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Pop singer Shakira looks for more balance heading into 2006
Colombian-born pop star Shakira handled a frenetic media blitz through the city with apparent ease Tuesday but admitted she hopes to slow the pace a little in the new year.
"I want to modify certain things in my life," said the famously curvy 28-year-old in the back of her SUV on her way to a live MuchMusic TV appearance after a day of back-to-back interviews. "For example, the pacing and the rhythm of the way I handle my career ... just how I take things so intensely - that I work more hours than I should be working. Next year of course I'll be on tour, but I just want to find some balance in my life."
More than a dozen Shakira fans shrugged off the chill, waiting outside the CHUM-City building for hours to get a glimpse of the songstress, who won an American Music Award win for favourite Latin artist last month. "She's worth it," said Whitby, Ont., resident Yvonne Melendez, 22, whose sister lined up at 8 a.m. for a chance to get a wristband to get inside for the interview. "She has the best songs, she's a good writer, she writes from her heart, she's hot and she represents the Latin community."
Shakira was in Toronto to promote her new album, Oral Fixation, Vol. 2, which recently scooped a Grammy nomination for best Latin rock/alternative album. The 11-track disc is the counterpart to the June release of Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1, her first Spanish-language album in seven years.
Shakira said De La Rua was her "muse" throughout the writing process, during which she penned 60 tracks for both albums. "These songs are not only about my relationship with him, but also about my inner monsters as well that I've learned to exorcise through these songs and through writing them."
The first single off Oral Fixation, Don't Bother, sets the tone for the album with its 1980s-inspired synth beats and Shakira's emotionally-driven lyrics about having to compete with other women for her man.
Oral Fixation is Shakira's first English-language album in four years, after her English breakthrough album Laundry Service. The 2001 record went triple-platinum with such hits as Whenever, Wherever and Underneath Your Clothes.
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