Laundry Service

Laundry Service
Studio album by Shakira
Released November 13, 2001
Recorded 2000 – 2001[1] at Crescent Moon Studios and Criteria Recording Studios, Miami, Florida, and Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas.
Genre Pop, Latin, Worldbeat, Rock
Length 49:06
Label Epic
Producer Shakira, Emilio Estefan Jr. (Executive), Brendan Buckley, Pablo Florez, Javier Garza, Lester Mendez, Tim Mitchell, George Noriega, Luis Fernando Ochoa
Shakira chronology
MTV Unplugged
(2000)		 Laundry Service
(2001)		 Colección de Oro
(2002)
Singles from Laundry Service
  1. "Whenever, Wherever"
    Released: December 18, 2001 (2001-12-18)
  2. "Underneath Your Clothes"
    Released: March 18, 2002 (2002-03-18)
  3. "Objection (Tango)"
    Released: April 24, 2002 (2002-04-24)
  4. "The One"
    Released: June 12, 2002 (2002-06-12)
  5. "Te Dejo Madrid"
    Released: August 15, 2002 (2002-08-15)
  6. "Que Me Quedes Tú"
    Released: December 1, 2002 (2002-12-01)

Laundry Service (Servicio De Lavandería in Spanish-speaking territories) is the first bilingual studio album and third studio album overall by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira, released on November 13, 2001 by Epic Records. All the songs on the album except Eyes Like Yours (which is a translation of Shakira’s trademark Ojos Así) are original and were fully or partly composed by Shakira. It also contains four songs in Spanish. Shakira recorded this album during almost two years in Uruguay and the Bahamas. Musically the album is a fusion of many different genres and cultures. Heavily influenced by South American culture, britpop and American rock and roll, the album gained generally positive reviews despite of some negative calls from Latin fans for seemingly abandoning her folk and rock roots in favor of contemporary American pop music. This album won dozens of awards worldwide, including the Latin Grammy Award in the category of Best Short Form Music Video. The album reached the top three of the charts in both the United States and United Kingdom (after the re-release, it reached #2 in UK). Whenever, Wherever (and its Spanish counterpart Suerte), the first single from the album, was first heard in Colombia and the United States in late August 2001 and immediately became number one. Subsequently, the single was climbing the tops of charts in more than 30 countries during the period of over 6 months, eventually becoming the best selling single of 2002 worldwide. Shakira started the promotion in Colombia and Spain in October 2001 and then returned to the US for the American album release (November 13, 2001). There are also another three international singles Underneath Your Clothes (U.S. #9), Objection (Tango) and The One, that finally helped to recognize Shakira as a mainstream artist. Freddy DeMann, who worked with Michael Jackson, Madonna and Alanis Morissette, handled the management of that era of Shakira’s career and the promotion. For the first time she appeared in a number of American prime-time TV shows and open-air concerts and continued the promotion in Europe, South America and Asia up to July 2002. Shakira supported the album with the "Tour of the Mongoose" with the worldwide audience of over 1.2 million people. Laundry Service is Shakira's best selling album to date and has sold more than 13 million copies worldwide.[2][3]

Contents

Background

After the success of the ¿Dónde Están los Ladrones? and MTV Unplugged albums, Shakira decided to begin working on a crossover album to break into the English market in 2000.

Laundry Service was originally designed to include older songs by advice of Gloria Estefan, the wife of the executive producer of the album Emilio Estefan, Jr.. However, Shakira later decided against using translations of older songs for the album and worked for over a year on new material for the album. The album was mainly produced by Shakira herself, Tim Mitchell and Lester Mendez who produced a bulk of tracks on the album. Shakira recorded the album in Miami, Florida and Nassau, Bahamas at the Compass Point Studios.

She worked with several other notable producers, including Glen Ballard and Luis F. Ochoa, and brought in noted audio engineer Terry Manning to record the album. Laundry Service has yielded eight singles: "Whenever, Wherever", "Suerte (Whenever, Wherever)", "Te Dejo Madrid", "Underneath Your Clothes", "Objection (Tango)", "Te Aviso, Te Anuncio (Tango)", "The One", and "Que Me Quedes Tú". "Fool" was released as a single only in Brazil, and "Poem To A Horse" which was released as the promo-single from her 2004 tour album Live & Off the Record. "Eyes Like Yours" has an unreleased music video that was filmed around the same time as "Ojos Asi". A clip of this unseen video was released on a promotional CD-ROM, only a minute in length and containing very few shots of Shakira singing in English. It is believed the song itself was recorded around the time of ¿Dónde Están los Ladrones? when Shakira was still considering English translations of older songs instead of new material.

Reception

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [4]
Entertainment.ie [5]
Robert Christgau A− [6]
Rolling Stone [7]
Yahoo! Music [8]

Some critics criticized the effectiveness of Shakira's lyrics, claiming that her English skills were too weak for her to write in that language, but nearly all agreed on her unique poetic imagery. Most notably, Ernesto Lechner of Rolling Stone magazine described the album:

"On the Spanish-language albums that elevated her to Latin-rock-goddess status, Shakira Mebarak sounded playful, bohemian and rebellious. On her English-language debut, she sounds downright silly, but the blame is not entirely hers. Surrounded by a battalion of producers and songwriters, the twenty-four-year-old yodeling diva can't quite overcome the pedestrian nature of most of the material at hand, the bulk of which she co-wrote. Equally misdirected are her efforts to spice things up with obvious touches of Latin American folklore (the opening "Objection" sounds like a cross between "Livin' la Vida Loca" and an Ástor Piazzolla tango). Shakira's voice is a wild and beautiful instrument, and she's capable of delivering scorching moments of musical passion, as her live performances have amply demonstrated. But if you take away the Zeppelin-esque crunch of the Glen Ballard-penned ballad "The One" and the sinuous chants of the Lebanese-flavored "Eyes Like Yours," you'll see that, for now, at least, Shakira's magic is lost in translation".[7]

Other critics were more positive. Alex Henderson from Allmusic compares Shakira's lead single with Ricky Martin's trademark song and mentioned that "Dónde Están Los Ladrones? remains Shakira's most essential album, but Laundry Service is an excellent English-language debut for the South American vocalist".[4] In 2007, the album was included at number 172 on the list of the "Definitive 200" albums of all time developed by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers.[9]

Commercial performance

Laundry Service was released in the United States on November 13, 2001. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 album chart with first week sales of over 202,000, exceeding expectations by a wide margin.[10] The album eventually spent six months in the top twenty on the chart, fueled by the success of its two lead singles. It was eventually certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA in June 2002 making it one of the biggest selling albums of the year. In Australia, the album was certified gold for shipments exceeding 35,000 units. It has since been certified five times platinum in Australia with sales of over 350,000. It debuted at number two in the UK Albums Chart and has since been certified double platinum with sales of over 697,000 copies. In Portugal the album reached number one for two months and was eventually certified 4x Platinum (160,000 copies) and it was on the top 30 over than 70 consecutive weeks. It established the record for the best selling album in Turkey.

The album debuted high on charts due to the success of the lead single "Whenever, Wherever" that reached the top ten in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. In Australia and the UK it reached number one and number two respectively. It remained on the Australian Singles Charts for six consecutive weeks and became the second best-selling single of the year. In the UK it reached number two, and ended the year as the eighth best-selling single and was certified gold for sales of over 554,754. Laundry Service was eventually one of the biggest selling albums of 2002, and was certified 3x Platinum by the RIAA in June 2002. The album reached number one in Australia, Austria, Canada, Mexico, Portugal, New Zealand, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. The album's success and its singles helped to establish Shakira's musical presence in the mainstream North American market.

Other versions

The album was released in Latin America as Servicio de Lavandería (the Spanish translation of the title), with the same tracks, but in a different order. Thus, "Objection (Tango)" was born, a song that documents Shakira's anger at a relationship in which her lover is unfaithful. It was Shakira's first song composed in English. All the songs on album are original, with the exception of "Eyes Like Yours", which is a translation of Shakira's Arabic-tinged 1999 worldwide hit Ojos Así. Although it is an English album, it did contain four Spanish tracks. In 2002, Sony BMG stated the re-release of the album which was titled Laundry Service: Washed & Dried. It include three additional bonus tracks Whenever, Wherever (Sahara Mix) was remixed by Hani Kamai, and the remix was produced by Tamer Zeltoun Arabic. The acoustic version for Underneath Your Clothes (Acoustic Version) was produced by Tim Mitchell. And Objection (Tango) (Afro-punk version) arranged by Shakira for Light Productions Ltd. and Tim Mitchell for Crescent Moon Inc. The Washed and Dried Edition managed to peak at #112 on the Billboard 200 and a bonus DVD which include the "Objection (Tango)" performance from the MTV Video Music Awards, Behind-the-Scenes of the MTV's Making the Video and the music video.

Track listing

No. Title Writer(s) Producer(s) Length
1. "Objection (Tango)"   Shakira Shakira, Lester Mendez* 3:42
2. "Underneath Your Clothes"   Shakira, Mendez Shakira, Mendez* 3:44
3. "Whenever, Wherever"   Shakira, Gloria Estefan, Tim Mitchell Shakira, Mitchell* 3:16
4. "Rules"   Shakira, Mendez Shakira, Mendez* 3:39
5. "The One"   Shakira, Glen Ballard Shakira, Mendez* 3:42
6. "Ready for the Good Times"   Shakira, Mendez Shakira, Mendez* 4:13
7. "Fool"   Shakira, Brendan Buckley Shakira, Buckley*, Mendez* 3:50
8. "Te Dejo Madrid"   Shakira, Mitchell, George Noriega Shakira, Mitchell*, Noriega*, Mendez* 3:06
9. "Poem to a Horse"   Shakira, Luis Fernando Ochoa Shakira, Ochoa* 4:06
10. "Que Me Quedes Tú"   Shakira, Ochoa Shakira, Ochoa* 4:47
11. "Eyes Like Yours (Ojos así)"   Shakira, Estefan, Javier Garza, Pablo Florez, Javier Garza Shakira, Garza, Florez 3:56
12. "Suerte (Whenever, Wherever)"   Shakira, Mitchell Shakira, Mitchell* 3:16
13. "Te Aviso, te Anuncio (Tango)"   Shakira Shakira, Mendez* 3:43

(*) denotes co-producer

Singles

Chart performance and certification

Charts

Chart Peak
position
Australia Album Chart[15] 1
Austria Album Chart[15] 1
Belgian Flandres Albums Chart[15] 1
Belgian Wallonie Albums Chart[15] 5
Canada Albums Chart[16] 1
Denmark Album Chart[15] 3
Finland album Chart[15] 1
France Album Chart[15] 5
Germany Album Chart[17] 2
Italy Album Chart[15] 2
Netherlands Albums Chart[15] 1
New Zealand Album Chart[15] 4
Norway Album Chart[15] 1
Portugal Album Chart[15] 11
Sweden Album Chart[15] 1
Switzerland Albums Chart[15] 1
UK Albums Chart[18] 2
U.S. Billboard 200[16] 3

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Argentina (CAPIF)[19] 2× Platinum 80,000x
Australia (ARIA)[20] 5× Platinum 350,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[21] 2× Platinum  
Belgium (BEA)[22] Platinum 50,000*
Brazil (ABPD)[23] Gold 50,000*
Canada (Music Canada)[24] 5× Platinum 500,000^
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[25] Gold 25,000^
Finland (IFPI Finland)[26] 3+× Platinum 90,140[26]
France (SNEP)[27] 2× Platinum 600,000*
Germany (BVMI)[28] 5× Gold 750,000^
Greece (IFPI Greece)[29] Platinum 30,000^
Hungary (Mahasz)[30] Platinum  
Mexico (AMPROFON)[31] 2× Platinum 300,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[32] 2× Platinum 160,000^
New Zealand (RIANZ)[33] 3× Platinum 45,000^
Norway (IFPI Norway)[34] Platinum 50,000*
Poland (ZPAV)[35] 2× Platinum 200,000*
Russia (NFPF)[36] 5× Platinum 100,000*
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[37] 5× Platinum 500,000^
Sweden (GLF)[38] Platinum 80,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[39] 5× Platinum 200,000x
United Kingdom (BPI)[40] 2× Platinum 600,000^
United States (RIAA)[41] 3× Platinum 3,000,000^
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[42] 4× Platinum 4,000,000*

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Awards

Latin Grammy Awards

Premio MTV Latinoamérica

RitmoLatino music awards

MuchMusic Video Awards

MTV Video Music Awards

NRJ Music Awards

Premios Oye

Personnel

References

  1. ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,277730,00.html
  2. ^ Shakira's Biography
  3. ^ Shakira’s Songs Are the Heart of Her Success BMI.com
  4. ^ a b Henderson, Alex. Laundry Service at Allmusic. Retrieved 20 February 2005.
  5. ^ http://www.entertainment.ie/reviews/review.asp?ID=1962&subcat=CD
  6. ^ Christgau, Robert (January 15, 2002). "Consumer Guide: Popstakes: Shakira: Laundry Service". The Village Voice. http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv102-02.php. Retrieved 28 December 2012.  Relevant portion also posted at "Shakira: Laundry Service > Consumer Guide Album". Robert Christgau. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_album.php?id=10917. Retrieved 20 February 2005. 
  7. ^ a b Lechter, Ernesto (November 8, 2001). "Recordings: Shakira Laundry Service > Album Review". Rolling Stone (881): p. 126. Archived from the original on 23 August 2006. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/laundry-service-20011017. Retrieved 21 February 2005.  Posted on October 17, 2001.
  8. ^ Oliver, Lisa (March 12, 2002). "Shakira – 'Laundry Service' > Album Review". Yahoo! Music. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. http://web.archive.org/web/20110718133846/http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/l_reviews_a/24260.html. Retrieved 16 December 2009. 
  9. ^ "Definitive 200". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 2007.
  10. ^ Garth's 'Scarecrow' Shoots Straight To No. 1 Billboard magazine.
  11. ^ http://fai.music.metaservices.microsoft.com/FAI/AlbumMatch.aspx?locale=c0a&geoid=a6&version=11.0.6002.18311&userlocale=80a&requestid=6E741875-889B-4521-82DA-85C7342DE49B&AlbumId=39520638&Volume=1&2518=
  12. ^ [1]
  13. ^ http://www.donquijote.org/spanishlanguage/lyrics/search/songs.asp?id=13
  14. ^ "Biggest Selling Singles Since the Year 2000". Yahoo. 2009-09-01. http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/yradish/41097/biggest-selling-singles-since-the-year-2000/. Retrieved 2009-09-05. 
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n World Peaks I Swisscharts.com. Retrieved April 29, 2008.
  16. ^ a b Chart Positions US CA: Laundry Service allmusic. Retrieved April 29, 2008.
  17. ^ "Laundry Service". musicline.de. http://musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/title/Shakira/Laundry+Service/longplay. Retrieved 8 August 2011. 
  18. ^ "Chart Stats - Shakira - Laundry Service". chartstats.com. http://www.chartstats.com/release.php?release=35584. Retrieved 8 August 2011. 
  19. ^ "Argentinian album certifications – Shakira – Servicio De Lavanderia". Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers. http://www.capif.org.ar/Default.asp?PerDesde_MM=0&PerDesde_AA=0&PerHasta_MM=0&PerHasta_AA=0&interprete=Shakira&album=Servicio+De+Lavanderia&LanDesde_MM=0&LanDesde_AA=0&LanHasta_MM=0&LanHasta_AA=0&Galardon=O&Tipo=1&ACCION2=+Buscar+&ACCION=Buscar&CO=5&CODOP=ESOP. 
  20. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2002 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. http://www.aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-accreditations-albums-2002.htm. 
  21. ^ "Austrian album certifications – Shakira – Laundry Service" (in German). IFPI Austria. http://www.ifpi.at/?section=goldplatin.  Enter Shakira in the field Interpret. Enter Laundry Service in the field Titel. Select album in the field Format. Click Suchen
  22. ^ "Ultratop − Goud en Platina - 2002". Ultratop & Hung Medien / hitparade.ch. http://www.ultratop.be/xls/Awards%202002.htm. 
  23. ^ "Brazilian album certifications – Shakira – Laundry Service" (in Portuguese). Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos. http://abpd.org.br/certificados_interna.asp?sArtista=Shakira&tmidia=1. 
  24. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Shakira – Laundry Service". Music Canada. http://www.musiccanada.com/GPSearchResult.aspx?st=Laundry+Service&sa=Shakira&smt=0. 
  25. ^ "Danish album certifications – Shakira – Laundry Service". IFPI Denmark. http://www.hitlisterne.dk/default.asp?w=18&y=2002&list=a40. 
  26. ^ a b "Finnish album certifications – Shakira – Laundry Service" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. http://www.ifpi.fi/tilastot/artistit/Shakira. 
  27. ^ "French album certifications – Shakira – Laundry Service" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. http://www.disqueenfrance.com/fr/pag-259165-CERTIFICATIONS.html?year=2003&type=13. 
  28. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Shakira; 'Laundry Service')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. http://www.musikindustrie.de/gold_platin_datenbank/?action=suche&strTitel=Laundry+Service&strInterpret=Shakira&strTtArt=alben&strAwards=checked. 
  29. ^ "Greek album certifications – Shakira – Laundry Service" (in Greek). IFPI Greece. http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20030806115611/www.ifpi.gr/chart01.htm. 
  30. ^ "Adatbázis – Arany- és platinalemezek – 2003" (in Hungarian). Mahasz. http://www.mahasz.hu/?menu=arany_es_platinalemezek&menu2=adatbazis&ev=2003. 
  31. ^ "Mexican album certifications – Shakira – Servicio De Lavanderia" (in Spanish). Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. http://www.amprofon.com.mx/certificaciones.php?artista=Shakira&titulo=Servicio+De+Lavanderia&categoria=ALBUM&contenido=buscar. 
  32. ^ "Dutch album certifications – Shakira – Laundry Service" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. http://www.ifpi.nl/nvpi/pagina.asp?pagkey=61112&documentid=1235666. 
  33. ^ "New Zealand album certifications – Shakira – Laundry Service". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand. http://rianz.org.nz/rianz/oldchart.asp?chartNum=1338&chartKind=A. 
  34. ^ "Norwegian album certifications – Shakira – Laundry Service" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norway. http://www.ifpi.no/sok/lst_trofeer_sok.asp?type=artist. 
  35. ^ "Polish album certifications – Shakira – Laundry Service" (in Polish). Polish Producers of Audio and Video (ZPAV). http://www.zpav.pl/rankingi/wyroznienia/platynowe/index.php. 
  36. ^ ""2M" - Россия Top 25 >> 07-2010" (in Russian). 2m-online.ru. National Federation of Phonogram Producers (NFPP). http://2m-online.ru/news/detail.php?ID=5556&phrase_id=19008. Retrieved 6 April 2011. 
  37. ^ "Spanish album certifications – Shakira – Servicio De Lavanderia" (in Spanish) (PDF). Productores de Música de España. http://promusicae.es/files/listassemanales/albumes/historial/TOP%20100%20ALBUMES%2006_17.pdf. 
  38. ^ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2002" (in Swedish) (PDF). IFPI Sweden. http://www.ifpi.se/wp/wp-content/uploads/ar-20021.pdf. 
  39. ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Shakira; 'Laundry Service')". Hung Medien. http://www.swisscharts.com/search_certifications.asp?search=Shakira+Laundry+Service. 
  40. ^ "British album certifications – Shakira – Laundry Service". British Phonographic Industry. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx.  Enter Laundry Service in the field Search. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Click Go
  41. ^ "American album certifications – Shakira – Laundry Service". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?artist=%22Laundry+Service%22.  If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
  42. ^ "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards – 2002". International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_news/plat2002.html. 

External links

Preceded by
Diorama by Silverchair		 Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album
May 6–12, 2002
May 27 - June 2, 2002		 Succeeded by
18 by Moby
Shakira
Studio albums
Live albums
Compilation albums
Box sets
Extended plays
Other albums
Concert tours
Fragrance
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