Maps of Music

Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 (2005)

Where the lyrics of Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 take you, and where it was really made.

Shakira split nearly sixty co-written songs into two albums, and the Spanish-language half debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 with a record for a full-length Spanish-language album.

Key places

Recording at The Warehouse Studio, Vancouver (2005)

Recording site Warehouse Studios — The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver is listed among the recording sites for this album. The point marks the city-level location of the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording at The Hit Factory, Miami (2005)

Recording site Criteria Studios — The Hit Factory in Miami is listed among the recording sites for this album. The point marks the studio location in Miami. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Recording at O'Henry Sound Studios, Burbank (2005)

Recording site O'Henry Sound Studios — O'Henry Sound Studios in Burbank is listed among the recording sites for this album. The point marks the studio location in Burbank. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 is the sixth studio album by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira
• Released 3 June 2005 by Epic Records
• A Spanish-language Latin pop album
• Planned as a Spanish-language follow-up to the English-language Laundry Service

Background

• Laundry Service (2001) brought Shakira international success as her first English-language album
• It was her first Spanish-language record since Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998)
• She co-wrote nearly sixty songs for the project, then split the release into two volumes
• Vol. 1 holds all Spanish-language songs; Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 holds all English-language tracks
• Shakira wrote all the lyrics and most of the music
• Rick Rubin was executive producer; she also worked with Gustavo Cerati, Lester Mendez, Luis Fernando Ochoa and Jose 'Gocho' Torres
• Lester Mendez and Luis Fernando Ochoa were previous collaborators; Cerati and Torres were new partners

Recording

• Recording sites listed for the album: The Warehouse Studio (Vancouver), The Hit Factory (Miami), O'Henry Sound Studios (Burbank)

Cover

• The cover shows Shakira holding a baby girl in her arms
• The artwork relates to Eve, the first woman, and to the idea of an oral fixation
• Shakira linked both Oral Fixation covers to Sigmund Freud's oral stage of psychosexual development

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, born 2 February 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia.
• Colombian singer-songwriter, dancer and record producer, known as the "Queen of Latin Music".
• Signed to Sony Music Colombia at age 13; debut album Magia (1991) was not a commercial success.
• Breakthrough with Pies Descalzos (1995) and Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998).
• English crossover album Laundry Service (2001) sold over 15 million copies worldwide.
• Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 (2005) and Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 (2005) followed, with "Hips Don't Lie" becoming her first Billboard Hot 100 number one.
• Has written or co-written virtually all the music she has recorded.
• Holds four Grammy Awards and fifteen Latin Grammy Awards.
• Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (2024) topped Billboard Top Latin Albums, making her the first woman with number-one albums across four decades.
• Known for blending Latin, Western and Middle Eastern influences in her music and dance.

Philanthropy

• Founded Fundación Pies Descalzos (Barefoot Foundation) in 1997 to build schools for underprivileged children in Colombia.
• Became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2003.
• Appointed to the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics in 2011.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic: average score 79 from 13 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews
• Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic called the Spanish-language release after Laundry Service a sharp move
• Erlewine said the album showed Shakira could return to her roots and expand upon them
• Jon Pareles of The New York Times described the album as blissfully pan-American
• Pareles said it was all pop for Shakira, with taut structures for volatile passion
• Dave Simpson of The Guardian said the songs are catchy enough to tempt non-Spanish speakers to sing along
• Barry Walters of Rolling Stone said executive producer Rick Rubin helped restore Shakira's artistic integrity by keeping the industry at bay
• Ernesto Lechner of Entertainment Weekly said Shakira had found herself again and called it her strongest album to date
• Tom Townsend of Yahoo! Music praised her as wide awake and called pop not dead, just sleeping
• Mark Kemp of Paste gave a mixed review, calling it stronger overall than Laundry Service but not as warm as Dónde Están los Ladrones?

Reappraisal

• Matt Cibula of PopMatters praised the subtle samples across several songs as nods to the sounds of the 1980s
• Dave Simpson compared Shakira to a Latin American Madonna
• Jon Pareles found her smart or ambitious image uncharacteristic of a sex symbol
• Billboard named it the second best-selling Latin album of the decade in the US, after Barrio Fino by Daddy Yankee

Records

• US Billboard 200: debuted at number four with 157,000 first-week copies, the highest debut of a full-length Spanish-language album in the US
• Topped the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart
• Nielsen SoundScan: over 1,019,000 copies in the US as of October 2017
• Certified platinum eleven times by Latin standards, with shipments of over 1,100,000 copies
• Mexico: debuted at number one; triple platinum for 300,000 shipments
• Argentina: number one, triple platinum
• Germany: number one, platinum for 200,000 shipments
• Spain: number one, triple platinum for 240,000 shipments
• Over four million copies sold worldwide as of May 2013
• 2006 Grammy Awards: Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album
• 2006 Latin Grammy Awards: Album of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The video for 'Día de Enero' refers to Shakira's then-boyfriend Antonio de la Rúa, with the letters S and A written in a heart in the sand.
• 'La Tortura' was released as the lead single on 12 April 2005 and was the only single from the album to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number twenty-three.
• The 'La Tortura' video was directed by Michael Haussman and depicts a fictionally romantic Shakira and Alejandro Sanz.
• The video for 'Las de la Intuición' shows Shakira in a purple wig.
• Shakira later recorded an English-language version of 'Las de la Intuición', titled 'Pure Intuition'.
• Shakira initially said the second volume would have a completely new repertory of songs, though the finished album included two English translations of songs from the first record.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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