19 April 2007
‘Beautiful Liar’ feels less a duet than a strategic alliance between the most powerful chart-topping conglomerates of North and South America – a sort of pan-continental pop NAFTA. The video (below) posits them as equals, even down to the similar styling of hair and clothes. There’s also parity of namedrop, with Shakira grinning giddily when Beyoncé condescends to deliver her trademark “Shakira Shakira!” blankly like a kidnapped German industrialist reading out the Baader-Meinhof manifesto on a ransom tape. Another unlikely participant: one of the co-writers here is Ian Dench, guitarist with EMF.
Five people, including Dench and Beyoncé, co-wrote ‘Beautiful Liar’ and between them came up with a song that has only one chord. This is all part of the track’s Indian raga feel, with some Maghreb rai flourishes, plus the two superstars of the Americas, all served in the R&B-pop of radio formatters. For all my cynicism, though, this thing is actually okay. R&B-pop, raga and rai are cool sounds, and despite this project’s trace urine-flavoured tang of Lonely Planet genre-tourism I still find them appealing here. The slinky groove and catchy chorus are top of the range; other collaborators here are Scandi-pop production house Stargate. Shakira’s inherent dreadfulness is kept to a minimum. And the other half of the duet is Beyoncé in all her world-beating pomp and glory: as expected, she sparkles with star power and nails the song’s no-nonsense attitude. A Shakira record I sorta like: unbelievable!
