El Dorado (Shakira album)

In October 2015, Shakira announced that she was going back to the recording studio "soon" to record what was going to be her eleventh studio album, but emphasized that her priority was her family, saying: "By the end of this year or the beginning of the next year I will start working on my new album in the studio. Now I want to be first and foremost a mother, because after three months I will no longer have a baby. He will be grown up as a healthy one years old boy." During that time, Shakira started questioning herself if she would ever make an album again, stating: "I was full of doubts, and I thought I was never going to make good music again." She also recalled that she wondered when she was going to retire, to which her boyfriend, Spanish footballer Gerard Piqué, replied: "When you don't have anything to say. But that moment hasn't come yet." ==Recording==

Shakira began working on the album in the beginning of 2016. In March 2016, she posted various images on her Instagram account of her writing songs with her longtime collaborator Luis Fernando Ochoa and drumming for the new album. In August 2016, Jamaican singer Sean Paul said that he worked with Shakira on a song produced by David Guetta titled "Temple", which he described as a "dancehall EDM type thing," while also revealing that she was "working with one of my old producers from Jamaica trying to find something that's hot and dancehall is hot again. It's a great resurgence." During the album's recording process, it was rumored that Shakira had also collaborated with record producers Calvin Harris and Stargate, though it was never officially confirmed. ==Composition==

El Dorado is primarily a Spanish album, while also featuring Shakira singing a few words in Anglo-French. The album opens with "Me Enamoré" ("I Fell in Love"), a "bouncy pop [song] infused with electronica," According to Shakira, "this song narrates a moment in my life when I was so in love that I was literally climbing trees." "Nada" ("Nothing") follows "Me Enamoré", and is a pop rock power ballad. that talks about loneliness and missing a loved one. "Chantaje" ("Blackmail") is the first duet with Maluma and is an electronic reggaeton song Regarding its lyrics, Shakira explained: "I wanted to give it a different spin, where the girl is the mean one, because I'm tired of hearing songs where women complain about how mistreated they feel. This time, I wanted to take control. I wanted to represent the mean one in the relationship — the careless one, the free-spirited one." "When a Woman", the first track sung in English, is an electronic pop song with synths and shuffling beats. "Amarillo" ("Yellow") is a Europop track, with its chorus being compared to that of a "Disney-esque anthem". Its initial verse-section was also compared to the verse melody of Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach". "Trap" is the second duet with Maluma and was considered "a whispery ballad that fuses Spanish-language pop with the brittle R&B rhythms of trap." It was noted that during the track, Maluma "coat[s] his voice with electro effects." Lyrically, the song talks about heartbreak and was described as an ode to desire and casual sex. "Coconut Tree" is the second song in English and channels Australian synthpop band Empire of the Sun. Lyrically, the midtempo "guitar-driven" "folky" track has Shakira longing for a personal "romantic escape." The album closes with the piano ballad "Toneladas" ("Tons"), with lyrics about unconditional love. ==Release and promotion==

To promote the album, Shakira partnered with geolocation platform Landmrk to mobilise her fans to unlock digital 'treasures' at physical locations across the globe on the website, Shakiraeldorado.com. Her fans visited over 1,000 locations in 99 countries to unlock exclusive content, including the track listing, videos of recording sessions, and clips of her new songs. On 25 May 2017, a day before the album's release, Shakira held an album's release party at The Temple House in Miami, where she performed five songs, including duets with Prince Royce (on "Deja Vu") and Nicky Jam (on "Perro Fiel"), as well as "Nada" and the singles "Chantaje" and "Me Enamoré". A day after its release, on 27 May 2017, Shakira gave a free concert at The Wynwood Yard, where she performed "Me Enamoré" and "Toneladas". The 2024 vinyl release of El Dorado has "Clandestino", a 2018 duet by Shakira and Maluma, as the 14th and final track. The song is a reggae and reguetón song with lyrics that explore clandestine love. ==Singles==

"Chantaje" was released as the lead single on 28 October 2016. It features Colombian singer Maluma. The song became a massive hit in Latin America and Spanish-speaking territories, peaking at number one in Spain, Guatemala, Mexico, Ecuador, Uruguay and on the Hot Latin Songs in the United States, where it remained at the top for 11 weeks. It also achieved moderate success worldwide, reaching top 10 positions in Switzerland, Israel, Romania, Bulgaria and other countries, as well as top twenty positions in Italy, France, Germany and Belgium. On the US Billboard Hot 100, "Chantaje" peaked at number 51, becoming her highest Hot 100 Spanish-language single after "La Tortura" (2005). It was certified 16× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in the Latin field for 960,000 album-equivalent units. The music video for the song has accumulated more than 2.4 billion views on YouTube and the song has gathered over 600 million plays on Spotify. The song reached number three in Spain, as well as the top ten in Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico and Uruguay. In the United States, it has peaked at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100, and has reached number 4 on the Hot Latin Songs, being Shakira's 26th top ten hit on the chart. The music video for the song garnered media attention due to the appearance of Gerard Piqué. "Perro Fiel" was originally released as a promotional single for the album on 25 May 2017. Its official release as the third single took place on 15 September 2017, the same date its music video was released. which was filmed in Barcelona on 27 July 2017. It also features American singer Nicky Jam. Before being released as single, was certified gold in Spain for selling over 20,000 copies on 30 August 2017. The song peaked at number three in Spain and as topped the charts in Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay and various other Latin American countries. The song features the second collaboration and guest vocals from Colombian singer Maluma; the black-and-white music video for the song was released on 26 January 2018 and it was directed by Jaume de Laiguana. "Trap" debuted at number 45 on Billboards Hot Latin Songs the same week El Dorado was released and later peaked at number 17 in the week ending on the 10 February 2018. == Other songs ==

In addition to the nine original tracks, the album also includes four duets, with three of them being previously released as singles as part of the marketing and promotion of the collaborators' albums. These songs were subsequently included on El Dorado as album tracks, and one being an English version of one of the duets. The first track, "Comme moi" ("Like Me") is a pop and hip hop duet with French rapper and singer Black M and was included on his third studio album, Éternel insatisfait (2017). about biking around childhood haunts, The song is a reggae and reguetón song with lyrics that explore clandestine love. ==Critical reception==

Upon its release, El Dorado was given three-and-a-half out of five stars by AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine, who pointed out that the album was "coherent and mature in its understated -- but not boring -- control of mood". Si Hawkins of The National was positive towards its content, noting that El Dorado is "a summer treat for her Latino fans," highlighting that "the album's hispanic focus allows its star to have some fun, rather than follow North American chart trends" and that it "breaks new ground for this global icon". In another review, Chuck Campbell of Knoxville News Sentinel considered it "a solid hodgepodge of trendy and classic tracks," while praising her longtime collaborator Luis Fernando Ochoa and noting that her "distinctive voice" is "the not-so-secret weapon, and she's supported by crisp arrangements that reflect her heritage as well as the current state of pop music." For Allan Raible of ABC News, El Dorado "finds Shakira continuing to grow as a performer, even if she's sticking to club tracks and love ballads. She's developing a fitting, casual subtlety." Joan Wallace of Latin Times felt that the album "seems to be a forced compilation of featuring songs we have already listened plus five other not-so-great new tracks." Wallace also criticized the lack of creativity that was found on her records such as Pies Descalzos (1995) and Laundry Service (2001). ==Accolades==

El Dorado debuted at number 15 on the US Billboard 200, with 29,000 in the USA and 68,000 overall globally album-equivalent units. It was the sixth best-selling album of the week, selling 20,000 copies in its first week. The album debuted at number 2 on the Top Latin Albums chart, El Dorado was also the biggest sales week for a Latin album in more than two years, with Gerardo Ortiz's Hoy Mas Fuerte (2015), being the last one to do so. In Nielsen's 2017 year-end report, El Dorado is noted as having accumulated combined sales and track streams of 246,000 units in the United States. In May 2018, the album was certified nine-times platinum (Latin) in the country by the RIAA. El Dorado ranks at No. 19 among the most successful Latin albums of the 2010s decade in the United States. In France El Dorado peaked at number 9, and by the end of 2017 the album sold over 33,000 copies. It was later certified Platinum in the country for 100,000 copies sold. ==Track listing==

Credits adapted from Tidal. Notes • Credits adapted from album booklet and Tidal • signifies a co-producer • signifies an additional producer ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts ==Certifications==