At its core, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran is a pop album for a mainstream target market, a colourful concoction of EDM-infused dance tracks, generic disco beats, and the occasional rap that’s nearly designed to be edited into shiny TikToks. Below its plasticky umbrella, Shakira additionally flexes her chameleonic powers, fusing Afrobeats with Dominican bachata, ska with northern cumbia, and electropop with reggaetón. Angsty alt-rock songs like “Tiempo Sin Verte” and “Cómo Dónde y Cuándo” harken again to her Alanis Morissette-esque 1998 album ¿Dónde Están los Ladrones? The latter tune has a scrappy, start-stop guitar riff paying homage to “The place Is My Thoughts?,” recalling her affinity for Aerosmith and the Remedy. But when the starvation to say her dominance throughout genres—to end up that no person can exchange Shakira—feels authentic, the manufacturing alternatives appear extra excited about proving her vary than in finding each and every tune’s maximum original expression.
Alongside the best way, Shakira assembles a star-studded lineup that comes with Manuel Turizo, Ozuna, and two Rauw Alejandro options. Her duet with Karol G (who’s skilled a public breakup of her personal) delivers a tantalizing sorry-not-sorry vibe paying homage to “Gorgeous Liar.” As regional Mexican track continues to command the worldwide pop scene, Shakira’s contralto tones, raspy cadence, and penchant for romantic storytelling discover a fit within the bajo quinto and accordion-powered canción “(Entre Paréntesis),” with Groupo Frontera, and the tololoche-tinged sierreño urbano tune “El Jefe,” with Fuerza Regida. Some options, even though, really feel misplaced. Did we truly want a Tiësto remix of “Pa’ tipos como tú”? Cardi B’s punny “Puntería” verse turns out love it will have been substituted with nearly the rest. Describing the origins in their collaboration, Shakira mentioned, “I believed, ‘How cool wouldn’t it be to have a girl rapper right here?’ The one one who got here to my thoughts was once Cardi B. I had simply met her in Paris and he or she appeared so great.” This could also be what involves thoughts after I bring to mind “Puntería”—great.
Act one closes with “Última,” in all probability essentially the most susceptible second at the album. It’s a piano ballad that looks like Shakira’s ultimate try at closure: the primary time she thank you Piqué for the time they shared, whilst additionally acknowledging their incompatibility as she sings, “Más fácil technology mezclar el agua y el aceite”—more straightforward to combine oil and water. The album’s 2nd part undergoes a change comparable to a post-breakup makeover, but it may well’t assist however revisit the anger degree. Armed with strains like, “Dicen por ahí que no hay mal que más de cien años dura pero ahí sigue mi ex-suegro que no pisa sepultura” (“They are saying that there’s no evil that lasts greater than 100 years, however my ex partner’s father continues to be round and doesn’t have a foot within the grave”), she holds not anything again.
There’s a fan for each technology of Shakira—some who be expecting her to stick to Anglophone pop molds, some who pine for her rockera previous. Since her debut, she has impressed debate about Latine stereotypes and the character of cultural authenticity, however on this decade, her mix of kinds is not appeared to be so overseas because it as soon as was once. It’s attention-grabbing to observe Shakira take giant swings and prolong her dominance, however there’s a little bit piece that’s lacking: some small token to turn what made her such an icon within the first position.
