Shakira Declares Her Territory

By Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters. Posted March 28, 2002.

Shakira won me over when she complained about her killer spike-heeled boots. All dressed up to shoot the video for "Underneath Your Clothes," she sat down as lunch was announced -- a 1/2 hour break at 7:46 p.m. Tossing her gorgeously tangled bleached-blond mane, Shakira looked straight at the Making the Video camera and announced, "My feet hurt!" As proof, she held up a frighteningly stylish boot, spanning what looked like five-inch heels with her perfectly manicured fingers, and asked, "Pretty high, no?"

High indeed. Actually, it looked like a weapon. But, she added, smiling, "It's fun. It's been very fun ... so far." So, OK, she sounds like she's trying to convince herself of how much fun she's having. But this is what passes for candor in the superstar business: Everyone knows the job involves pressures and expectations, emotional ups and downs.

Shakira's been thinking about all this lately. Asked to describe her inspiration for the new video's visual concept, she put it this way: "I think in every artist's life, when, right after a performance, we get to feel a certain loneliness and solitude; after receiving so much attention and love from your fans, suddenly everything stops."

For Shakira, however, everything at the moment is pretty much non-stop. An overnight sensation who has been years in the making, she's possessed of obvious commercial appeal, with serious pipes, considerable talents as producer and songwriter (taking into account the rather seductive peculiarity of her English lyrics), and remarkably swiveling hips, not to mention a name that seems destined for stardom. Indeed, Madonna may be the only other first-name-only star who has come so spectacularly equipped. And while Shakira's emergence as part of the "Latin Explosion" -- along with J. Lo, Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias and Mr. La Vida Loca himself -- might seem at once too calculated and too predictable, well, calculation is the name of this particular game.

At the same time, Shakira has better reason than most to be playing said game. Where, for instance, Christina reclaimed her roots just in time to jump on the Spanish-language record bandwagon with 2000's Mi reflejo, Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll has been working across cultures and languages since she was a child, born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia (her father is American born, of Lebanese descent, her mother Colombian). Impressing everyone with her youthful talents, Shakira -- whose name means "woman full of grace" in Arabic -- signed with Sony Discos and released her first album, Magia (Magic), in 1990, when she was only 13, followed by Peligro (Danger) at 16.

From the start, however, she felt frustrated by attempts to frame her as "Latin pop," insisting on her rock inclinations (she lists Iggy Pop, Led Zeppelin, The Cure, the Police and Nirvana as favorites, and composes on the guitar). She's did some acting (on the Colombian soap opera El Oasis between 1994 and 1997), but ended up focusing most of her energy on making two more records, Pies Descalsos (Bare Feet) (1996) and The Remixes (1997). Under the auspices of manager Emilio Estefan, she recorded her last Spanish-language studio album, Dónde Están Los Ladrones? (1998), as well as 2000's MTV Unplugged, winner of that year's Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album.

She also became a favorite cover girl for Latin and Spanish language magazines, including Latin American Time back in August 1999, when, still dark-haired, she was heralded as part of the new "Era of the Rockera," or more recently, the Latina magazine that asked whether the newly blonde performer would be the "next Madonna." Shakira, on the other hand, sees herself as distinctive, telling the English language magazine Blender, "I don't feel that I'm artistically similar to anybody right now. I have a unique musical proposal."

Her self-confidence is surely admirable, but imagine how difficult it is to remain "unique." According to professional publicists and the labeled bins at Tower Records, Shakira has to fit into a saleable category, whether "Latina songbird" or pop princess. And so, while pre-blonde, she was compared repeatedly to Alanis, she of the resonant vocals and spiritual sensibility. Since the switch to blonde-tressness, Shakira has been serially compared to Britney, Beyonce and Christina (it's probably also worth mentioning that grabby Pepsi signed Shakira for its Spanish-language campaign).

And when the new album dropped, she did the usual rounds -- TRL, Rosie O'Donnell, Today, Tonight and Mad TV. All this self-promotion can get to be a grind, of course: Think of all those hours in high heels. And that's not even counting her engagement to Antonio de la Rua, son of the ex-president of Argentina who has recently been charged with treason (undaunted, as of February she was looking forward to marriage and motherhood).

Shakira isn't really your standard pop star. Though MTV, VH1, et. al., have worked hard to make her one, she keeps maneuvering just beyond their (global) reach. Knowing well the history of U.S. (commercial and political) relations to Colombia and other South American nations, Shakira insistently performs her nationality alongside her increasingly international stardom. She makes her appearances bilingual whenever she can, and -- however consciously or unconsciously -- uses her celebrity to showcase her multi-raced background.

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