14 DAY TRIAL // Shakira was perhaps the first pop artist to tell her audiences that “hips don’t lie” but, in her just released video, this is one part of her anatomy that is left in a corner of shadow. Center stage in the new “She Wolf” video, her first single off her upcoming album, goes to her backside – and some amazing contortions that are certain to be the only cause for jaws dropping on the floor, as MTV puts it.
In “She Wolf,” Shakira takes dancing and body-contortion to a whole new level, the kind that is so amazing and a bit unsettling that not even her most diehard fans know whether to be thrilled by it or appalled. The choreography in the video – because that’s what it’s mostly about – is insane, and that’s perhaps the best manner to describe it, while also featuring stuff like cages, leotards and outfits that perhaps not even Lady Gaga would wear. Add to that some howling at the moon, whispering and hoarse breathing, and what fans get is the kind of experience that they neither expected nor dreamed from Shakira, the same music-oriented publication says.
“Here's a major reason why ‘She Wolf’ is so eye-catching: Shakira’s posterior. She’s already touted her hips, but, really, her booty is the breakout star of the video. It pops, locks, drops, sways and – in one key scene – seems to swell to nearly three times its original size. Really, Shakira has taken the art of body-contorting to new (somewhat unsettling) highs in ‘She Wolf.’ She herks and jerks, folds herself in half, torques vertebrae, lifts legs over her head, pops her shoulders in and out of their sockets, hangs upside down, nearly topples over... the list goes on and on. She out-dances everyone in the business, and even manages to out-Beyoncé Beyoncé.” MTV says of the video.
If that sounds too good to be true, it must be because it was not entirely scripted, as the singer herself tells the same media outlet. All the moves seem incredibly difficult to pull (and they probably are, more than anyone can imagine) but what fans get to see in the official video is also a bit of improvising, since Shakira got a bit carried away with the dancing and added some things that had not been rehearsed. “I start doing all kinds of outrageous stuff and hanging upside down and doing stuff that wasn’t planned. But it was kind of an improvisation. I just got caught in the moment.” the singer tells MTV.
The single too is incredibly catchy and impressive, fans seem to agree. With heavy influences of old disco, and beats and samples no one would even dream to hear in the same track, “She Wolf” stands on its own as possibly the song of the year, MTV believes. Whether it will also strike a chord with fans still remains to be seen but, should it fail, the video will certainly compensate, at least to some extent. See it below.