Maps of Music

Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998)

Where the lyrics of Dónde Están los Ladrones? take you, and where it was really made.

The album's title came from a briefcase of unfinished lyrics stolen at Bogotá's airport, and the songs had to be rewritten from memory.

Key places

Crescent Moon Studios, Miami (1998)

Recording site The Hit Factory Criteria — The album was worked on at Estefan's Crescent Moon Studios in Miami, where Shakira lived at the time. The pin is placed at city-center level, not at the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Dónde Están los Ladrones? (Where Are the Thieves?): fourth studio album by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira
• Released 25 September 1998 by Sony Music Colombia
• Stylistically Latin rock, with Latin pop elements and influences of Middle Eastern music
• Follows her major international debut Pies Descalzos (1995), which had already succeeded across Latin America

Background

• After Pies Descalzos, Shakira was introduced to producer Emilio Estefan through her promoter and longtime friend Jairo Martínez
• Estefan had launched several Hispanic singers, including Enrique Iglesias, Thalía and Gloria Estefan
• Estefan identified her potential to break into the U.S. Latin market and became her manager
• Before signing, the roles were defined: Estefan as manager and executive producer, Shakira in charge of all material and arrangements with final approval over her records
• Collaborators included her previous collaborator Luis Fernando Ochoa, along with Lester Mendez, Javier Garza, Pablo Flores and Estéfano Salgado

Recording

• Work took place at Estefan's Crescent Moon Studios in Miami, where Shakira then lived
• Equipment included old amplifiers for a better sound, a 40-year-old German microphone, and several innovations in the instrumental mixes
• The album took nine months to produce, with more people working on it than on Pies Descalzos

Cover

• The cover photo shows Shakira with soot-covered hands, as if caught with dirty hands
• Her hair is loose, messy and filled with small colorful braids, in keeping with her rockera style

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, born 2 February 1977 in Barranquilla, Colombia.
• Colombian singer-songwriter, dancer and record producer, known as the "Queen of Latin Music".
• Signed to Sony Music Colombia at age 13; debut album Magia (1991) was not a commercial success.
• Breakthrough with Pies Descalzos (1995) and Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998).
• English crossover album Laundry Service (2001) sold over 15 million copies worldwide.
• Fijación Oral, Vol. 1 (2005) and Oral Fixation, Vol. 2 (2005) followed, with "Hips Don't Lie" becoming her first Billboard Hot 100 number one.
• Has written or co-written virtually all the music she has recorded.
• Holds four Grammy Awards and fifteen Latin Grammy Awards.
• Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran (2024) topped Billboard Top Latin Albums, making her the first woman with number-one albums across four decades.
• Known for blending Latin, Western and Middle Eastern influences in her music and dance.

Philanthropy

• Founded Fundación Pies Descalzos (Barefoot Foundation) in 1997 to build schools for underprivileged children in Colombia.
• Became a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2003.
• Appointed to the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics in 2011.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Alex Henderson of AllMusic gave the album five stars out of five, calling it arguably the finest and most essential album she recorded in the 1990s
• Billboard was positive, describing a like-minded set of forlorn, lovesick testimonials on a mainstream pop/rock sound, and picked Ojos Así as the most satisfying track
• Time magazine's Christopher John Farley wrote positively, saying the fuss over Shakira is justified and her vibrant contralto stays sweet and expressive even when the music gets loud
• Mark Kemp in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide said the album holds together with stronger songs, a beefier sound and more confident vocals
• MTV's reviewer said the album combines traditional Latin roots with post-Alanis angry-young-woman sensibilities and an electrifying rock and roll rhythm
• Leila Cobo Hanlon of the Miami Herald said the album retains Shakira's trademark sound and her deeply personal approach to music-making
• Franz Reynold of Latin Beat Magazine complimented Inevitable and Tú but noted the tracks stayed close to the previous formula
• Rubens Herbst of A Notícia gave a mixed review, calling the album homogeneous and full of potential hits but competent yet empty and forgettable

Reappraisal

• Sputnikmusic called the record on the verge of being spectacular and one of the best Spanish pop releases of the past decade, while criticizing its slight lack of variety
• Rolling Stone ranked the album number 496 on its updated 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2020), the only rock en español on the list

Records

• Sold 300,000 copies on the day of release and over one million copies by the end of its first month
• Debuted at number 141 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and peaked at number 131
• Reached number one on Billboard Top Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums
• RIAA platinum certification on 23 December 1999
• Colombia triple-platinum (ASINCOL), after 180,000 copies sold
• Nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Performance at the 41st Grammy Awards

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The album's title came from a briefcase holding lyrics for the next album, stolen at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá during the Pies Descalzos tour
• The cover's soot-covered hands were meant to express shared guilt for political corruption and general social mistrust in Colombia
• The Ojos Así video won the International Viewer's Choice Award (North) at the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards
• In the Ciega, Sordomuda video, Shakira hides in a wig store pretending to be a mannequin while the city searches for her
• A planned English version for January 1999 never happened; the album Laundry Service was released instead as her first crossover album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact