Laundry Service

Laundry Service is the fifth studio album by Colombian singer and songwriter Shakira, released on November 13, 2001 via Epic Records. The album marks her English language album debut. Shakira barely knew English when she started writing the album, having to refer to rhyming dictionaries, English poetry, and authors like Leonard Cohen and Walt Whitman to help express her ideas and her feelings.

Shakira explained in an interview for the album the inspiration behind its title to Billboard in 2001:

The reason I named it Laundry Service is because I’ve spent the year dedicated to my two great passions: love and music. Those two elements are like soap and water. It was a deep cleansing, almost like being reborn.