Music Review: Shakira "Did It Again"

Shakira

Did It Again

Album: She Wolf

Year: 2009

           Shakira meets her married lover at a hotel in the agitated “Did It Again.”

             The concierge greets her with a nod at the door. She waves back and her eyes dart around the lobby, wondering if anyone else recognized her. Her fingers tremble as she knocks on the door. She hears another close and jumps. It’s a stranger but she fantasizes that it might be a friend of his wife’s. The drama excites her. She gives him a kiss when he opens the door. Her cell phone beeps. She unbuttons his shirt and will try to think of a plausible lie later. She had first met him at a friend’s party. As they were talking, he had mentioned his wife briefly, as though she were separate from him. He complimented her on long legs and then said she would be great in bed with him. He is perhaps the most handsome guy she had ever flirted with. She figured she may never have someone like him again in her life. She’s been well-behaved in her past relationships and those didn’t work out either. (“First floor, room sixteen/Smells like danger, even better/Set your goals, bless our souls/I'm in trouble, but it feels like heaven/You were like one of those guys/The kind with a wandering eye/But I said, "hey what the hell?/For once in my life I'll take a ride on the wild side/You were so full of yourself/But damn, were you cute, as well/You liked my legs, I liked your moves/Anyone could tell that it's hard to deny that.”)

           She kisses his bare chest and rests her head on it.. He puts his arm around her. They have slept together again. She pushes the thought of his wife at home, wondering if he’s really out with the guys. There are dozens of single men out there she could have. The guilt fills her inside, flooding any pleasure she just experienced. (“Did it again, love/I got it all wrong/But it felt so right/I can't believe it/And all the mistakes/That went on for too long/Wish there was a way/I could delete it.”)

          The elegant dong signaling the floor tests her patience. Once it hits floor seven, she breaks into a brisk walk to find the room. She decided to meet him again at the hotel. Between her shouts and his grunts, they were disturbing the other guests, according to the attendant downstairs. After he hung up the phone, they burst out laughing. He is the best boyfriend she’s ever had. She usually ends up dating the same slacker types over and over. His ring is under his wallet on the nightstand. She pretends not to know it’s there. She pictures them going out on a real date and then several months later, an announcement he is leaving his wife. Deep down, though, she knows it won’t happen. (“Second night in a row/Back in trouble/I don't get it/Gotta keep it down/Cause the lobby called/We ignore it (yes, I know)/Getting better/When it comes to men it's known/That I end up choosing wrong/'Cause I always trip and fall/On the same old rock and repeat and go back/How blind a girl can be/To miss you hide your ring/Thought about everything/I'm so naive imagining all that.”)

             The chorus is sung again.

             In the bridge, dating him is part of her downward spiral. As of late, she quit her job suddenly without any future prospects. For years, she was the straight arrow. Finally, she’s not bored with life. But, though, she will eventually want to work full-time again. Once the thrill is over for him, he’ll move on to someone else. She’ll go back to herself when they break up. (“It may seem to you that I am in a place/Where I'm losing the direction of my life/But I'm sure that this is nothing but a phase/Right back at ya, cause I'll survive/It may seem to you that I am in a place/Where I'm losing the direction of my life/But I'm sure that this is nothing but a phase/Right back at ya, cause I'll survive.”)

               The chorus is sung again to close the single.

             Shakira’s skittish vocals chew off her manicured nails, jumping at the sound of a cell phone. Part of her wants to get caught to end everything. However, the other part of her enjoys being bad. The wife exists to her but she tries not to make her real. It ruins the really awesome sex she’s having.

             The shameful “Did It Again”  disregards the consequences, thinking purely of itself.