"Ojos Así" (English: Eyes Like Those) is a song in Spanish by Colombian singer Shakira, and was released as the fourth single from her album ¿Dónde Están los Ladrones? on July 23, 1999. Today, "Ojos Así" is one of Shakira's most successful songs of her career. The song reached the top spot in countries such as Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, and even Romania, and fared well within the US Billboard charts, Hot Latin Song, and Latin Pop Airplay. The music video for "Ojos Así" features a red-haired Shakira with a more rock image, aside from a silver belly dancing hip scarf. Shakira's 2001 English language debut album, Laundry Service, features an English version of the song titled "Eyes Like Yours", which is believed to have been recorded around the same time as "Ojos Así" when Shakira was considering translating her Spanish material. Shakira has performed "Ojos Así" in each of her world tours, most recently in her The Sun Comes Out World Tour.
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"Ojos Así" contains interludes of Arabic chants (contrary to popular belief, these were not written and sung by famous Egyptian singer Amr Diab). It is based in the Phrygian dominant scale to help lend to the song's famous Arabian feel. Shakira herself sings in Arabic in the album version, single version, and various remixes of the song.
"Ojos Así" became extremely popular in Latin American countries and has become Shakira's biggest hit in Spanish, since "Estoy Aquí". It was also one of Shakira's smash hits in Romania.[2]
Shakira completely re-worked the song for her MTV Unplugged in 1999. This new version of the song, the finale of the concert, was much quieter than the original version and its remixes, and it included an extended dance break with drums, eliminating Shakira singing in Arabic at the same time. Since then, most performances of the song have been similar, though for the Tour of the Mongoose (2002–2003) and Oral Fixation Tour's (2006–2007) versions, a violin has been played over the drums during the dancing break.
The Tour of the Mongoose's pre-song introduction (which was also the introduction to the concert itself, as "Ojos Así" was the opening number), was fast instrumental rock that would quiet down to a violin, which would lead into "Ojos Así" itself after an immense instrumental build-up. Shakira would wear tight black leather pants, a black belly dancing scarf, and a black bra.
The Oral Fixation Tour's version (an encore after the main setlist) also had a pre-song intro, using popular Arabian tune "Enta Omri" by famous Egyptian singer Om Kalthoum. Shakira danced to "Enta Omri" with a purple veil (this intro is thus known as the "Veil Dance"). "Enta Omri" would then become Ojos Asi with a bang as Shakira would throw the veil up into the air and spin off-stage as "Ojos Así"'s first intro played. Shakira would wear purple pants, a golden/purple hip scarf, and a silver or rainbow bra.
Shakira's The Sun Comes Out World Tour features a dramatically reworked version of the song. Although the structure is quite similar to the song's live versions since MTV Unplugged, the instrumentation is quite different. After a lengthy and elegant solo by violinist Una Palliser, the song would begin, the first main intro quite similar to previous tours. But as the beat kicked in, the drums would be much heavier, and as the song progressed, the instrumentation would become much more electronic. Gone were the Ouds and Middle Eastern drums, and half way through the tour, the entire second verse and chorus of the song were removed. The tour's version also featured a new dance break, using excerpts from the piece "Move" by Middle Eastern DJ Said Mrad. Finally, Shakira would sing the chorus twice at the end of the song, instead of just once. Before its removal, the tour's signature prop, a giant head behind the stage, would feature mystical eyes and patterns during the song. Shakira would wear a black skirt, an animal-print skirt over that, a silver belly dancing scarf, and a skin-colored bra.
Notable performances of "Ojos Así" include Shakira's performance of the song at the Latin Grammy Awards of 2000, in which she performed a slightly shortened, yet showstopping, rendition similar to the MTV Unplugged version. Also to be noted is the version at the Rock in Rio music festival in 2008, which featured a reworked, more Middle Eastern instrumentation, and a featured Middle Eastern vocalist (a similar version was also performed at a New Year's Eve celebration in Abu Dhabi later that year). At the two 2010 Rock in Rio festivals in Lisbon and Madrid, and also at the legendary Glastonbury Festival (also in 2010), the song opened the concerts with a new Middle Eastern intro. At Glastonbury, the song was shortened similar to how it would eventually be during The Sun Comes Out World Tour.
Ojos Así's "Single Version", used for a version of the song's music video and promotional singles, contains a somewhat different introduction from the album version, replacing the three notes of accordion with one note on the violin in the song's introduction. The Single Version also has a slightly altered, more electronic arrangement. There are several other official remixes of the song, including the lengthy "Thunder Mix" and extra-Arabian "Mirage Mix". Other official remixes include the popular Meme remixes and the Desert Dub. Various other unofficial remixes also exist.
Shakira's 2001 English language debut album, Laundry Service, features an English version of the song titled "Eyes Like Yours", which is believed to have been recorded around the same time as "Ojos Así" when Shakira was considering translating her Spanish material. "Eyes Like Yours" contains no differences from "Ojos Así" besides each song's respective language (both still feature the Arabic). The rough, yet literal (in most places) translation of Ojos Así was written by Shakira and Gloria Estefan, and was most likely recorded as far back as in 1998. "Eyes Like Yours" has an unreleased music video that was filmed around the same time as "Ojos Así"'s (as Shakira looks the same in both videos). A clip of this unseen video was released on a promotional CD-ROM for "Laundry Service", only a minute in length, and containing very few shots of Shakira singing in English
"Ojos Así" is the unofficial song of SheiKra, a Dive Machine roller coaster at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.
The music video for "Ojos Así" features Shakira performing the song for a crowd. In the background is a giant neon eye, which shoots out sparks and catches fire toward the end of the video. There are also clips of Shakira belly dancing in front of a dark purple background, standing in water. In these clips, there are snakes painted down her arms and red lines painted on her head. The video uses the "Single Mix" version of the song (though versions of the video with the album mix also exist). Featured instruments in the video include an Arabic string instrument with a bowl under the head, and a Danelectro Longhorn electric bass guitar. Shakira's long-time musical partner and band manager Tim Mitchell can be seen playing guitar in the video. The video won the International Viewer's Choice Award (North) at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, while it was also nominated for the same award in the South category.
Shakira won a Latin Grammy Award in the category of Best Female Pop Vocal Performance with "Ojos Así" in 2000.
| Chart (1999–2000) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Latin Songs (Billboard)[3] | 22 |
| US Latin Pop Songs (Billboard)[4] | 9 |
| Chart (2003) | Peak position |
| European Hot 100 Singles[5] | 45 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[6] | 29 |
| Belgium (Ultratop 40 Wallonia)[7] | 16 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[8] | 27 |
| France (SNEP)[9] | 15 |
| Romania (UPFR) | 1 |
| Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[10] | 33 |
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