Whenever, Wherever

Shakira is from Colombia, and Spanish is her native language. The Spanish version of this song is called "Suerte," which means "Luck."

This was Shakira's first album recorded in English. The singer didn't know the language yet when she started working on the album and was assigned an English tutor. "To me it was very important to understand the nature of the language and how it works in literature," she explained in a VH1 interview. "I wanted to know how the English grammar works... I had to read Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass in English just to understand the language a little more. It was too important to me to write my own material like I always did." Gloria Estefan, whose husband, Emilio, was Shakira's manager, translated the songs for the singer and encouraged her efforts to grasp the language.

Shakira was a star in Latin America, but this was her first hit in English-speaking countries. The video, directed by Francis Lawrence, features the singer showing off her belly-dancing skills in a number of natural locales. It became a huge hit on MTV and introduced her to a new set of fans. The clip also earned her the 2002 Latin Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video.