single-phile: The End of the Crossover?

Gradually, however, and with very little of the predicted fanfare, that situation has begun to transform. The most prominent recent harbinger of change has been Pitbull's "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)," which has been perched atop the charts for most of the summer. The song doesn't represent a complete idiomatic makeover for American pop, of course, but its effortlessly interwoven Spanglish and the Spanish hook simple enough for even the gringos to sing along with make some pretty significant inroads. (My personal primary indicator of the transformation symbolized by this song's popularity: I've even heard it blaring out truck windows in my tiny, country-and-classic-rock-loving, Midwestern hometown.) Interesting, also, that the English follow-up, "Hotel Room Service," hasn't skyrocketed to the same heights as "Calle Ocho."

In many ways, the road to "Calle Ocho" was paved by one artist in particular: Shakira, who went from being a massive Latin pop star to being a massive international pop star when she began recording in English. Far from abandoning her first language (not to mention her Spanish-speaking devotees), however, Shakira has taken to releasing material in both Spanish and English -- and sometimes intermingling them on the same album. She's continued the practice with her latest single (off her upcoming new album), which dropped last week in English as "She Wolf" and in Spanish as "Loba." In either language, this cool, minimalist track doesn't sound much like the Shakira we know and love. Gone are the throaty vocals and honest-hipped rhythms; in their place are sleek, understated coos (the coy little-wolf howl is especially entrancing) and a four-on-the-floor beat. In short, Shakira seems to have translated her sound into the aesthetic language popularized by Lady GaGa -- another case of the rise of the disco shtick I mentioned a few posts back.

Shakira's bilingual plan for world pop domination has proven so successful that English-speaking artists have begun to follow suit in the opposite direction. Beyonce, for instance, has put out a whole album of Spanish versions of her hits (Irreemplazable), and is continuing the practice with "Si Yo Fuera Un Chico," the Spanish version of "If I Were a Boy." The ever-increasing strength of the Latin market is never more readily apparent than in attempts like these by big-name artists to cater to it. Even more significant, however, is the implication that "crossover" is no longer unidirectional.



The artist currently poised to take one of the most interesting steps toward integrating the Latin and mainstream pop markets, however, is Nelly Furtado. On her last effort, the former alt-folk, hippie-hop bohemian reinvented herself as a red-hot, F.O.T. (that's Friend of Timba-lake, yo) hip-hop siren. The only natural next step is an all-Spanish album (no English version included), right? Ok, maybe not, but Furtado has always been something of a risk-taker (even her own MILF-y "mainstreaming" seemed more like an experiment than a cynical grab at commercial success). And she has considerable experience working in other languages -- each of her earlier albums contains tracks in Portuguese, which the second-generation immigrant speaks fluently. The fact that she chose to record Mi Plan in Spanish rather than Portuguese perhaps speaks once again to the strength of the Latin market. At any rate, the Latin alt-pop vibe (think Julieta Venegas, with whom she's allegedly going to duet on this album) on lead single "Manos Al Aire" suits Furtado's strong, nasal voice and intensity.