Shakira makes a highly anticipated return to pop music following 2010’s Spanglish project Sale el Sol with “Can’t Remember to Forget You,” a pop-rock anthem so stadium-sized it even recruits Rihanna for a couple of bars. While the Barbadian pop princess is a welcome presence beginning in the song’s second verse, “Can’t Remember” is really Shakira’s showcase. The Colombian superstar’s voice is more limber and supple than in the past, and she deftly cuts through an arrangement that fuses dancehall and rock in a way that recalls Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven.” Shakira’s upcoming English-language album, due in March, has a lead single that’s enjoyably ska-tinged-another left turn in a career full of them.
