Review by MC17
Shakira's world-wide hit album "Laundry Service" is her first with recordings in English in addition to Spanish. Her music is thoroughly bourgeois romance culture, in any language. As she writes about her songs on her website: "if you check the subject of my songs, most of them talk about my own experiences and feelings and what I was actually going through in my life... [It] is impossible not to write about love.. It's the great mystery of life. It makes me ask myself new questions every day." These deep mysteries include her song "The One" in which she rewards her true love by shaving her legs and learning how to cook.
Her songs focus on her yearning for a man, or her relationship with a man. In "Eyes Like Yours" she explains "My one desire, alI aspire/Is in your eyes forever to live." In her popular song "Underneath Your Clothes" Shakira further explains these great mysteries of love: "You're a song/ Written by the hands of God" ... "Underneath your clothes/There's an endless story/There's the man I chose/There's my territory/And all the things I deserve/For being such a good girl honey." In these lyrics MIM is not surprised to see the mysticism of romance is compared to religion and that Shakira sees the man she chose as what she deserves for being good (just like all good Christians think they will go to heaven).
MIM is critical of what we call bourgeois romance culture because it conditions people to have sick gender relations and encourages romance as an escape from the world's problems, treating romance as something outside of politics and superior to any cultural or political influences. In reality romance culture is a reactionary part of capitalism that teaches men and wimmin their parts in gender oppression. In wealthy imperialist countries romance culture serves as an escape from the alienation of capitalism, and is raised up as a lofty goal in life. But the goal of living off the exploitation of the majority of the world's people while losing yourself in a romantic relationship is what the imperialists can only hope their people take up.
Shakira sings in "Whenever, Wherever" "Baby I would climb the Andes solely/To count the freckles on your body." But nowhere in her songs does she talk about what she (or others) might do to fight oppression or end the needless deaths of people around the world at the hands of those who profit. This concept of self-sacrifice for love is prolific throughout Amerikan imperialist culture. Ironically Shakira is Colombian, from a country with a military financed by Amerikan imperialism and carrying out some of the worst humyn rights abuses in the Americas. And she does an even greater disservice to the people than the Amerikan artists when she extols the virtues of romance culture to her huge Latino audience.
In "Rules" Shakira lays down the ideology of wimmin's role in romance culture. "You have to swear/You've got love to love me/That will last forever" she goes one to insist these are the rules for us: "Use your eyes/Only to look at me ... You can laugh/Only if you laugh with me/You can cry/Only if you cry for me/Don't forget that you're condemned to me". This protective jealousy (which Shakira labels as such in her song) is just what wimmin are supposed to feel according to capitalist romance culture. Rather than encouraging wimmin to be independent and strong individuals this song implies wimmin are dependent on men who may leave at any time.
The closest Shakira comes to promoting any kind of independent action by wimmin is in her songs like "Poem to a Horse" which talks about leaving a man who does nothing and is too full of himself. But even this is just another aspect of romance culture where people with privilege move from partner to partner as they find something wrong with each one, always looking for something better.
MIM sees nothing redeeming in the lyrics of Shakira's songs. They promote a romance culture that is escapist and dependent on the exploitation of others. MIM works towards a society where romance culture is not the defining reality of existence for men or wimmin. Under communism life has inherent value because all people are working for the good of society and hence for themselves. And only when we have eliminated the patriarchy will we be able to enjoy relationships with others without power games and gender roles.