Shakira – Making of ‘Fijacion Oral’ (Eng) – DVD “Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1”

Shakira – Making of ‘Fijacion Oral’.
The stenography of English subtitles.
(DVD “Fijacion Oral, Vol. 1”).
Age rating: 6+.

 

I believe that all artists are workers in the service of beauty, and as Baudelaire said, it’s beauty which allows life to be less terrible than it actually is. I say that it is beauty and love.

In reality, I think that is one of the most produced albums of my career. Eh… I’ve concentrated very much on the details. The sessions… have been very long. 12 hours in general. There were days. Many days in which we didn’t finish until 4:00 in the morning. And this went on during a year and a half, so this was an album into which I put a lot of effort, a lot of mysticism… a lot of persistence.

As I said before. I concentrated on the details, perhaps more than ever. What I’m sure of is of the result of everything that I have learned over the years as a producer… eh… It is the path that I have walked, traveled, that I have absorbed. And all these experiences are summed up in these songs.

From one song to the next, there are big differences. It’s that each song was created in a moment. A distinct moment in the creative process. And so many things happen in a year and a half. In a year and a half we cry, we smile, we celebrate, we fantasize. And these songs are the summary of all those experiences.

(Shakira is being massaged. She is humming something).

…Cha cha
cha cha cha…
…Cha cha cha…
Or…
…G– g–g
Ga ga ga…
…Ga ga…

(They ask her).

– The other way around, right?

– Here we go (laughs).

There is a retrospective look at the 70s in some songs, even some late 60s like in “Obtener Un Si,” for example, which was very inspired by Sinatra and Jobim and all that, all that… jazz influence, that made me a great admirer of romantic jazz overall. Yes, some of the songs… come to me in English, some come in Spanish. I don’t ask for them that way. Sometimes words flow with music at the same time. Sometimes the same music suggests the song be in a certain language. Sometimes they’re born from an idea, a phrase, a word, an existing lyric that has been coexisting with me for a time. So it’s an absolutely unpredictable process. I’m the one that least controls it (laughs). The songs command, and I obey.

(Shakira is recording a song).

I finished this process here in the Bahamas, in my house. I built a recording studio in the garage. It’s very comfortable to record in your own home. I use my intuitive side a lot, my emotional side, but also my rational and methodical sides. As a producer, to be able to produce twenty songs… If I didn’t have this kind of method, it would have been impossible. At times I thought that I was going crazy, because the level of detail was too much overall.

There were songs to which I first created an electronic version, later an organic version, later a rocker version. Then I would decide… I am very indecisive. But I like to give different forms to a song until I come to it, until the same song says, “No more! Don’t do anything more to me!”

I believe that as time passes, I have begun to grant myself certain liberties. I feel that I was born full of rules, surrounded by rules on all sides. I was a type of square. I had four sides. Now I am a polygon. Now I allow other things, and I believe that that is a license that time gives you. Time and the years give it to you.

(Fans meet Shakira).

Shakira!

Good morning.

(Hugs).

– Are you good?

– Yes.

– We love your music.

– Thank you so much. You’re so sweet.

– Hi. You’re so short.

– I’m so short. Yes. And you’re so tall.

(Laughs).

 

Text by Shmanich.