La Tortura

Infobox Single
Name = La Tortura


Artist = Shakira featuring Alejandro Sanz
from Album = Fijación Oral Vol. 1
Released = March 2005 (WW)
July 2005 (UK)
Format = Digital download
Recorded =
Genre = Latin pop, reggaeton
Length = 3:35
Label = Sony Music
Writer = Shakira, Luis F. Ochoa, Alejandro Sanz
Producer = Shakira, Lester Mendez
Certification = 5x Platinum (Worldwide)
Platinum (RIAA)
Gold (AMPROFON)
Chronology = Shakira singles
Last single = "Poem to a Horse"
(2004)
This single = "La Tortura"
(2005)
Next single = "No"
(2005)
Misc = Extra chronology
Artist = Shakira
Type = UK singles
Last single = "Hips Don't Lie"
(2006)
This single = "La Tortura"/ "Illegal"
(2006)
Next single = "Beautiful Liar"
(2007)Extra chronology
Artist = Alejandro Sanz
Type = singles
Last single = "Try to Save Your Song"
(2004)
This single = "La Tortura"
(2005)
Next single = "A La Primera Persona"
(2006)" _es. La Tortura" (English: "The Torture") is a Latin pop-Reggaeton song performed by singers Shakira and Alejandro Sanz. It was recorded for Shakira's sixth studio album _es. "Fijación Oral Vol. 1", released in June 7, 2005. The song was released as a single in October 2004 (see 2004 in music), and achieved large-scale success on different radio and chart formats, becoming the most famous Spanish language track of both singers worldwide and the fourth most successful song in Shakira's career.

According to "Media Traffic", "La Tortura" is the most successful song worldwide in Spanish and the forty-sixth most successful song since 1999.

The song won two Latin Grammy Awards at the 2005 Ceremony for Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

Song information

The single is a duet between Shakira and Spanish balladeer Alejandro Sanz, both of whom also composed it along with Luis Fernando Ochoa. It was mixed by Gustavo Celis.

It tells the story of a woman who has been emotionally "tortured" because her boyfriend cheated and eventually left her for another, and has now returned begging forgiveness. He apologises extravagantly, but is ultimately thinking that some infidelity is natural for men and that for the woman not to forgive him would be tiresome and unreasonable. However, on the end of the song, Shakira's character humiliates him and says that she is not going to shed a single tear over him.

The single is Shakira's sixth in the United States, following the commercial success of her 2001 English language album "Laundry Service".

Chart performance

Since its release as a single, the song has become one of the most important Latin songs to move into the mainstream English-speaking culture in the U.S. and Canada. The music video of the song was nominated for "Best Female Video", "Best Dance video" and "Viewer's Choice Award" on the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, during which Shakira performed with Sanz (notably, the first time a guest performed a song entirely in a language other than English). " _es. La Tortura" reached a position on the top 30 (#23) of "Billboard"'s Hot 100 in less than twenty weeks after its release. The song was certified Platinum by RIAA for over 1,000,000 digital sales. The video became the first Spanish music video to be nominated at the MTV Video Music Awards.

After her performance at the "2005 MTV Video Music Awards", Z100 suddenly started to play the track due to a large number of requests. "La Tortura" managed to hit #1 on the "Interactive 9@9" in September 2005, staying at the top spot for about a month, and even managed to hit #5 on the top 100 songs of the year 2005, a very rare feat for a Spanish song. To date "La Tortura" is still in the top 100 songs played by Z100 of the week.

In Latin America the single was Shakira's first entry in the Latin America Top 40 since the creation of the chart; the single was a hit, debuted at #3, and jumped to number 1 the next week, where it remained for 20 weeks. It was replaced by her next single No. "La Tortura" topped the Latin America Top 40 Year-End Chart and spent 38 weeks on the chart.

The track debuted at #1 in Spain Singles Chart and was a huge hit all over Europe, reaching the top ten in almost all the countries. In Switzerland, the song was in the top five for fifteen consecutive weeks, although it never reached the top position. In Hungary, the song spent 8 exclusive weeks at number 1 position. "La Tortura" wasn't released as an official single in the United Kingdom until December 2006, bundled with the release of Illegal and charted at #36 on the "UK Singles Chart". The song also broke the record on the "Billboard"'s Hot Latin Tracks chart, appearing at #1 more than any other single (a total of 25 non-consecutive weeks). As a result, it was featured in the 2007 edition of "Guinness World Records". "La Tortura" was chosen as the fifth favorite song of the world in a global survey made by Sony Ericsson, in which 700,000 music fans of 66 countries contributed.

At "Billboard" magazine's year-end chart (); " _es. La Tortura" was announced as the #1 song on the Hot Latin Tracks chart. The single is also recognized as being the most successful single in Spanish of the United World Chart peaking at #2

Music video

The music video for "La Tortura", directed by Michael Haussman, has a simple plot: from his new girlfriend's apartment, Sanz spies on to Shakira as she is walking down the street holding a bag of onions on her way to her own apartment, which is on the other side of the street from Sanz' girlfriend's apartment. When Shakira enters her apartment, she changes clothes. From that moment on, Sanz remembers things the two had done in the past as a couple, while Shakira reveals her alter-ego dancing erotically on the building's roof, covered with black paint. The choreography of the music video was made by Jamie King and Shakira herself.

The music video is in itself somewhat notable, as it was the first time MTV showed a whole episode of their "Making the Video" series in another language (with English subtitles). It was also the second Spanish-language video ever to enter in "Total Request Live"'s countdown, and peaked at number four on the countdown. It can also be noted that the video for " _es. La Tortura" was one of the first in the Spanish-language to get heavy rotation on mainstream American and Canadian music channels such as MTV, VH1 and MuchMusic as in all almost over world yahoo sites. The remix version of the song, known as "La Tortura (Shaketon Remix)", has it own video (also directed by Haussman) featuring some previously unseen scenes. This video can be seen on Oral Fixation Volumes 1 & 2 Bonus DVD.

Track listing

*Maxi CD
# "La Tortura" [Album version] - 3:22
# "La Tortura" [Shaketon Reggaeton Remix] - 3:12
# "La Pared" [Acoustic Version] - 2:39

Remixes

The single and the album also included a remix of the song by Gustavo Celis entitled "The Shaketon Mix", merging a reggaeton rhythm with the original rhythm of the song. A separate music video (also directed by Michael Haussman) was also made for this remix. This video also entered on "TRL"'s countdown.

There is another official reggaeton remix called "E. Arroyo Reggaeton Remix". Another official mix has surfaced, the "Tracy Young Special According Mix" and other remixes have also been made by independent DJs. An alternative version of this song, which had been previously leaked on the internet, is featured as a bonus track in the re-release of "Oral Fixation Vol. 2", with the chorus sung partially in the English-language.

Charts

Awards and nominations

2005 MTV Video Music Awards
*Viewer's Choice ("nominated")
*Best Female Video ("nominated")
*Best Dance Video ("nominated")

2005 Latin Grammy Awards
*Song Of The Year (won)
*Record Of The Year (won)
*Music Video Of The Year ("nominated")

2005 MTV Video Music Awards Latinoamerica
*Video Of The Year (won)

2005 NRJ Awards
*International Song Of The Year (won)

2005 Billboard Music Awards
*Hot Latin Song Of The Year (won)

2005 Latin Billboard Music Awards
*Song Of The Year (won)
*Song Of The Year, Vocal Duet (won)
*Ringtone Of The Year (won)

Personnel

* Invited artist: Alejandro Sanz (appears courtesy of Warner Music Benelux, BV)
* Lyrics: Shakira, Alejandro Sanz
* Music: Shakira, Luis F. Ochoa
* Vocals: Shakira, Alejandro Sanz
* Vocal arrangements: Shakira, Alejandro Sanz

Production
* Producer: Shakira
* Executive producer: Rick Rubin
* Co-producer: Lester Mendez for Living Stereo
* Additional production: José "Gocho" Torres
* Remixer: José "Gocho" Torres ("Shaketon Mix")

Engineering
* Recording engineers: Gustavo Celis, Rob Jacobs, Kevin Killen
* Assistant engineers: Bryan Gallant, Juan Camarano, Felipe Alvarez
* Programming: Pete Davis
* Mix engineer: Gustavo Celis

Musicians
* Electric guitar: Lyle Workman, Luis F. Ochoa
* Acoustic guitar: Rene Toledo, Alejandro Sanz
* Keyboards: Lester Mendez
* Bass: Paul Bushnell
* Percussion: Archie Pena
* Accordion: Umberto Judex, Frank Morrocco

External links

* [http://www.shakira.com/ Shakira's Official Web Site]
* [http://www.alejandrosanz4englishspeakers.com AlejandroSanz4EnglishSpeakers] Translations of Alejandro Sanz songs including La Tortura