Europe-devouring bilingual ballad o’clock!
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[5.67]
Jonathan Bogart: One of my favorite things about Shakira has always been her wide view of popular music, her willingness to borrow from anywhere and to allow odd juxtapositions in order to construct her post-national vision of pop. That she would pluck Francis Cabrel’s great ballad from the dustbin of 1979 and give it new popularity just by singing it on tour in Francophone countries is par for her course; that its popularity would inspire a single release and a number-one hit in France (where she’s had more #1 hits than in the U.S., to my patriotic shame) speaks to her status as the premier global ambassador of pop in all its forms.
[8]
Iain Mew: We’re right back into ballads and language barriers here. Particularly as the song is minimalist to the extent that there isn’t much to go on in the absence of understanding, but not to the extent that it’s strikingly so. All it really offers for me is proof that Shakira’s voice, amazing as it is, isn’t enough to carry a song on its own.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: I heard that Shakira settled down, and she found a ballad, and she’s placid now.
[5]
Edward Okulicz: Shakira sings this with love and tenderness and while I’m impressed as ever, I’m also completely bored. Her own ballads tend to be more intricate, more felt, more moving.
[5]
Brad Shoup: Possibly from a mistaken belief that paring instruments necessarily causes emotional nudity, Shakira turns the bulk of the track over to brittle acoustic plucking. This track’s bass is essentially a placeholder. It’s nothing like the lowing Pastorian four-string deployed on Cabrel’s original. Shakira’s rock roots likely inform her stomping on the strum and reaching for the rage. But with a text that keeps circling back to thoughts of death and war, perhaps she’s made the superior choice.
[5]
Alfred Soto: At the risk of looking reactionary, I find this her strongest performance in years. Supple, full, and in control, her voice doesn’t ladle the sentiment, especially in the second verse, for which she injects a rasp that prepares us for the sap of the French lyrics. Of course it’s not as daft as her own compositions; what she’s trying to is reestablish herself for an international audience, and on those terms this cover broadens her stock portfolio.
[7]