Sony Music Entertainment
Album: She Wolf
Rating: 7.4
(9.7) Andrew Casillas. I've been wrong all of these years. Time after time, I would explain to my gringo friends how Shakira was our Prince. Turns out, she's our Michael Jackson. I mean, get over the polarizing vocals, and the sexy hip shaking, and "Loba" is basically straight out of Off the Wall! The beat doesn't gyrate, as much as it thumps, and the whole track rides the subtle bass funk to the point of saturation. There's also that vague sense of fun/paranoia that MJ was absolutely the best at undertaking, at least until you're forced out onto the dance floor. And with the Spanish version, there's the deft, yet important, double meaning of the title, unlike the English versions bland implications. Also, it has DISCO STRINGS, PEOPLE. Awoooo!
(7.0) Carlos Reyes. Shakira claims “Loba” characterizes the woman of this century when it doesn’t, there was a sexual revolution already. Despite the very ambitious and quite forced theme, she does exorcism the animal inside her in a very seductive, brushed-steel gleaming pop song. It’s kind of hard to shamelessly soak the lyrics considering Jorge Drexler is the co-author of the song, but it’s the only way to find it fully compelling. It does sound great; it’s well sequenced (“mirala caminar, caminarrrrr”), subliminally humorous and its mid-night outburst is appreciated. Awoooo!
(6.7) Jean-Stephane Beriot. I’m pretty sure I prefer “La Tortura”, seriously, it was great to see our popstar (likeit or not) messing daringly with the reggaeton beat. I’m one of those who thinks her music is way ahead of the average top40 artist; Fijacion Oral Vol.1 was quite fantastic. “Loba” is not nearly as interesting as its awesome and very flexible video; still, it makes me move in strange ways and proves how great of an entertainer she really is. I just wish her music would take the risk of her hips and I’m afraid Pharrell won’t help. Awoooo!
(6.0) Juan Manuel Torreblanca. It’s a super-production, sure; this is the LatAm queen of pop. However, there is also something called over-production & I believe this one might suffer a bit from that. The beginning reminds me of Madonna’s intro for music. The lyrics swing shamelessly from naïve to pretentious (she does have the self assurance to deliver them as dead serious as her dance moves in the video, though) so –in the end– I don’t know if she’s laughing with us or we’re laughing at her. And that wee howl! haha… Awoooo!