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There are few luscious-limbed pop stars that compare favourably with Shakira. A scantily-clad chanteuse with an array of saucy songs she may be, but there the similarities with Christina Aguilera and Beyonce end.

“Another way of putting it,” claimed The Guardian, “is that Shakira is crackers.”

The newspaper offered Oral Fixation Volume 2 - her most recent album - as exhibit number one.

“The opening track (How Do You Do) features Gregorian chanting, a staccato wah-wah guitar solo and a winning chorus that you would call stadium rock were it not embellished with backing vocals sung in an inexplicable baby voice.”

And, as this month’s Planet Rock documentary on the diminutive Colombian superstar so volubly attests, there are even more unlikely layers to the woman who once sang, “lucky that my breasts are small and humble so you don’t mistake them for mountains” (from the 2002 single Whenever, Wherever).

She is close friends with fellow Colombian, acclaimed novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

And, as the videos to Don’t Bother and Hips Don’t Lie confirm, the woman can dance like a malarial snake charmer as well. (You can watch both videos on BT Vision Music now.)

“Occasionally clumsy but most often clever, Shakira’s lyrics and performances still lack the confidence of her Spanish tracks,” suggested Rolling Stone. “Yet Oral Fixation manages to maintain her musical credibility.”

Q Magazine’s reading of her is more succinct: “A force of nature is with us,” it proclaimed.

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Tags: music documentaries, music videos, On Demand, pop, reviews, Shakira