Sale el Sol
Sale el Sol is the ninth studio album by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira, released on 19 October 2010, by Epic Records. The album marks a return to Shakira's signature Latin pop sound after the electropop record She Wolf. The singer split the album into three musical "directions": a romantic side, a "rock and roll" side, and a "Latino, tropical" side. The latter two "directions" experiment with rock and merengue music, respectively. As co-producer, Shakira enlisted collaborators including Josh Abraham, El Cata, Gustavo Cerati, John Hill, Lester Mendez, Pitbull, and Residente from Calle 13.
Five singles were released from Sale el Sol. The lead single "Loca" peaked atop the record charts of Italy, Spain, and Switzerland and the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart in the United States. The third single, "Rabiosa," reached top ten positions in Austria, Belgium, Italy and Spain. The other singles achieved moderate chart success in Hispanic regions. Shakira embarked on The Sun Comes Out World Tour in late-2010 to promote the album.
At the 2011 Latin Grammy Awards ceremony, Sale el Sol won the award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album and was also nominated for Album of the Year. A success throughout Europe and Latin America, the album reached number one on the charts in Belgium, France, Italy, Mexico, Portugal and Spain. In the United States, it debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 chart and at number one on both the Top Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums charts. Sale el Sol attained numerous record certifications in several regions across the globe, including multi-platinum certifications in Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland and Poland, and diamond certifications in Brazil, France, Colombia and United States.
Background
In October 2009, Shakira released her eighth studio album, She Wolf. The composition of the record shifted from her more traditional Latin pop and pop rock styles, and was primarily an electropop album with combined elements of world and dancehall. The album was positively received by most music critics and was praised for its distinguished nature and Shakira's experimentation with electropop. Commercially, She Wolf was a success and topped charts and attained gold and platinum certifications in several South American and European territories. In May 2010, she wrote and recorded "Waka Waka ", the official song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which became a worldwide hit.Production
Following the worldwide success of "Waka Waka ", Shakira soon began work on her ninth studio album Sale el Sol. She decided to experiment with merengue music on the album, saying "I grew up listening to merengue—that was a big part of my life, and I was missing it." Merengue is recognized as the national music of the Dominican Republic and the singer travelled to the country to work with Dominican songwriter and record producer El Cata, resulting in songs like "Loca" and "Rabiosa". Shakira said that the recording of the two songs took place in "this tiny studio in the middle of nowhere", and that "it wasn't planned, I was just following my instincts. So this album is very genuine, and very personal as well".Other collaborators on the album include Armando Pérez, better known by his stage name Pitbull, Shakira's friend and frequent collaborator Luis Fernando Ochoa, René Pérez Joglar, better known by his stage name "Residente Calle 13", John Hill, Rolando Roly Valenzuela Fleishman, Lester Mendez, Albert Menéndez, Tim Mitchell and Jorge Drexler. Shakira co-wrote and co-produced every track on the album, with the exception of "Islands". The recording of the album took place at locations such as The Bahamas, London, Barcelona and the Dominican Republic, and was engineered by Andros Rodriguez.
Armando Pérez, who co-wrote the tracks "Loca" and "Rabiosa", talked about Shakira's previous album She Wolf, saying "on the last album they tried to Americanize Shakira by giving her the big producers. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, but it’s just not her". Talking about his collaboration with Shakira, El Cata revealed that she told him "You have something that makes me move". Cata responded by telling Shakira that "it was the percussion" and "Those sounds that you want, I have them in my studio.", which led to a recording session between the two. He appears as a featured artist on the Spanish version of "Loca".
René Pérez Joglar, who performs as the lead singer of Puerto Rican alternative hip hop band under the name of Residente, appears as a featured artist on the track "Gordita". He explained the conception of the song, in which he raps about the fact that "he liked Shakira better when – early in her career: she was chubbier, had dark hair and was a rock chick", by saying that "I told her it was a good idea to make fun of yourself. That way the haters can't say anything, because you already said it". British rapper Dizzee Rascal appears as a featured artist on the English version of "Loca". He said that he felt "honoured" that Shakira chose him for the song, by saying that "She's a bit of a trendsetter -- she does loads of different things on a major scale. You'd expect her to use an American rapper, but she chose me. It meant a lot".
Music and lyrics
Sale el Sol is considered to be Shakira's return to her "roots" and is a "fusion between rock and pop heavily influenced from Latino and Colombian music". Shakira said there are three "directions" of Sale el Sol: a romantic one, a "very rock and roll" one, and a "Latino, tropical" one. Explaining the romantic "direction" of the album, she said that it was something "which I hadn't tapped into for the past three years, but it suddenly came to me and I couldn't hold it back. So it’s got songs that are very intense, very romantic ". Examples include ballads like "Antes de las Seis" and "Lo Que Más" ; in the former Shakira delivers "sad, emotional, and heartfelt vocals," while in the latter she sings over a piano and string-supplemented melody. About the rock and roll "direction" of the album, Shakira said "I started my career as a rock artist and then I kind of crossed over into pop, so it’s been fun to re-encounter that side of my artistic personality".The title track is an acoustic guitar-driven alternative rock and Latin pop-infused song, while "Devoción" is a techno-influenced alternative rock track in which Shakira "beats all U2-inspired arena rockers at their own game," according to AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine. The "sultry, energetic, bass-laden" "Tu Boca" finds influences from new wave music. "Islands" is a cover of the original song of the same name by English indie pop band The xx. Shakira adds a few house music elements to the original art pop song.
The "Latino" and tropical side of the album is prominently influenced by merengue music. The genre is characterized by the use of the accordion and the percussion instrument tambora. "Loca", is Shakira's interpretation of El Cata's song "Loca Con Su Tiguere", and is composed of horn-heavy merengue beats set over techno dance percussion beats. Similarly, "Rabiosa" is Shakira's interpretation of El Cata's song "La Rabiosa", and is a fast-paced merengue-influenced dance track. In addition to merengue, songs like "Addicted to You", which features "bilingual lyrics, a very 70's chorus and Copacabana sounds", are influenced by reggaeton music. "Gordita", a duet between Residente Calle 13 and Shakira, is a cumbia and Latin rap hybrid.
Talking about the album's lyrical content, Shakira said that there are some songs "that are just to dance to in a club, that don’t have a big transcendence". In "Rabiosa", Shakira sings about her partner's sex appeal. "Loca" expresses Shakira's erratic and obsessive behaviour towards her lover, more so than his other leading lady. However, Shakira also said that there are some songs which "will remain in people’s hearts and people’s consciousness, sometimes forever". She described these tracks as "songs that have the power to feed people’s relationships and states of mind and states of spirit". According to Billboard, the title track is composed of "evocative and hopeful" lyrics which are dedicated to Argentine singer-songwriter and Shakira's friend Gustavo Cerati, who had been in a coma around the time of the release of the album. "Antes de las Seis" deals with issues of longing, regrets and loneliness. Shakira said these songs are written "in such a personal and intimate way that at that moment. I'm not really thinking much. I'm just letting it all out".
Release and promotion
Sale el Sol was released worldwide on 19 October 2010. The album was made available for digital downloading on the iTunes Store on the same day. An English titled version of the album, The Sun Comes Out, was also released and contains exactly the same track list; the only difference being in the running order as the Spanish versions of "Loca" and "Rabiosa", featuring El Cata, are included as bonus tracks, while the English versions, featuring Dizzee Rascal and Pitbull, respectively, are included on the main track list.Singles
"Loca" was chosen as the lead single from the album; the Spanish version, featuring El Cata, was released on 10 September 2010, while the English version, featuring Dizzee Rascal, was released on 13 September 2010. It became an international success. It peaked atop the charts of countries like France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. In the United States, the song peaked at number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and also topped the Hot Latin Songs, Latin Pop Airplay, and Tropical Songs charts. "Loca" was certified double-platinum in Mexico and Spain by the Mexican Association of Phonograph Producers and the Producers of Spanish Music. It also attained platinum certifications in Italy and Switzerland. The accompanying music video for "Loca", directed by Jaume de Laiguana, was filmed in Barcelona, Spain, and features Shakira interacting with a beach crowd, and dancing in front of the sea wearing a golden bikini."Sale el Sol", the title track of the album, was released as the second single on 4 January 2011. The song charted very limitedly but managed to perform well in Mexico and Spain, peaking at numbers one and eight on the Monitor Latino and Spanish Singles Chart, respectively. It was certified gold in both countries. "Sale el Sol" peaked at numbers 10 and two on the US Billboard Hot Latin Songs and Latin Pop Airplay charts, respectively. The accompanying music video was directed by Jaume de Laiguana, and contains scenes of Shakira finding her way out of large maze and finally emerging outside to a sunny garden.
"Rabiosa" was chosen to be the third single off the album; both the Spanish and English versions of the song, featuring El Cata and Pitbull, respectively, were released on 8 April 2011. A commercial success, it topped the chart of Spain, and reached top ten positions in countries like Austria, Belgium, and Italy. A success on the Latin record charts in the United States, it peaked at number eight on both the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart and Latin Pop Airplay chart, and also peaked at number 13 on the Tropical Songs chart. The song was certified double-platinum in Mexico, and platinum in Spain and Italy. The accompanying music video for the single, directed by Jaume De Laiguana, features Shakira enjoying an underground party while sporting a brown bob-cut wig; it also contains scenes of her poledancing while sporting her normal long blonde hair.
"Antes de las Seis" was released as the fourth single on 21 October 2011. It wasn't successful on singles chart but performed moderately well on airplay charts, topping the airplay chart in Spain and peaking at number four on the US Billboard Latin Pop Airplay chart. It is the only song from the album to miss the top 10 of the US Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. In 2013, "Antes de las Seis" was certified gold in Mexico. The live recording of Shakira's performance of the song during the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy concert show of The Sun Comes Out World Tour, taken from the live album Live from Paris, served as the accompanying music video for the single.
"Addicted to You" was released as the fifth and final single off Sale el Sol, on 13 March 2012. It became a success in Mexico, where it received a platinum certification, and Poland, where it topped the airplay chart. In the United States, it peaked at number nine on the US Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart, and at number three on both the Latin Pop Airplay and Tropical Songs charts. The accompanying music video for "Addicted to You" was directed by Anthony Mandler, and features Shakira dancing in various locations, such as an "old Spanish style" town, a cathedral-like room, and a bathtub, while sporting different "high fashion" outfits.