I got Shakira'd out when I lived in Mexico. I mean really, how many times can you hear the same song in an hour? Compound that with her more or less undecipherable singing voice and extremely terrible, hyper-sexualized, Gaga-esque single She Wolf. Between her, Nelly Furtado, and even my beloved Belanova, I've been slowly losing heart. All this crap has had me pining for the simpler times when Living La Vida Loca was about as crazy as things ever got.
But Lo! Ask and ye shall receive, from Papa Pharrel no less. Shakira's new joint Did It Again is kinda awesome - both sonically and visually.
The Track
First off, I can actually make out the words. I know most of her songs are recorded in Spanish and then later rerecorded for us lazy American monoglots - but this is a big selling point for me as my Spanish has really fallen off. That said, it surprises me how manypeople don't listen to lyrics - legions of 13 year old girls have no idea what they are bumping on their iPods.
I'll defer to Nick for his thoughts on this incarnation of Neptunes production, but this is 'Pharrel Lite'. No Timbo-style acapella, just heavy synth with a light drumline/steel drum backbeat. I can dig it -- although would a little more knock have hurt? Afterall, isn't Pharrel the drum guy?
The video
Two words: Sexy Capoeira. I think the concept is pretty awesome, a sexy fight on a sexy bed with lots of cool flips. Haven't seen that before, so it is primo video material in my book. A bit reminiscent of La Tortura at points, and I liked that one too. Way better than coming out of a pool with a sequined mask and an aquamarine swimsuit. Inconsistency or 'artistic license' manifests itself in the form of the shower cutaways and the Japanese drummers. (Come on Fam, we all know those drums were from an 808 / tape loop.)
The bottom line
I dig it. Were I to assign a letter grade, it might fall around B+. Of course, I don't do that, so let's just go with dope.
okay so last week i was wrong about the video (i guess)... but this week i'm right. try hitting the play button and see what happens.
NICK THE DICK STRIKES AGAIN!
really interesting concept with the bedroom fight scene, but i'm not exactly sure what the message is... making love is like fighting for some people? i hope not!
as for the beat, it's awful. i'm sorry. i hate to say it. it fits into the Euro disco beat style that's kinda hot now, but it does it in a really awful way.
i can't make out the words save for the hook. Shakira's voice is so damn overpowering, actually, all i can make out of the verses is her Muppet-like whine over top some sort of swirling synthy sound. it's a mess. Shakira may be hot as hell but her english singing is damn near incomprehensible.
all and all, i think the most interesting thing about this vid is the fighting concept, which looks interesting for the first minute but gets sort of boring to watch for three and a half minutes.
yeah, that's what happens when you write a post 5 days in advance with a youtube clip. the embedding invariably gets disabled.
Well, in French, for instance, the word "melee" has connotations of both fighting/violence and love/love-making, so maybe it's similar in Spanish.
The cutaways to the steam/shower room are clearly designed to give the video some narrative drive, since all the other women have their faces pointed at Shakira, like she's telling them something.
I rather like Shakira's incomprehensible Muppet-moan. I can't imagine that one is ever missing much in not understanding the lyrics to pop music anyway. It also adds to the pandering-to-monoglots thing which is enjoyable all on its own. That and Muppets are completely awesome.
haha. muppet moan - not something i want to hear in the sack.
AudioShocker Shoutouts!
yes... oh yes. thank you for posting this!
Haha K Hoff? Since when did you start reading the AS? Awesome.
On a side note, they are Korean drummers, not Japanese. They are really amazing to see a live performance of the drummers if you ever get a chance.
Cool. Thanks for the correction Karen. -nrs