Shakira begins work this month on her new album, promising a sound that’s less Latin rock and more sweaty dance club.
The Colombian superstar has staged listening sessions with some of electronic music’s top producers, including Dutch DJ Afrojack, who’s already produced dance remixes for Lady Gaga and Madonna.
Shakira, who writes and produces her own music, “really loves the new dance thing,” Afrojack told Billboard.com in March. “Like when a beat drops she makes this like… face. She’s feeling it.”
She’s also enlisted the creative advice of Dominican-American DJ Venus X, known for her eclectic sampling — think Al Jazeera news clips cut to Southern fight raps –and considered to be a determinedly independent taste-maker in the New York club scene.
“I’m sending her a lot of hybrid-oriented stuff — Turkish reggaeton, a lot of kuduro that sounds like African trance,” Venus X told The Fader. “Hopefully I’ll be able to introduce her to things that are working on the dance floor so she can translate and re-interpret them for universal pop.”
Afrojack tweeted excitedly about his listening session with Shakira and her soccer-playing boyfriend Gerard Pique, but Venus X seemed more psyched about Shakira’s all-women staff. “It’s really intense, strong women manning these big ships,” Venus X said, who hoped that her work with the Latina pop star would pave the way for more female DJ’s in dance music.