The bilingual singer-songwriter known as Shakira has lit up the pop music universe for nearly a decade and sold over 30 million records in the process: since her 1996 release, Pies Descalzos, through her latest two-part offering Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1/Oral Fixation, Vol. 2, Shakira has mesmerized music lovers around the world with her words, her music, her vision and her soul. This star crafts songs that speak to everyone regardless of their native tongue.
Born in Colombia, Shakira was, from the start, an artist whose work crossed borders and broke records. Her first English language album, Laundry Service, sold 13 million copies. Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1, the first half of her new two album collection, was released in June 2005, and sold over 157,000 copies in the first week of its U.S. release - the highest first-week sales of any Spanish-language album in history. It debuted at Number 4 on the U.S. album sales chart amidst a wide array of mainstream releases. It debuted at Number 1 in all Latin American territories and Spain, and became the first Spanish-language album to reach Number 1 in Germany. The album sold over 3 million copies in its first two months of release alone, driven by the massive success of the single "La Tortura" - the first Spanish-language song to be sent into heavy rotation on MTV and VH1 as well as on mainstream radio. It earned Shakira three MTV Video Music Award nominations - another first for a Spanish-language song.
Now, the world can enjoy the second part of Shakira's greatest work to date, Oral Fixation Vol. 2, which is sure to further such success. Shakira wrote over sixty songs for these two albums, then produced and recorded 20 of them: ten of them were released as Fijacion Oral Vol. 1, while nine songs, plus two adaptations, make up Oral Fixation, Vol. 2.
