is the fourth English-language studio album and tenth overall by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira, released on 21 March 2014 by her company Ace Entertainment and RCA Records in partnership with Sony Music Latin.

The album was initially set to be released in 2012, but was delayed because of Shakira's pregnancy, which caused her to scrap most of the recorded songs and start making new ones.

A pop album, Shakira has a diverse musical style that incorporates a range of genres such as reggae and rock, as well as dance and country elements.

[1] Its production is characterized by lean, tender verses and muscular, ecstatic choruses, that incorporate swirling, crashing sounds.

The album's lyrics explore motherhood, the complexities of romantic relationships, stages of love and the search for personal happiness.

[6] A year later in November, Shakira revealed in an interview with Billboard magazine that she had begun writing new material and working with various producers for a new record.

[13] The initial idea for the song with Blake Shelton came about when Shakira told Shelton that she wanted to work with Nashville musicians due to growing tired of L.A. perspective, Shakira's aim was to get "another point of view" from "real people with roots with whom I feel comfortable working in the same room.

[14] Speaking on the writing of the song Shakira revealed that she has folk roots in her previous albums and wanted to incorporate those elements into her self-titled album, when writing the song Shakira tried a large style of different genres saying "When I wrote ['Medicine'], I didn't know what direction to go in and I did, like, eight versions ... dance, pop.

In the same interview Shakira elaborated saying "The work on this album has spanned a very eventful time, with many ups and downs but ultimately, the happiest period in my life thus far, including the birth of my son.

"[18] In January 2014, Shakira released a statement through her Facebook regarding the album's recording process: "In the end, what I realized is that throughout the course of creating this body of work, I learned a lot about myself.

Though I didn't realize it at the time, all the directions I began exploring in the initial phases of recording were helping to pave a path for me of rediscovery.

In the end I realized that I will always be a little bit of everything and I don't have to choose, I am sometimes extremely sensitive, sometimes upbeat, others dreamy and romantic, and even at times a little melodramatic.

[20] Emily Mackay of Digitalsy characterised the album as being a "fine balance" between Shakira's style and "what's best about" her and trying to stay relevant in the music industries rat race.

Mixing a variety of genres including "dance-pop, Spanish, reggae and rock," the album lyrically talks about how she loves, both in her relationship and as a mother.

[23] Mike Wass from Idolator described Shakira as being a blend of experimental "poetic pop" songs that take influence from a range of genres including reggae, dance, rock and country.

"[25] Shakira is built on "lean, tender" verses and "muscular, ecstatic" choruses, and incorporate "swirling, crashing" sounds noted on "Spotlight".

[26] According to James Reed of The Boston Globe, Shakira is the singer's most "personal effort in years", Reed continued to praise Shakira and the album's lyrical content which he described, saying "She sounds at ease and reborn on this new album, proudly addressing the joy of new love from both her child and partner.

[30] The song opens with a "low-slung, reggae-tinged verse" before moving into a "guitar-heavy" chorus which contains "ska guitars and horns" and a "chunky rock arrangement".

[31][32][33] Lyrically, the song concerns a man that Shakira can not get off her mind, discussing how easy it is to forget how bad someone is for you when you still love them.

[30][31] "Empire" is a mid-tempo rock-influenced song, described as being Shakira's biggest rock transition in a long time since her earlier music.

[25] The following track "Spotlight" is a pop rock song that and has been compared to the work of Katy Perry and Carly Rae Jepsen.

[36][37] "Spotlight" takes influence from heavy rock tracks, with power guitars that lyrically delivers a "crushing message".

"[28] "The One Thing" is a guitar based pop song that features hand-claps and foot-stomps and takes influence from Shakira's son and motherhood.

In October 2013, Peter Edge from RCA Records announced intentions to premiere an "event single" by Shakira by the end of the year, although this release never occurred.

Then, on 8 December 2013, Shakira's body double Alexita Ortiz wrote on social networking site Twitter that she had been working with her on the set for a music video, and mentioned that Rihanna was also involved.

She elaborated that during the recording process she realized that it was neither "thematic" or "conceptual" as she felt her earlier projects were, instead opining that its production "[helped] to pave a path for me of rediscovery."

Its cover artwork shows Shakira dressed in a sheer cardigan and bra while holding a red guitar.

[62] On 28 March 2014, Shakira performed the album's lead single "Can't Remember to Forget You" at the German music award show Echo.

[69] James Reed of The Boston Globe gave a positive review of the album, writing that the release "is a more middle-of-the-road affair, but it's also more revealing.