After last month’s savage and gossipy Bzrp freestyle, whose lyrical references sent Renault and Casio into crisis management, Shakira is Colombia’s biggest singer again – but with her fourth album, Karol G remains the best tunesmith in the country’s fertile pop scene. The pair team up here on the ethereal reggaeton track TQG, though frankly it’s a bit phoned-in and Karol serves that rhythm much better elsewhere, as on the mournful breakup-sex hit X Si Volvemos or the propulsive Dañamos la Amistad. Best of all is Gatúbela, an entry into reggaeton’s horndog subgenre perreo, where Karol swaps her usual beseeching tone for confident come-ons.
While nearly always charged with Latin or Caribbean syncopation, the beats (mostly by her longtime producer Ovy on the Drums) branch out from the tilting gait of reggaeton: Karol honours the traditional pasillo waltz style on Gucci os Paños to the backing of a honking great tuba. The sensual sway of Pero Tú is particularly good, her high register sweetly paired with the commanding baritone of Spanish singer Quevedo.
The lyrics are generally of boozy lust and thwarted longing, but as exhibited on last year’s subtle, persuasive, utterly exquisite megasmash Provenza (included here), Karol’s skill is in evocative melodies that transcend any language barrier. So often she ends a line on a doleful, poignantly unresolved cadence – it may open with a sample of Don’t Worry Be Happy and look to a better tomorrow in its title, but this album has melancholy deep in its bones.
