Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 (English: Oral Fixation, Vol. 1, ) is the sixth studio album by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira. It was released on 3 June 2005 by Epic Records. After attaining international success in 2001 with her fifth studio album and first English-language record, Laundry Service, Shakira wanted to release a fifth Spanish-language project as a follow-up. In the vein of her earlier work, Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 is a Latin pop album. Shakira enlisted Rick Rubin as executive producer, also working with Gustavo Cerati, Lester Mendez, Luis Fernando Ochoa and Jose "Gocho" Torres.
Music critics generally acclaimed Shakira's artistic growth on Fijación Oral, Vol. 1. The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 157,000 copies, setting a record for the highest debut of a full-length Spanish-language album in the US. As of 2017, it ranked among the best-selling Latin pop albums of all time in the US. Internationally, Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 reached number one in Argentina, Germany, Mexico, and Spain, and it has been certified diamond in Colombia and Mexico. In 2006, it won Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album at the 48th Annual Grammy Awards, and Album of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Album at the 7th Latin Grammy Awards. Shakira became the first female artist to win the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year.
Four singles were released to promote the album. Its lead single, "La Tortura", entered the US Billboard Hot 100 and reached number one in Hungary, Spain, and Venezuela. The follow-up singles "No", "Día de Enero" and "Las de la Intuición" charted on the Hot Latin Songs, Tropical Songs and Latin Pop Airplay charts. Shakira released a sequel album, the English-language Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 (2005); both albums were released as a box set titled Oral Fixation, Vol. 1 & 2 (2006). Shakira promoted both albums with the Oral Fixation Tour (2006–2007), which visited the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe. A performance in Miami was filmed and released as a live album, Oral Fixation Tour, in November 2007.
Background
After achieving international success in 2001 with her first English album, Laundry Service, Shakira released a Spanish-language record as its followup (her first since 1998's Dónde Están los Ladrones?). Having co-written nearly sixty songs for the project, she decided to divide the release into two volumes and put herself "on the mission of selecting [her] favorite ones" to record. Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 contains all Spanish-language songs and Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 features all English-language tracks. Shakira initially said that the second volume would have a "completely new repertory of songs", although the completed album included two English translations of songs from the first record. It was reissued in 2006 as an expanded version with an additional translated recording and her future international-hit single, "Hips Don't Lie". When recording the albums, she worked with previous collaborators Lester Mendez and Luis Fernando Ochoa and new partners Gustavo Cerati and Jose "Gocho" Torres.
For the album, Shakira wrote all the lyrics, and the majority of the music. "To start seeing people's first reactions, and how people start relating to these songs and appreciating every single piece of work I have done over the past two years, is the best reward an artist can have after so much hard work," says Shakira. "I will not lie to you; it was not a path of roses. It was painful at times to come up with two albums, to write more than 60 songs and to fight my own insecurities and doubts." While speaking about the difference about expressing herself in Spanish and English, Shakira told, "When I express myself in Spanish, I find elements that help me express an idea in perhaps a different way than when I do it in English. There are different aesthetics, but there is a certain style to the way I write my own songs, a particular way of describing feelings and emotions that I have developed over all these years making songs. I have gotten in touch with my own gift – I am sure, 10 years ago, I was not half as good as I can say I am today, and I am still not good enough. There is a long way to go."
Cover art and release
The artwork for both Oral Fixation albums was inspired by Eve, the first woman; Shakira said she wanted "to attribute to Eve one more reason to bite the forbidden fruit, and that would be her oral fixation" and that "[she always felt] that [she has] been a very oral person. [It is her] biggest source of pleasure". The first volume's cover depicts Shakira holding a baby girl in her arms; the artwork for the second album shows a nude Shakira (covered by tree branches), with the infant sitting in the tree. She stated that both covers alluded to psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud's theory that infants begin discovering the world through their mouths during the oral stage of psychosexual development.
For Jon Pareles of The New York Times, "For obvious reasons, [the artwork for the second album is] eye-catching, as was the cover of the Spanish-language companion album, Fijación Oral, Vol. 1".
On 23 January 2007, Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 were released as a three-disc box set, titled Oral Fixation, Vol. 1 & 2. Each record was on a separate disc, and was packaged with a DVD featuring music videos and live recordings of album tracks. The compilation peaked at numbers 13 and 27 on the Billboard Latin Pop Albums and Top Latin Albums charts.
Composition
Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 is a Latin pop album. The introductory track, "En Tus Pupilas" ("In Your Pupils"), incorporates folk music styles and its opening verse includes French-language lyrics. "La Pared" ("The Wall") has been compared stylistically to the 1980s duo Eurythmics. "La Tortura" ("The Torture") features Spanish singer-songwriter Alejandro Sanz, with elements of Colombian cumbia music, dancehall and electronica. "Obtener un Sí" ("Obtain a Yes") is a bossa nova song with cha-cha-chá elements against an orchestral background. "Día Especial" ("Special Day") features Argentinean singer-songwriter Gustavo Cerati on guitar.
The sixth track, "Escondite Inglés", has a new wave feel. "No" also features Cerati on guitar, using a simple melody to emphasize Shakira's vocals. "Las de la Intuición" ("The Ones with the Intuition") has synth-pop elements, while "Día de Enero" ("January Day") has been compared to Mexican singer-songwriter Natalia Lafourcade. "Lo Imprescindible" ("Bare Essentials") has German-language verses in which Shakira lyrically expresses "stay baby stay. Baby don't leave me again". The disc concludes with an acoustic version of "La Pared" and the Shaketon remix of "La Tortura".
Singles "La Tortura" was released as the lead single from Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 on 12 April 2005. It features Spanish singer-songwriter Alejandro Sanz, and was praised for its production and reggaeton influence. "La Tortura" was the only single from the album to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100 (peaking at number twenty-three), and reached number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs, Tropical Songs, and Latin Pop Airplay charts. The song set a record for the most weeks at number one, and additionally became the best-performing Latin single of the year. The track was eventually certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling over 500,000 copies and certified platinum for selling over 1 million mastertones . Internationally, "La Tortura" topped the Hungarian Rádiós Top 40 and the Spanish and Venezuelan singles charts. Its music video was directed by Michael Haussman, depicting a fictionally-romantic Shakira and Sanz.
The follow-up singles were also successful. The second single, "No", features Argentinian singer-songwriter Gustavo Cerati and reached numbers two and eleven, respectively, on the Billboard Latin Pop Songs and Latin Songs charts. The video was filmed in a black-and-white effect, and was directed by Jaume de Laiguana. After the release of "Don't Bother" as the lead single from Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 in late 2005, "Día de Enero" was the third single from Fijación Oral, Vol. 1. It peaked at numbers seven and twenty-nine on the Billboard Latin Pop Songs and Latin Songs charts, respectively. Like "No", its accompanying video was directed by de Laiguana. The clip refers to Shakira's then-boyfriend Antonio de la Rúa as she writes the letters "S y A" in a heart drawn in the sand.
Following the release of "Hips Don't Lie" and "Illegal" as the second and third singles from Oral Fixation, Vol. 2, the fourth and final single from Fijación Oral, Vol. 1, "Las De La Intuición", reached numbers eleven and thirty-one, respectively, on the Billboard Latin Pop Songs and Latin Songs charts and number 1 in Spain. Its video shows Shakira in a purple wig. Shakira later recorded an English-language version of the song, titled "Pure Intuition".
Promotion
To promote Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 and Oral Fixation, Vol. 2, Shakira began her Oral Fixation Tour on 14 June 2006 at the Feria De Muestras in Zaragoza, Spain. With assistance from the Creative Artists Agency, she visited twenty-seven cities and performed forty-one shows across five continents. The tour was additionally sponsored by Spanish automobile manufacturer SEAT, with whom Shakira also collaborated to support her Pies Descalzos Foundation. The tour concluded on 9 July 2007 at the Turkcell Kuruçeşme Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. It grossed over $42 million in North and Latin America, and $100 million worldwide. The set list consisted primarily of Spanish-language songs, and included singles from her earlier career.
In November 2007 Epic Records released the Oral Fixation Tour live album on Blu-ray Disc, which was filmed during a December 2006 show in Miami, Florida. William Ruhlmann of AllMusic gave it a positive review, complimenting Shakira's vocals and dancing talent.
Critical reception
At Metacritic (which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics) Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 received an average score of 79 based on 13 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said that "it's hard to wait for Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 to arrive", given the strength of the "commercial savvy and smart writing" displayed in the first volume. Matt Cibula of PopMatters shared a similar sentiment, adding that his excitement about Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 is a "massive understatement". Entertainment Weeklys Ernesto Lechner felt that Shakira "has found herself again" by "placing her operatic vocalizing at the service of Spanish poetry", adding that this was her strongest album to date.
The Guardians Dave Simpson noted that "the songs are catchy, with melodies good enough to tempt non-Spanish speakers to sing along". Jon Pareles of The New York Times described the album as "blissfully pan-American", elaborating that "for Shakira it's all pop, taut structures for volatile passion". Barry Walters of Rolling Stone said that executive producer Rick Rubin helped "restore Shakira's artistic integrity by keeping the industry at bay". Yahoo! Music's Tom Townsend praised Shakira for being "wide awake and, as they used to say in Smash Hits, back, back, BACK!" Pastes Mark Kemp gave it a mixed review, saying that the record was "stronger overall than Laundry Service but not as warm as Dónde Están los Ladrones?"
Commercial performance