the trick.
Speaker 2: Keeping her promise of seducing the US market. Shakida started
Speaker 2: out her crossover with the teas.
Speaker 1: It got people excited.
Speaker 2: It got me excited after such a long wait. It
Speaker 2: was like someone offering you unedible at church? Wait? Is
Speaker 2: that why everyone lands up? At the end? The priest
Speaker 2: gives out drugs and wine. Maybe I should starting to church.
Speaker 1: If you find the address to that church, could you
Speaker 1: text it to me?
Speaker 2: Anyways?
Speaker 1: When the album finally came out, it debuted at three
Speaker 1: on the Billboard charts. It had the end, the end music,
Speaker 1: Middle Eastern music, rock and roll, tango. What it didn't
Speaker 1: have was everybody convinced.
Speaker 2: Some people found Chekita singing in English to be silly.
Speaker 1: Give me their addresses right fucking now.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna punch you.
Speaker 1: Why because it was different?
Speaker 2: I do feel like it when you have a lot
Speaker 2: of genres, Bitch, this is two thousand and one, and
Speaker 2: to mix all of this in one album, it's a lot.
Speaker 1: I just think people are never ready for something new, right.
Speaker 1: It takes a hot second for people to go, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: she's not trying to sound like Gwen Stefani. She's not
Speaker 1: trying to be Britney spears. Soakira is her own person,
Speaker 1: she's her own artists. I will say for Shuki up Purist,
Speaker 1: if their critique was that the translation didn't hit the
Speaker 1: same in English versus Spanish, that I agree with.
Speaker 2: So you're saying maybe the message wasn't as powerful.
Speaker 1: I think it depends who the critic was. I think
Speaker 1: if it's music people that have followed her and grew
Speaker 1: up listening to her in Spanish and now we're hearing
Speaker 1: her sing in English. You know that sometimes we say
Speaker 1: stuff in Spanish that does not translate to English, it
Speaker 1: doesn't hit. It's like, what the fuck were you trying
Speaker 1: to say?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: How many times do we read a quote from an artist?
Speaker 1: Just even during our podcast, when we heard the quote
Speaker 1: in Spanish, were like yes, and then we read it
Speaker 1: in English, it has.
Speaker 2: More like you know, it's heavier when you read it
Speaker 2: in Spanish.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it just sounds prettier, and then we translate it's
Speaker 1: like so maybe that's the feeling that they had. But
Speaker 1: for people that were just discovering her in English, Americans
Speaker 1: that were listening to this album, it just was a
Speaker 1: fresh sound. It was different. It was something that your
Speaker 1: ear had to get used to, but once it got
Speaker 1: used to it, it was over.
Speaker 2: So you're saying that you think this album was the
Speaker 2: success thousand percent.
Speaker 1: I find this album to me one of the most
Speaker 1: successful crossover albums in recent times. Many fell back on
Speaker 1: their criticism, saying this album was much more tame and
Speaker 1: almost a watered down version of the raw energy she
Speaker 1: had in Pisds, Godzos and Don.
Speaker 2: Shakira defended her herself quicker than Speedy Gonzales. Honey Girl
Speaker 2: didn't hesitate.
Speaker 1: She titled the album Laundry Service because she felt she
Speaker 1: had been cleansed of all the anger she had before.
Speaker 2: Plain and simple. Her relationship with Antonio de la Roua
Speaker 2: had changed her. She hadn't lost who she was, she
Speaker 2: was just evolving. She shared this, I think I'm celebrating
Speaker 2: life more than ever. I had a slightly narrow vision
Speaker 2: of love. Now I am feeling unguarded and it feels great.
Speaker 2: I feel washed clean of the way I looked at
Speaker 2: things in the past. Despite the haters, Shakira was thriving.
Speaker 1: Laundry Service became the best selling album of two thousand
Speaker 1: and two. I told you all a second, Haters. It
Speaker 1: sold more than thirteen million copies worldwide and became the
Speaker 1: most successful album of her career to date.
Speaker 2: The album also earned her the title as the biggest
Speaker 2: Latin female crossover artist in the world. Shakira kept raking
Speaker 2: in the awards and going on tour. Girlypop was fine.
Speaker 1: Speaking of that tour, I have a little quick trivia
Speaker 1: for you and our listeners. Did you know that she
Speaker 1: named it the Tour of the Mongoose because the mongoose
Speaker 1: is the only animal that can survive a cobra bite.
Speaker 2: Shut that, but that is hardcore and that is metal.
Speaker 1: Shakira loves her a metaphor. During that tour, she showcased
Speaker 1: foot of puppets of Saddam Hussein and George Bush playing
Speaker 1: Chess Nike, and she threw in clips from Real Wars.
Speaker 1: It would then reveal that the puppeteer was the Grim Reaper.
Speaker 2: Shakira fears no one, not even Madonna.
Speaker 1: Okay, so here's what happened. Madonna had recorded a music
Speaker 1: video for American Life that featured her throwing a grenade
Speaker 1: at then President George W. Bush. She then quickly scrapped
Speaker 1: the video because many labeled her as unpatriotic.
Speaker 2: The drama what's your girl to do in these times?
Speaker 1: Well, she released a censored version of that video, and
Speaker 1: Shakira responded to that video saying, I expect a little
Speaker 1: more backbone from Madonna. Good pop music is always political
Speaker 1: in times of crisis.
Speaker 2: Girl had a lot to say.
Speaker 1: And she's never been shy about speaking her mind. And
Speaker 1: then she dropped Fiacio volumin.
Speaker 4: Uh No.
Speaker 2: What do you think of the decision for her to
Speaker 2: go back to Spanish after an English crossover.
Speaker 1: I think that why does it matter? Like however, she
Speaker 1: feels like she wants to express her music, whether it's
Speaker 1: in English in Arabic. I don't think she ever left Spanish,
Speaker 1: That's what I think. I don't think she ever left
Speaker 1: us to go be a crossover star to sing in English.
Speaker 1: I think she just wanted to do something different, and
Speaker 1: going back to Spanish was different at the time. I mean,
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 2: Or maybe we'll just call it creating her next album.
Speaker 2: I mean she's not going a book. Yeah, yeah, she's
Speaker 2: just releasing another album. Yes, there was no going back.
Speaker 1: People again, we want to put people in a lane,
Speaker 1: and when they do something different, they take a left
Speaker 1: instead of making a right. We get pissy about it,
Speaker 1: but just let the woman live. Let Shakira be Shakira.
Speaker 2: Okay. Well, if her previous work was giving Alanis Mori set,
Speaker 2: this one was kind of giving me no doubt vibes.
Speaker 1: Here we go again, making women into something else.
Speaker 2: I love the drama. It also gave us much more
Speaker 2: of Latin pop than Latin rock.
Speaker 1: But let's be clear, it still had the folks that
Speaker 1: we are so used to with Shakir's previous albums.
Speaker 2: The album also fully brings forward a woman in love
Speaker 2: girl was down.
Speaker 1: Bad. Songs like open It and See have this hint
Speaker 1: of innocence and this feeling of freedom of being in love.
Speaker 2: Straight up feels like a Disney movie.
Speaker 1: And then you have the album's lead single, La, which
Speaker 1: is and I'm just gonna say it, one of the
Speaker 1: sexiest songs ever made ever.
Speaker 2: The video I my mouth is watering. I'm serious, the
Speaker 2: Master's the doctors said, I'm back, y'all, and with Alejandro signs,
Speaker 2: I mean, I can't take it.
Speaker 1: This is one of those beats songs videos that transcends language.
Speaker 1: I do not care what corner of the earth you
Speaker 1: live in. If somebody puts this song on and you
Speaker 1: watch this video.
Speaker 2: Hey, gyrate, they're pelvis this move. I don't know, it's
Speaker 2: like a beat. It moves you.
Speaker 1: I just gonna say they're turned on. Oh yeah, but yes,
Speaker 1: gyration is also a side effect of la.
Speaker 2: So wait, what do you think makes it sexy? Like?
Speaker 2: What if I've never seen the video? Does the music yes,
Speaker 2: still have the same effect on those gyrating hips? Yes?
Speaker 1: I think the vocals, like you can hear that these
Speaker 1: are two very hot, sexy smoky.
Speaker 2: Like Alejandro's voice is a little smoky.
Speaker 1: The music and the lyrics and the beat immediately to me, like,
Speaker 1: let's go back to the word I said earlier. This
Speaker 1: is sensual, but it's upbeat and sensual. It's different because.
Speaker 4: They're kind of like sexy talking Yeah, but not like
Speaker 4: Paris Hilton. There's a creepy stalker. But should they say
Speaker 4: it's the worst description of them hot? But like, look,
Speaker 4: I don't want a stalker, but if you're.
Speaker 1: Really hot, Okay, again, I'm gonna use a different word
Speaker 1: than stalker. It's voyeurism at its best. O, Mchi, you
Speaker 1: are so pc so it's her is not coming for us?
Speaker 1: Is sensual voyeurism And aside from that, I said this
Speaker 1: to you when I watched the video. I do not
Speaker 1: care what your sexual orientation is. You are attracted to
Speaker 1: Shakita and not like, oh she's so pretty, like you
Speaker 1: want to You are DTF Shakida in this video.
Speaker 2: Both of them. I would become a bisexual swinger for
Speaker 2: this video.
Speaker 1: It's so good, you guys. And her body in this
Speaker 1: I just said to Joseph, like it is incredible. Like
Speaker 1: she's covered in black paint, like rubbing fat paint all
Speaker 1: over herself. Her blonde hair is like perfectly quaffed and coiled.
Speaker 1: There's like a messy BedHead quality to it. She's like
Speaker 1: gyrating on the ground. They're eating Chinese food. Just watch
Speaker 1: the video, watch the video alone, or maybe not.
Speaker 2: Oh m G.
Speaker 1: It's just such a good song, you know. But the
Speaker 1: thing about this song is everything is sexy, Like the
Speaker 1: beat is sexy. It's got reggaeton vibes. And we're not
Speaker 1: the only people that felt like this, because that single
Speaker 1: went on to make history. At the two thousand and
Speaker 1: five the VMA's right.
Speaker 2: Baby Venito was toad watching this videom.
Speaker 1: You had Shakira and Alejandro San singing lat Tura Daddy
Speaker 1: Yankee with Gasolina Dono marn.
Speaker 2: Off What.
Speaker 4: Night.
Speaker 1: One thing is for sure, this album is the one
Speaker 1: that silenced all of Shakida's haters. Fias Volume one became
Speaker 1: the highest selling Latin pop album of the decade in
Speaker 1: the United States and the second highest selling Latin album overall.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: Shakita had written over sixty songs for Fijasul, which is
Speaker 1: a lot, so.
Speaker 2: She's put them in two. Hence Volume one and now
Speaker 2: Volume two.
Speaker 1: Shaquina often finds inspiration in religion, being a devout Catholic herself.
Speaker 2: I will be too if I can find that church
Speaker 2: with the ediples.
Speaker 1: When it came to oral fixation, she thought the Virgin Mary.
Speaker 2: Oh, totally like hot priests and erotica.
Speaker 1: What part of TikTok are you on? You know what?
Speaker 1: Don't answer that question. For Shaki, it was clear Eve's
Speaker 1: oral fixation.
Speaker 2: The Forbidden Fruit La Mansanita not sponsored by Apple unless
Speaker 2: you want to feature our podcast on your homepage hashtag sponsored.
Speaker 1: When discussing the cover art for both volumes, Shakida admitted
Speaker 1: to something personal. She's always filmed. She's a very oral person.
Speaker 1: It's her biggest source of pleasure.
Speaker 2: Before your minds go there, you nas dyci. As she
Speaker 2: references philosophy.
Speaker 1: She wholeheartedly believes in Sigmund Freud's theory that we discover
Speaker 1: the world through our mouths, which is why in the
Speaker 1: first cover you see an infant in her arms. But
Speaker 1: for the second one she had a different idea.
Speaker 2: Instead of the Holy image of Mary, we get Shakita
Speaker 2: almost bearing it all as Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Speaker 1: Riding the high of a Grammy win for Best Latin
Speaker 1: Rock Alternative Album for Fijasio d Volume one, she followed
Speaker 1: up with the lead single for Oral Fixation Volume two
Speaker 1: with Don't Bother. When asked about the single the future
Speaker 1: she Wolf responded, I think Don't Bother has a lot
Speaker 1: of pain in it as a song, but also a
Speaker 1: lot of humor and sarcasm. Yes, it is a way
Speaker 1: of exercising all of these feelings, a form of catharsis
Speaker 1: getting rid of all those emotions that torturous women at
Speaker 1: some point in our lives.
Speaker 2: But Don't Bother was labeled a commercial failure.
Speaker 1: Thankfully, nobody remembers that because Hips Don't Lie came to
Speaker 1: save the day.
Speaker 2: Thank god, it would become Shakida's first and only number
Speaker 2: one single on the Billboard Hot one hundred. In addition
Speaker 2: to reaching number one in over fifty five.
Speaker 1: Countries, Shakida and wy Klefschan recorded a second version of
Speaker 1: the song that was used for the closing ceremony of
Speaker 1: the two thousand and six FIFA World Cup, which would
Speaker 1: set the stage for her to come back in a
Speaker 1: couple of years Teeth. With her continued success, Shakida went
Speaker 1: on to collaborate again with Alejandro Sanz on the track
Speaker 1: del gradesco Ferrond, with Miguel Bosse on the duet Cito
Speaker 1: novelves and.
Speaker 2: And even Beyonce, but that's for next time.
Speaker 1: Shakira didn't set out to crossover or conquer a new listenership.
Speaker 1: She set out to seduce an entire country, and.
Speaker 2: She succeeded Babycakes. She was dominating sponsorships, setting foot in
Speaker 2: six out of seven continents.
Speaker 1: I find it hard to believe that even the Penguins
Speaker 1: and Antarctica didn't want Shakira.
Speaker 2: I don't know. Take it up with the penguins. Point blank,
Speaker 2: girl had the world wrapped around her finger and swaying
Speaker 2: to the rhythm.
Speaker 1: Shakira had proven the critics wrong, but now it was
Speaker 1: time for her to face her biggest challenge yet in
Speaker 1: the spotlight Heartbreak on the next Becoming an Icon. Becoming
Speaker 1: an Icon is presented by Sonoo and Iheart's Michael Duda
Speaker 1: podcast Network. Listen to Becoming an Icon on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast