There are a couple of things you should know about Colombian pop-rocker Shakira before you go any further with this thing: 1) Shakira is a control freak. She could have released her English-language debut album months ago. Years, even. Gloria Estefan was going to rewrite Shakira's songs into English for the young Colombian to sing. Instead, Shakira decided to improve her English, and Estefan ultimately assisted on just two tracks. "I can't hire other people to write songs for me," Shakira says. "I have to write them myself." 2) Shakira is a control freak. Sorry, this bears repeating. See, the reason this story is set in Florida to begin with is that Shakira wouldn't send any tracks from her still-in-the-works CD to TIME's offices in New York City. She wanted a critic to go to the studio where she was working and listen to her new music there. She wanted to stand right next to the critic as he took in her just recorded songs. Hmm. Actually, come to think of it, having Shakira--who recently graced the cover of PEOPLE EN ESPANOL's "25 Bellezas Latinas" issue--personally play her new material isn't all that bad a deal. Maybe this control-freak thing is something we can live with.
So it's showtime. Shakira, 24, breezes into the studio with her mother Nidia, a petite woman who doesn't say very much, and her older brother Tony, 35, a solidly constructed guy who looks like he doesn't need to say very much. An MTV crew is waiting nearby to do an interview. A couple of years ago, Shakira did an MTV Unplugged show that MTV passed on but that aired on MTV Latin America. Now, with her new CD getting revved up, the network plans to air the show on its spin-off channel MTV2, along with some spliced-in interviews with the star herself. Her mainstreaming moment has finally arrived. A couple of years back, when Latin stars weren't so much in vogue, Shakira's stuff couldn't have got play on MTV2,347.
In a world ruled by packaged pop, Shakira offers up a refreshing blast of off-center rock. Her music has a bit of edge, a healthy helping of guitars, and she writes it herself. "In Latin cultures historically, though not always, females are interpreters," says Jose Tillan, vice president of music and talent at MTV Latin America. "For the most part, they don't make records. Shakira isn't like that. From the very beginning she has been involved with the songs and the recording."