Wolfish Shakira

Hip-shaking Colombian pop singer SHAKIRA’s third album, She Wolf, has just been released and it’s as red-hot as she is. It spawned the disco-influenced title track in which she howls like a wolf and shows off her signature sultry belly-dancing moves in the music video.

Shakira wrote the title track when she was in a bad mood. “I got inspired and went to a corner and wrote the lyrics and melody in 10 minutes.” She spent a year working on this follow-up album to 2005’s Oral Fixation Vol 2 - and the track list is impressive with songs such as Good Stuff and Why Wait.

Working with producers Pharrell and her Hips Don’t Lie partner Wyclef Jean brought elements of Colombian, Middle Eastern, Indian and African musical styles to the songs. The result is a bassier album with harder sounds.

“I used to be a shy girl but, hey, I’m 32 and I feel compelled to express my thoughts and feelings in a way I might have been more afraid to in the past. I’m a little less afraid to go after my own desires in a predatory way; to realise what they are and defend them with claws and teeth,” the Grammy and Latin Grammy Award winner says.

So why She Wolf? “I feel much freer now as a woman, a little more in touch with my own desires, and I listen to myself more. I think the song is about that. It’s about having a more animalistic side of you, so you forgive yourself every time you screw up. You say, ‘It wasn’t me. That was the She Wolf; the animal in me’.”

Never dull, this one.

Music news

ALBUM OF THE MONTH
MARIAH CAREY - Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel
Rating: 4/5
Reviewer: Lara Atson

The multiplatinum singer is back - and there’s nothing imperfect about her. This latest album, which features more R&B hip-hop vibes than her previous offering, is filled with slow jams and dance tunes about unhealthy relationships and infidelity. It was co-produced by heavyweights Trick Stewart and The Dream, who produced her hit Touch My Body. Highlights include the emotional ballad Angels Cry, H.A.T.E.U. and Obsessed. Mariah co-wrote all the songs except Foreigner’s classic I Want to Know What Love Is. A must-have for fans.

BACKSTREET BOYS - This Is Us
Rating: 4/5
Reviewer: Mariette Pool
The latest album by the Backstreet Boys is guaranteed to keep fans listening to the end and the quirky beats and sing-along pop songs will make them happy. But the boys have grown up and there’s something deeper. Listen out for Straight through My Heart, Masquerade and Helpless, a collaboration with rapper Pitbull.

MIKA - The Boy who Knew Too Much
Rating: 4/5
Reviewer: Jared Orlin
Mika’s second album may not be as off the wall as his debut but it still contains his unmistakable funky, camp style, especially on first single We Are Golden. The second single, Blame It on the Girls, is equally infectious as are Good Girl Gone and Toy Boy. There are also a few slower songs such as Rain but it’s the upbeat songs on which he truly excels.

SEAN KINGSTON - Tomorrow
Rating: 3/5
Reviewer: Annelene Moses
With Tomorrow Sean Kingston proves the success he enjoyed after his self-titled debut wasn’t a fluke. On this second album he’s still deeply rooted in his reggae/pop roots but not afraid to experiment. Shoulda Let U Go featuring rock band Good Charlotte is an instantly lovable track. The 19-year-old has created an album filled with toe-tapping tunes you’ll be listening to for a long time.

WIN!
Ten readers will each win a copy of the Backstreet Boys’ This Is Us. SMS the keyword BOYS, your name, surname and address to 34923 by 5 pm on 12 November 2009. Each SMS costs R2.

Movie of the Week: Pandorum

Sci-fi. With Ben Foster, Dennis Quaid and Cam Gigandet. Director: Christian Alvart. 16VL. Opens 30 October.
Rating: 3/5
Reviewer: Leon van Nierop

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Two space travellers suddenly wake up on a giant spaceship in the middle of nowhere. The entire craft is shaking violently. Where are they? Then they realise the ship is teeming with dangerous lifeforms.

WHO WILL ENJOY IT?
Not since Alien have sci-fi junkies seen such violent action on a spaceship - which is also a character in this movie. It will put adrenaline in your wildest fantasies of spaceships full of crawling lifeforms and macho spacemen who fearlessly search the ship’s dark innards for a way out. The art direction is outstanding and may just win an Oscar - the way the infinity of space and the unnamed threats lurking in the ship’s endless steel passages is portrayed is enough to keep you awake at night. Ben Foster is excellent as the anguished hero trying to make sense of the chaos on the ship, and visually it’s unmatched.

WAIT FOR DVD?
Definitely not. Because 90 per cent of the action takes place in the dark your TV room would have to be as black as night if you want to watch it on DVD. To fully appreciate this spectacle with its beleaguered spacecraft, gloomy lighting, menacing atmosphere and claustrophobic passages it should be seen on a giant screen, preferably Imax. The only problem is the story becomes monotonous - which is why it doesn’t get four stars. While Alien and The Abyss are character-driven and kept interesting by personal relationships and not just special effects, Pandorum’s constant running, shouting and fighting becomes repetitive. But it’s worth seeing just for the fantastic visuals.

SIMILAR FILMS
Alien, Event Horizon, The Abyss.

DVD of the week: The Great Buck Howard

Comedy drama. 2009. 88 min. With John Malkovich, Colin Hanks and Emily Blunt. Directed by Sean McGinly. PG.
Rating: 4/5
Reviewer: Willem Möller

This film is based on true events: as a young man director McGinly worked as road manager for The Amazing Kreskin - a joke-telling, singing, piano-playing hypnotist/psychic/magician - then later wrote this script about his experiences. Because the story is about a young man (Hanks) trying to find himself rather than about Kreskin, McGinly invented the fictional Buck Howard (Malkovich), a “mentalist” with an act similar to Kreskin’s. The ageing Buck’s once-successful career is going downhill fast. He becomes obsessed with a publicity stunt he believes will get him back on track and employs a publicist (Blunt) to help him pull it off – but things don’t go as planned.

Hanks does a fine job as the young man holding his boss’ chaotic life together while trying to figure out where his own is going. But Malkovich is the star of the show, brilliantly bringing to life the grumpy, eccentric Buck’s dedication to his craft 0 and addiction to fame and adoration. Beautifully filmed and directed with a subtle touch this is a most enjoyable film. Bonus: featurette; interview with The Amazing Kreskin.

Game of the week: The Sims 3

PC. 2009. 13+
Rating: 4/5
Reviewer: Lynn Greeff

We’ve been waiting for ages and now The Sims are back! You can give your characters unique personality traits and make them brave, artistic or kleptomaniac. Take them anywhere in the neighbourhood including the gym, a bookshop and grocery shop - all without a loading screen popping up. There are many new careers to aspire to such as rock star or sports hero. You’ll have more fun playing around as you now have the option to change clothing colours and patterns. Can’t wait to see what’s next.

Five minutes with 5FM’s Grant Nash

He’s on air from noon to 3 pm on weekdays with fellow DJ Anele Mdada. We find out what makes the guy behind the mike tick.

- What makes me get out of bed in the morning is the fact I have the coolest job in the world. I get to work with amazing people, meet new people almost every day and talk to a nation full of great people.

- The best thing about working with Anele is her spontaneous and honestly funny nature. She’ll always make me laugh and smile at least twice a day.

- My biggest accomplishment to date is being happy day in and day out. Not with what I have but who I am. You see many unhappy people in the world. We need to just let go and remember to be happy.

- My favourite pastimes are reading, meditating, watching my favourite sports, rugby and cricket, and playing Wii.

- The 2010 soccer World Cup makes me excited. We’re going to do an awesome job of hosting a truly African World Cup. It’s going to be loud, colourful and such a jol for our visitors.

- I just can’t do without my hour of quiet time in the morning and my coffee. Although I have decided to give up coffee for a month and have done pretty well without it.

- Music I can live without includes anything really angry. Be it angry hip-hop or angry rock. Don’t dig it.

- I drive a black car. Hopefully by 2011 I would reply: I ride a Gautrain.

- If I were president for one day I would fly to the US and try meeting Obama.

- The song that brightens my day is Oasis’ Champagne Supernova.

Drake - rapper on the rise

Expect bigger and better things from this guy - a full-length album is on the way. Here are some facts about the star known as Lil Wayne’s protégé.

His real name is Aubrey Drake Graham (23) and he was born on 22 October 1986 in Ontario, Canada.

His parents divorced when he was five and he was raised by his mom in Forest Hill, Toronto. He spent school holidays with his dad, a drummer, in Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States.

He was introduced to rap by a prisoner. “My dad was in prison for two years when I was 16. He shared a cell with this dude who didn’t have anyone to speak to. So my dad would share his phone time with him and this guy would rap to me over the phone. After a while I started getting into it and began writing my own stuff. Then he would call me and we would rap to each other,” Drake says.

His third EP (a CD with more than a single but not enough to be considered a full album), So Far Gone, is out now and has seven tracks on it.

He says his songs on So Far Gone are about where he has been and where he wants to be. “I was confused about my career and in a destructive, exhausting relationship. I was in a bad headspace so that’s where it starts. But it’s also about a kid in pursuit of love and money,” he says.

“So Far Gone comes from a text from one of my closest friends. One night we were having a discussion about women and it was brazen and disrespectful. He texted me right after we got off the phone and he was like, “Are we becoming the men that our mothers divorced?” That’s really where the album name comes from - we’re good guys but sometimes you just get so far gone.”

His first studio album, Thank Me Later, is due to be released next year. “The storm is brewing,” he says. “The ominous clouds are starting to form. It’s going to be very dark and sexy. You’re going to hear me rapping about my life.”

WIN!
Ten readers will each win a copy of Drake’s So Far Gone EP, courtesy of Universal Music. SMS the word FAR and your name and address to 34923 by 5 pm on 5 November. Each SMS costs R2.