Welcome Back, Shakira!

I've liked Shakira's music since the end of 1996.

I had been in Peru for about 6 months. I was a missionary. We weren't supposed to listen to "worldly" music, but I couldn't help hearing her music as I walked down the streets. Her music appealed to me. There was a earnest quality to it that grabbed my imagination.

So, on my way back to the states, a year and a half later, I bought her album, "Pies Descalzos." I loved it and listened to it constantly. When her second album, "¿Dónde Están los Ladrones?," came out, I bought it as soon as I could find it. This was before iTunes of course. I loved that album too.

Then she decided to join the Latin invasion popularized by Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias. She released two albums that were primarily in English. I didn't like these as much. Her music didn't sound as natural anymore.

It wasn't as heartfelt.

So I kind of gave up on her. I didn't follow what she was doing and I didn't buy her next album. I think it was called "She-Wolf," but I could be wrong.

Then, a couple weeks ago, I heard a preview of a new single from Shakira. It was in Spanish. And it sounded good. It sounded like Shakira, just an older, wiser, more musically mature Shakira.

I was nervous, but decided to listen to the minute and a half previews of the songs on the album. They sounded intriguing. I liked most of them.

So I bought the album, "Sale el Sol," using the last of my prepaid money for an alternate download service. I'm glad I did. The songs are good. Heartfelt. Honest.

I'm a fan again.