Sony
2005
Fijacion Oral Vol. 1
About This Album
Laundry Service gave Shakira her long-anticipated English-language breakthrough, turning her into a global superstar in the process. A hit of that magnitude is hard to follow, so it shouldn't be a great surprise that she toiled on its sequel for upward of four years. What is surprising is that the subsequent album was split in two -- à la Kill Bill -- with the first being devoted to Spanish tunes and the second consisting entirely of English songs; the teasing titles Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 indicate which is which and which hit the market first. It's kind of a sharp move to release Fijacion Oral first, since it not only satisfies her longtime fans who have been waiting a long time for a collection of brand-new Spanish material (she hasn't delivered one since 1998's Dónde Están los Ladrones?), it also subtly signals that she won't be placing American success above anything else. Similarly, Fijacion Oral smartly straddles the line between traditional Latin pop and the sexy, splashy dance-pop and bombastic adult contemporary pop that made Laundry Service a big hit in the U.S.: its heart is in the former, but the production -- the omnipresent Rick Rubin serves as the executive producer -- is slick and bright, enough to make the first single, "La Tortura," sound like a natural for American radio (even if it will never be played because it's sung in Spanish).
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 3,7,9 and 12)

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Disc 2

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