GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Music

Upcoming Release Calendar
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Music In Our Forums

 

Upcoming & Recent Releases

sort by name sort by score

64 A Camp
78 Akron/Family
73 Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women
74 Amazing Baby
62 Tori Amos
54 The Answer
74 Anti-Flag
74 Art Brut
71 Au Revoir Simone
65 Zee Avi
70 Bachelorette
77 Bat For Lashes
68 Big Business
76 Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses
67 Black Dice
57 Black Eyed Peas
74 Black Moth Super Rainbow
71 Blank Dogs
65 Booker T.
54 The Boxmasters
65 The Boy Least Likely To
74 Brakes [aka brakesbrakesbrakes]
68 British Sea Power
66 Jeff Buckley
75 Busdriver
59 Busta Rhymes
64 Cage The Elephant
82 Bill Callahan
80 Camera Obscura
68 Cam'ron
79 Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
58 Chester French
82 The Church
61 Ciara
72 Clues
69 The Coathangers
74 Jarvis Cocker
90 Leonard Cohen
70 Elvis Costello
66 Graham Coxon
76 Crippled Black Phoenix
71 The Crocodiles
69 Cryptacize
71 Crystal Antlers
56 The Crystal Method
69 Dananananaykroyd
76 Danger Mouse And Sparklehorse
71 De La Soul
77 Death Cab For Cutie
68 Deer Tick
81 Deerhunter
70 Depeche Mode
78 Dinosaur Jr.
85 Dirty Projectors
86 DJ Quik & Kurupt
77 Doves
68 Dredg
76 Bob Dylan
82 Steve Earle
70 Eels
62 El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez
58 Eminem
60 Empire Of The Sun
54 The Enemy
67 Jeremy Enigk
68 Nathan Fake
85 The Felice Brothers
79 The Field
65 Fink
60 Fischerspooner
77 Flatlanders
62 Flo Rida
64 Franz Ferdinand
77 Gallows
72 Melody Gardot
59 Ginuwine
71 Golden Silvers
61 Gomez
69 Grand Duchy
73 Great Lake Swimmers
59 Great Northern
72 Green Day
86 Grizzly Bear
75 The Handsome Family
69 Ben Harper And Relentless7
75 PJ Harvey & John Parish
66 Heaven & Hell
85 Levon Helm
74 The Hold Steady
79 Patterson Hood
75 Jon Hopkins
82 The Horrors
69 Hanne Hukkelberg
74 Ida Maria
65 Immaculate Machine
75 The Intelligence
76 Iron & Wine
79 Isis
68 It Hugs Back
88 J Dilla aka Jay Dee
61 Jadakiss
86 Japandroids
61 Joan Of Arc
84 Joe Lovano Us Five
72 John Doe & The Sadies
70 Joker's Daughter
62 Jonas Brothers
53 Mike Jones
71 The Juan Maclean
76 Junior Boys
68 Kasabian
74 Diana Krall
56 Lady Sovereign
43 Ben Lee
68 The Lemonheads
76 Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard
77 Lindstrom & Prins Thomas
65 Little Boots
79 The Low Anthem
67 Jason Lytle
75 The Maccabees
76 Magik Markers
80 Major Lazer
70 Malajube
71 Manchester Orchestra
85 Manic Street Preachers
57 Marilyn Manson
66 The Mars Volta
68 Dave Matthews Band
62 Maximo Park
70 Meat Puppets
80 Method Man & Redman
77 Metric
75 Micachu & The Shapes
69 Chrisette Michele
76 Miike Snow
67 Mika Miko
75 Rhett Miller
49 Mims
72 Mr. Lif
72 Moby
78 Moderat
70 Mandy Moore
80 Mos Def
70 Bob Mould
74 Nadja
72 New York Dolls
72 Nite Jewel
67 NOFX
76 Noisettes
60 Paolo Nutini
67 Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band
74 Papercuts
76 Passion Pit
74 Peaches
71 Pet Shop Boys
68 Peter Bjorn And John
82 Phoenix
76 Pink Mountaintops
63 Placebo
66 Pomegranates
64 Iggy Pop
67 Prefuse 73
81 Ramblin' Jack Elliott
76 Rancid
54 Rascal Flatts
68 Lionel Richie
77 Alasdair Roberts
73 Rick Ross
55 Asher Roth
72 Savath & Savalas
61 Polly Scattergood
65 The Shortwave Set
60 Shout Out Out Out Out
66 Silversun Pickups
85 Todd Snider
78 Sonic Youth
72 The Soundcarriers
61 The Sounds
74 Regina Spektor
63 Spinal Tap
65 Spinnerette
81 St. Vincent
59 Still Flyin'
58 Street Sweeper Social Club
87 Sunn O)))
82 Sunset Rubdown
84 Super Furry Animals
74 Richard Swift
78 Taking Back Sunday
85 Tanya Morgan
81 Otis Taylor
71 Telekinesis
70 Telepathe
80 Thee Oh Sees
79 The Thermals
74 Rob Thomas
64 Thunderheist
74 Tiga
57 Tinted Windows
72 Tortoise
82 Allen Toussaint
71 Trembling Bells
69 Two Fingers
84 UGK
68 Keith Urban
71 John Vanderslice
85 The Vaselines
74 The Veils
73 Viva Voce
63 Patrick Watson
79 White Denim
77 White Rabbits
57 The Whitest Boy Alive
74 Wilco
80 Wildbirds & Peacedrums
78 Wolves In The Throne Room
65 The Wooden Birds
67 Wooden Shjips
81 Yeah Yeah Yeahs
70 Pete Yorn
93 Neil Young
60 Neil Young
72 Yusuf

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Fijacion Oral Vol. 1
by Shakira

Shakira reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 79 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
9.1 out of 10
based on 13 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 116 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

The first of two planned 2005 releases for the Colombian pop star is this Spanish-language disc, with its English counterpart due in the fall.

LABEL: Sony
RELEASE DATE: 07 June 2005
DISCS: 1 disc
GENRE(S): Pop, Latin

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

90
Dot Music
Just knowing Shakira is still in the world and capable of making albums as inspired and assured as "Fijacion Oral Vol 1" is like finding out ABBA are reforming or that the real Michael Jackson was kidnapped and replaced with an evil imposter shortly after making "Thriller".
Read Full Review
83
Entertainment Weekly
Shakira's finest work to date. [17 June 2005, p.79]
80
The New York Times
She's a pop songwriter above all; the songs are catchy, with melodies good enough to tempt non-Spanish speakers to sing along. [13 Jun 2005]
80
Blender
It's more consistent than Laundry Service, and maybe even more irresistible. [Jul 2005, p.120]
80
All Music Guide
Given the strength of this album, it's hard to wait for the second part to arrive.
Read Full Review
80
Amazon.com
Shakira's bleating, biting voice is in fine form, and it gives the material an electric urgency.
Read Full Review
80
Billboard
Shakira, of course, is unmistakable. But the coup is that each track is absolutely distinctive, even on several songs with no clear-cut choruses or hooks.
Read Full Review
80
PopMatters
So if you approach Fijación Oral expecting it to be Laundry Service Revisited you will not be happy. If, on the other hand, you can just listen to it without holding a lot of preconceived "this is not what Shakira is supposed to sound like" ideas, you will have one hell of a good time.
Read Full Review
75
E! Online
Tunes such as "Escondite Ingles" work in any language, mixing mad Latin percussion with big rock riffs and Carribbean rhythms.
Read Full Review
70
Rolling Stone
There's a light touch to ballads like "En Tus Pupilas" that's a world away from the Ricky Martinizing of Latin pop.
Read Full Review
63
Los Angeles Times
By inviting us to fixate on the words her mouth emits, Shakira puts a spotlight on the work's weakest link -- its lyrics. [26 Jun 2005]
60
Paste Magazine
Strikes a nice balance between Shakira's more straightforward earlier sound and the bluster of her big crossover hits. [Aug/Sep 2005, p.122]
60
The Guardian
If there is a market for music for tapas bars with sexually frustrated customers, Shakira has it cornered.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this album is 9.1 (out of 10) based on 116 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Darren R gave it a10:
I think it's interesting how the average score given to this album by critics is over 10% lower than the user score . . . in my opinion this is evidence that critics don't always know what they're talking about. This album is destined to be a classic in every sense, more than can be said about just about every album released in the last several years. There are other artists who may be more popular (though that's hard to imagine in this case, at least internationally), or more critically acclaimed, but most of them get dull after repeated listenings. This album gets better every time I hear it, something that I can say about very few albums at all (and something that surprises me greatly given the way Shakira's music is packaged to American audiences like it's no different from any other pop singer like [insert random female pop singer here]). Such a classification of her music might make sense if you're talking about her English-language stuff, but her voice really works much better speaking her native language and combined with her songwriting abilities puts this album on an entirely different level.

Nick M. gave it a10:
I don't speak much spanish, so i really have no clue what the lyrics mean, but Shakira's voice is so amazing that it doesn't really matter, i can still feel the emotion thats in every lyric without knowing what they mean......the songs also have a very catchy and exciting beat, its awesome.

luis g gave it a10:
A wait it has been for shakira to release a spanish album ...ooh the relief its nothing like laundry service which catapulted her to mainstream....Vol . 1 offers us a mature and very precise shakira ...with en tus pupilas opening the album with such softness and yet inspiring ....and of course include LA TORTURA the lead single which is music bouncing off the walls ....the rest of the album is a instant classic...with less flare and more soul and a core to poignant it hurts right where its suppose to the heart...you can actually close you eyes and invision a sea of emotions ...shakiras best album to date.

Amber M gave it a10:
Shakira is a completely extraordinary artist in the latin/pop genre. I do not speak Spanish, but I am learning in school. I did not even know that Shakira eexisted until a teacher mentioned her, and I got the album to practice hearing and understanding it, and this has actually made me become a big fan of her! Fijacion Oral Vol. 1 is completely amazing, and I went out and bought "Oral Fixation Vol. 2" along with more of her CD's. Overall, I would give Shakira a 10/10 on almost any album and any song that she sings.

Andrew R gave it a10:
Absolutely stunning. I don't speak Spanish, but this connected with me hard; I can only imagine how much more it would impact me if I knew the language.

Jose C gave it a10:
THIS ALBUM Is A MASTERPIECE! every song, every lyric, ... the voice. damn this is one album NOBODY CAN SAY NO TO!

Ed J gave it a9:
Until you can understand Spanish, you can't really understand how good this album is. Joining up with Gustavo Cerati is pure brilliance.

Read more user comments...

Discuss this album in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: iPhone 3G | Fantasy Football | Moneywatch | Antivirus Software | Recipes | E3 2009

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use