Latin superstar Shakira this week releases her second Epic album of the year, “Oral Fixation.” First single “Don’t Bother” is No. 39 this week on the Billboard Pop 100. The set also includes “Illegal” featuring Carlos Santana and an English rendition of “Dia Especial” from “Fijacion Oral,” which in June debuted at No. 4 on The Billboard 200.
From 60 songs, many of which she wrote with longtime collaborators like Lester Mendez and Luis Fernando Ochoa, Shakira whittled down the list to 10 in each language. She then proposed a stylistically eclectic two-album project.
“I don’t believe very much in the musical unity of albums,” the artist says. “I don’t think an album needs to have one general concept. I think albums have to be the spontaneous expression of an artist. That’s why I took such a long time to work on these songs. And so many things happened in that time, that the first song I wrote has nothing to do with the last.”
Meanwhile, “La Tortura,” the lead single from “Fijacion Oral,” has now spent 25 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart.
