"Ojos Así" is a song by Colombian singer
Shakira from her fourth studio album, Dónde Están los Ladrones? (1998). Infused with nuances of
Arabic pop, the lyrics tell of the singer traveling the world but not having seen eyes like her lover's. It was released as the album's fifth
single in October 1999 by
Sony Discos. It was written by Shakira, composed and produced by her,
Pablo Flores, and
Javier Garza. The song was later adapted into English by
Gloria Estefan as "Eyes Like Yours" and included on her first English studio album Laundry Service (2001).
Music critics praised "Ojos Así" as one of the album's best tracks. "Eyes Like Yours", however, was met with a less favorable reception, with reviewers commenting that it paled compared to the original. At the inaugural Latin Grammy Awards in 2000, "Ojos Así" won
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and received a
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) Latin Award in 2002.
After rising to prominence with the success of her major-label debut album Pies Descalzos (1995),
Shakira was introduced to
Emilio Estefan, then the most important producer in the
Hispanic market, by her promoter and longtime friend, Jairo Martínez. Estefan was renowned for launching the careers of several Hispanic singers, including
Thalía and his wife
Gloria Estefan.[3] He decided to work with Shakira as he identified her potential to break into the US
Latin market, though one of Shakira's concerns about working with him was creative control over her music. Before signing their contract, the roles and duties were finalized: Estefan would be her manager and executive producer, but she would be in charge of all material and arrangements and have final approval over her records. She later stated about Estefan, "He had a great respect for me as an artist and trusted me totally on this project."[3] They started working on Estefan's Crescent Moon Studios in Miami, Florida.[4][3] She insisted on perfection, working on the material to the point of exhaustion. "I made two or three demos of each song. I became a human being so demanding of myself that until the song made my hair stand on end, I wouldn't stop".[3]
Equipment for the recording of her subsequent album Dónde Están los Ladrones? included old
amplifiers to achieve a better sound, a 40-year-old German microphone, and several innovations in the instrumental mixes.[5] The album took nine months to produce, longer than Shakira's previous records since more people were involved. Shakira commented, "To me it's a normal time, the gestation period for a baby. But many people wag their finger and tell me that the next one cannot take so long..."[3] Shakira was involved with the compositions for all the tracks in the album, including "Ojos Así".[6] "Ojos Así" was written by Shakira and composed and produced by her along with
Pablo Flores and
Javier Garza.[7] Infused with nuances of
Arabic pop,[8] the song characterizes Shakira as a globetrotter jaded by life's experiences whose soul is revitalized by the amorous gaze of her crush.[9] The singer bemoans that, despite having traversed the distance from Beirut to Bahrain, she has yet to encounter "eyes like yours".[2] The track is sung mostly in Spanish, a few verses in Arabic, and has a backing chorus performing in the latter language.[3][10]
The success of Dónde Están los Ladrones? prompted Gloria Estefan, to persuade Shakira to record the album in English and attempt to
cross over into the mainstream
pop industry.[11] However, she was initially hesitant to record songs in English as it was not her first language, so Estefan offered to translate "Ojos Así" into English in order to show her that "it could translate well".[11] Shakira then began translating the song herself and showed it to Gloria Estefan, and would say, "Quite honestly, I can't do this better!"[11] As Shakira wanted to have full control over her recordings, she decided to learn English better to enable her to write her own songs.[12] She was supposed to return to the studio to record an English-language version of the album in January 1999.[13] It did not come to fruition, and a new album titled Laundry Service was released instead as her first crossover album.[12] Despite the cancellation of the project, the English-language version of "Ojos Así" still appeared on Laundry Service as "Eyes Like Yours".[14]
AllMusic reviewer Alex Henderson compared Shakira to
Alanis Morissette and stated, "it would be hard to imagine her coming up with something as poetic as the Middle Eastern fantasy that Shakira vividly describes on her Arabic-influenced mega-hit 'Ojos Así'".[37] John Lannert of Billboard called "Ojos Así" the album's "most satisfying track".[38] The Hispanic magazine editor Mark Holston felt that the song "evokes the singer's Middle Eastern roots on a performance that effectively blends
World Beat rhythms with Shakira's earthy vocals".[39] Writing for The Modesto Bee, Steve Morse elucidated how Shakira, through her song "Ojos Asi", did not forsake her Middle Eastern heritage, as evidenced by the presence of distinct Arab musical elements in the piece.[32] The Los Angeles Times reviewer Ernesto Lechner called it "superb".[40]
Critics were less favorable towards the English version. While calling the translation an "admirable" attempt, the Democrat and Chronicle writer Ramiro Burr commented that it "doesn't have the fire and snap of the original".[41] In a scathing review of the album, Arturo Garcia from The Wichita Eagle criticized it as "nothing less than a perversion of the original".[42] Writing for the
Knight Ridder, Elio Leturia felt that while the track is "[v]ibrant and highly romantic, it loses its richness of its Spanish counterpart".[43]The Sacramento Bee reviewers Chris Macias and Bruce Dancis described the song as a "clunky trip to the nightclubs of Kashmir".[44]
Commercially, "Ojos Así" ranked in several European charts including Belgium (in both Flanders and Wallonia),[47][48] France,[49] the Netherlands,[50][51] and Switzerland.[52] In the United States, the track peaked at number 22 and 9 on the BillboardHot Latin Songs and
Latin Pop Airplay charts.[53][54]
Credits and personnel
Credits are adapted from the
liner notes of Dónde Están los Ladrones?.[7]
^
abDónde Están los Ladrones? (CD liner notes).
Shakira.
Columbia. 1998. EPC 485719 6.{{
cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (
link)
^
abOjos Así (Media notes). Shakira. United States:
Sony Discos. 1999. CDP-14192.{{
cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (
link)
^Valdez, Maria G. (13 November 2019).
"Shakira Performing "Ojos Así"". Popsugar Latina.
Archived from the original on 7 November 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
^Lannert, John (10 October 1998).
"Reviews & Previews". Billboard. Vol. 110, no. 41. p. 23.
ISSN0006-2510.
Archived from the original on 3 July 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
^Garcia, Arturo (18 November 2001).
"Music". Wichita Eagle. p. 3E.
Archived from the original on 7 November 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
^Ojos Así (Media notes). Shakira. United States:
Columbia. 1999. PMD 54099.{{
cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (
link)