My first blog assignment is to explain who I am as a creative person, and my inspirations. I suppose the easiest way to go about explaining myself is to explain my influences. An artist who has a large impact on me is Shakira. I have admired Shakira as an artist, philanthropist, and dancer since I was a kid. One of my favorite songs by Shakira is "Objection".
The very beginning of the song, which is completely instrumental, is a fantastic example of TENSION and RELEASE. The piano begins and stops, begins and stops, catching the listener's attention with its halting melody. Then the song starts to progress, adding in more bass clef chords and the accordion. While it progresses it builds tension as it builds up and up but does not complete itself. The release comes twice, once when the tempo bursts and picks up, and again when Shakira actually starts to sing. The video continues this pattern as a story emerges visually. Part of the video is a cartoon, and tension rises as Shakira's character fights with a man an is pushed around. Viewers feel a release when her superhero friends show up and help her, and again when at the end of the video as she gets her revenge.
Her music intrigues me because she often uses her bilingual skills to create sharp audible CONTRAST in her lyrics to the casual listener, when in reality her lyrics have AFFINITY (if you pay attention, they make sense across languages). To explain, first watch both versions of the song below.
1) English Version - "Loca" Ft. Dizzee Rascal
2) Spanish Version - "Loca" Ft. El Cata
In both versions she speaks in a the other language, but especially in the English version of the song. The dual-language lyrics creates audible contrast. If you look at the lyrics however (English - Spanish), the meanings are the same. Both versions of the song are about a 'crazy' girl driving the man in love with her insane because he likes the chase, and her liking his acceptance of her. Despite the fact that not everything translates exactly between languages, she creates near-perfect affinity throughout both versions of the song. My proof of this was my first exposure of the song. I first heard the English version, and loved it! It wasn't until I looked up the music video that I realized that Shakira had a completely different version in Spanish. My ability to enjoy the song in both languages and understand it as well is proof of good lyrical affinity despite the language contrast.
"Loca" is also a great example of dual-meanings. At face value the TEXT of the song is about a girl finding a guy who likes her for her personality. Sticking with the English version of the lyrics to make this simpler, 'I can never get enough, she gives me the runaround but I stay chasin....I'm in love...I'm crazy, but you like it...You're the one for me, and for her no more..." The SUBTEXT of the lyrics are about the man leaving a rich girl for the poor girl who has stolen his heart. 'She'd die for your love, but your love's only mine...I really can't help it if I make the lady loca, I don't want no trouble...You're the one for me, and for her no more.' Subtext can also be applied to other Shakira songs such as "Did It Again", "She Wolf", where the subtext is used more as a textual cover to talk about subjects like sex, cheating, and morals. Part of the reason I like Shakira and her music so much is her lack of fear to sing about any subject, and her acceptance of diversity across cultures, genres, countries, and languages. Her openness and determination in her career , and her ground-breaking music are inspirational to me, and atop that, I just like her style! :D
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