Nearly four years after her smash English-language debut for Epic, "Laundry Service," Colombian singer Shakira is finally preparing a new studio album. Little is known about the set, due later this year, except that Shakira will write or co-write her own material.

Among those tracks is a song she will record with Spanish star Alejandro Sanz, who worked on the track at his home studio in Miami, where he spent the Christmas holidays.

"Laundry Service" debuted at No. 3 on The Billboard 200 and has sold 3.3 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The single "Whenever, Wherever" reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.

As for Sanz, he is also at work on a series of English-language tracks that may become an album, when, in his words, "it's ready."

"The truth is, I'm happy," he tells Billboard of his English efforts. "Because, despite my limitations, what's coming out is interesting. Obviously, I want to improve some things, and I want to work with someone who can help me with my accent and my sentence construction. But I've always said there are artists who've had success in another language by not having the right accent."