Much like our ‘Retro Rewind’ and ‘From the Vault’ segments, readers of That Grape Juice know what avid music lovers we are – especially of hits past. So in a quest to re-spin the gems and jams of yesterday we introduced a new retrospective segment – ‘TGJ Replay’.
Unlike its ‘Rewind’ and ‘Vault’ predecessors, ‘Replay’ looks to dust off and showcase albums (and eras) from a library of pop music hits. Next, we’ll serve up a visit to 2001’s ‘Laundry Service’ by Colombian hitmaker Shakira…
The year was 2001. As Hip Hop and teen pop led the way as the year’s dominating forces in music, acts like Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, and Enrique Iglesias were christened frontrunners of the “Latin Pop” movement also taking charts by storm. While Lopez’s offerings rested more on the lines of pop/R&B with hip hop fusion, tracks like ‘Let’s Get Loud’ still tapped into the Latina’s musical roots.
But, while they invaded U.S. shores with their infectious rhythmic numbers, a certain internationally known seductress Shakira was dominating charts in every other part of the world – namely Spanish speaking countries. With her sights set on making a similar splash Stateside, the singer introduced her first album featuring English tunes.
Titled ‘Laundry Service’, the album was kicked off with the mountain moving lead single ‘Whenever, Wherever‘…
‘Whenever, Wherever’
It was true – her hips did not lie. Seemingly mesmerized by the temptress’s awe-inspiring hip rolls, the video was quickly named one of the sexiest of the year. Soaring straight to the U.S. top 10 (her first), the tune eventually became so popular that it was listed as the year’s top seller. Also seeing similar success in the U.K. and Australia, it appeared the diva had finally made her mark on the English-speaking world.
The acclaim of ‘Whenever’ was mirrored upon its November debut. With first week sales in excess of 200k, the album would prove a steady seller for the upcoming year. On the hems of the its slower follow-up ‘Underneath Your Clothes’…
‘Underneath Your Clothes’
Like its predecessor, ‘Clothes’ was met with generally favorable critical acclaim and even greater commercial acclaim. The tune sailed to number 1 in a host of countries and landed Shakira yet another U.S. top 10. Eventually going on to multiplatinum status, the song ended the decade as one of Yahoo Music’s “Top 20 Songs of the Decade” and gave her the second biggest hit of her career (at that time).
‘Underneath Your Clothes’ (VH1 Divas 2002)
‘Laundry Service’s success was not met without backlash, however. As Shakira’s star shined brighter abroad, those familiar with the songstress’s early offerings complained of abandonment – claiming the hip rolling hitmaker was a “sellout” to her culture.
Perhaps the answer to that was the merengue-tinged follow-up to ”Clothes”. Titled ‘Objection’, the accompanying video gave clue to some of the rock-offerings that would line some of the singer’s future album. Despite not living up to the success of its predecessors ‘Whenever’ and ‘Clothes’, the fan favorite still managed to make its way to Billboard’s upper half.
‘Objection (Tango)’
Combined, the products of ‘Laundry Service’ helped it surpass 15 million in worldwide sales. As the decade that followed its release saw Shakira experiment with everything from Hip Hop to more EDM based tracks, we still reflect fondly on the time when the fresh faced diva hip rolled her way to the top of charts with her highly touted yodel.
While we anxiously await her newest offerings due late 2013, we ask you:
![New Video: Shawn Mendes - 'Heart of Gold' [Dedicated to Liam Payne]](https://thatgrapejuice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/shawn-mendes-thatgrapejuice-heart-of-gold-2024-music-video-464x260.jpg "New Video: Shawn Mendes - 'Heart of Gold' [Dedicated to Liam Payne].")
I love this album and Shaki and I was playing this yesterday.
I was young when this album + Whenever Wherever were released. Whenever Wherever, Fallin’, and Thriller make the trinity as the most memorable and polarizing songs/music videos of my childhood. I still remember where I was, what I was doing, and my first reaction of seeing these songs.
Michael, Shakira, Alicia Keys, Janet, and J.Lo were some of the people that I loved when I was young in my country. Wow, times change.
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Anyways, Fool should’ve been released instead of The One imo.
I love this album and Shaki and I was playing this yesterday.
I was young when this album + Whenever Wherever were released. Whenever Wherever, Fallin’, and Thriller make the trinity as the most memorable and polarizing songs/music videos of my childhood. I still remember where I was, what I was doing, and my first reaction of seeing these songs.
Michael, Shakira, Alicia Keys, Janet, and J.Lo were some of the people that I loved when I was young in my country. Wow, times change.
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Anyways, Fool should’ve been released instead of The One imo.
the FIRST album i have ever bought in my life , i bought the “washed and dried” version.
and you can all expect why. 😉
My favorite song is “Eyes like yours” , “suerte” , “te dejo madrid” and ” ready for the good times”.
Memories … memories with this album 😀
Arguably her best Album to date.
The first album, you are so young, I can adopt you.
you know you wish.
I love this album and Shaki and I was playing this yesterday.
I was young when this album and Whenever Wherever were released. Whenever Wherever, Fallin’, and Thriller make the trinity as the most memorable and polarizing songs/music videos of my childhood. I still remember where I was, what I was doing, and my first reaction of seeing/hearing these videos/songs.
Michael, Shakira, Alicia Keys, Janet, and J.Lo were some of the people that I loved when I was young in my country. Wow, times change,
My comment has been awaiting “moderation” for like 4 comments in a row 🙄
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I love this album and Shaki and I was playing this yesterday.
I was young when this album and Whenever Wherever were released. Whenever Wherever, Fallin’, and Thriller make the trinity as the most memorable and polarizing songs/music videos of my childhood. I still remember where I was, what I was doing, and my first reaction of seeing/hearing these videos/songs.
I give up. My comments have been held for moderation for 6 comments in row.
I love this album and Shaki.
LOL,They’re up now dahhling…seems Sam is pressed about something,what did you do?
Latin Power
This wasn’t her best album or the most original Shakira, ‘Pies Descalzos’ and ‘Donde Estan Los Ladrones?’ are her best albums IMO and ‘Laundry Service’ songs are better in spanish though, she’s at her best in her native language, the English Shakira seems to always try to conquer the American market and while doing this she leaves her art apart, she is the only Latin artist alongside Ricky Martin and probably Enrique Iglesias who are famous in a big global scale, others like Thalia and Paulina Rubio didn’t make it or were too late to join the party “Latin Explosion”, i can’t help but to love those people, their culture, language, countries and music have contributed too much for others, the music is beautiful, their dance, their movements are so s***, they have Salsa, Merengue, Reggaeton, Son, Samba, Tango, Flamenco, it’s all beautiful. The USA could not be the same without Hispanic people or dare i say without all the immigrants who came to this country, after all we all come from somewhere else. I had the best s** of my life with a Hispanic person, it was heavenly, i fell asleep for like 5 minutes, after we finished, i was in trance, I fainted in ecstasy.
LOL Oh boy…
I just love her!
And LS is one of my favorite albums EVER even thou I love She Wolf, Sale El Sol…
I’m still listening to Whenever Wherever and Objection… classics!
I love this album!! Not her best but definitely my favorite! My fav song has to be Tango!! I listen to that song almost every day.
This was such a golden period for music. I was 10 when this album came out and I remember all of my female friends being obsessed with her and proud to have a Latin representation on the charts. Does anybody remember when Mo Collins did a parody of Whenever Wherever on Mad TV?? LOL. Love the early 00’s.
Underneath Your Clothes is hands-down my favorite track from her in 2001. Loved seeing this video on TRL. This was a time when artists would market the album for at least two years and really allow it to sell and flourish on the charts, THEN tour. Everything is so rushed these days and you’re considered a flop if you don’t do massively in the first week. *sighs*
I loved this era of Shakira, fresh and unique. Whenever,Wherever=Genius lol and her others EXCEPT Underneath Your Clothes, though I admit I did love too. I just loved it more when it was called Eternal Flame XD lol x
Her breakthrough record! Isnt my fav but still a great solid album!
Oral fixation vols 1&2 are her best work! imo!
I remember this became the best selling album of 2002 worldwide. I remember cos Celine Dion´s “A new day has come” became the second best selling album worldwide that year.
I agree with @s******. She has been very consistent for like 15 years already. Definitely the biggest latin star in the world. But her best songs were the ones before this 2001-2002 era, and it was all in Spanish before this.
ps: the best JLo has ever sold was in 2001 with JLo and it was only like the 11th best selling album of that year worldwide. Now you see the difference.