Shakira
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own music, perfecting her vocals and most of all, creative control over her music. Highly influenced by American alternative market and British groups such as The Pretenders, the album was decently presented at small auditorium at La Castilian Theater in Bogotá on October 6, 1995. The tunes of the album are melodic, musically surprising and gritty, with intellectual lyrics and an electronic/acoustic blend that effectively broke the formulaic mold of Latin pop with an authentic sound that hadn’t been heard before. The album released on February 13, 1996 internationally. It debuted at #1 in 8 different countries. However, in the U.S. Billboard 200 the album reached #180 peak position and #5 in the U.S. Billboard Top Latin Albums. The album spawned six ultimate hit-singles Estoy Aqui (U.S. Latin #2), ¿Dónde Estás Corazón?
(U.S. Latin #5), Pies Descalzos, Sueños Blancos, Un Poco De Amor (U.S. Latin #6), Antologia (U.S. Latin #15) and Se Quiere, Se Mata (U.S. Latin #8). In August 1996, RIAA certified the album platinum status. In March 1996, Shakira went on to her first international tour named simply “Tour Pies Descalzos”, that was saddened by death of several fans because of uncontrolled crowd of 50,000 people at the concert in the singer’s native city of Barranquilla. A year later, Shakira received three Billboard Latin Music Awards for Album of the Year (Pies Descalzos), Video of the Year (Estoy Aqui) and Best New Artist. Pies Descalzos sold over 5 million copies, prompting the release of a remix album, titled simply The Remixes. The Remixes also included Portuguese versions of some of her best-known songs, which were recorded as a result of her success in the Brazilian market, where Pies Descalzos sold nearly one million copies. Having received a World Music Award as the best selling Latin artist, Shakira already prepared some of new material of her second international record. She was chosen from dozens of Latin singers to grace the cover of Time magazine in the article titled Era of the Rockera. Her fourth album, ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones? (English: Where Are The Thieves?) produced entirely by Shakira herself and Emilio Estefan, Jr. as the
1998–2000: ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?