"Underneath Your Clothes" was the second English language single released from Laundry Service (2001), the first English album by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira. To date, "Underneath Your Clothes" is Shakira's 3rd most famous solo single worldwide, behind only "Whenever, Wherever" (2001)and "Hips Don't Lie" (2006) .

Song information

"Underneath Your Clothes" is a love song with lyrics by Shakira and music by her and Lester Mendez. It tells the story of an unconditional love that a woman has over her boyfriend, which is referenced in the lyrics.

"Underneath Your Clothes" is 391 on Blends' "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born" list.

Music video

The music video for "Underneath Your Clothes" was directed by American photographer Herb Ritts and it was the second to last he directed before his death. It starts with a black-and-white scene of a reporter asking Shakira how she feels about crossing over into the English-speaking music market, and the singer, ironically, answers him in Spanish. Then, scenes of the singer performing the song live with her band and passionately hugging her boyfriend (played by her real-life fianc? Antonio de la R?a) are shown.

"Underneath Your Clothes" was the second video by Shakira to retire on MTV's TRL on May 14, 2002, when it was at #3 on the countdown.

Other versions and live performances

*To promote the single, Shakira went on to sing it live on the following television programs: CD:UK (ITV1), Domingo Legal (SBT), Divas Live in Las Vegas (VH1), Late Show with David Letterman (CBS), TRL (MTV), Party in the Park 2002 (ITV1), among others.

*The limited edition of the album, entitled Laundry Service: Washed & Dried (2002) presented an acoustic version of the song as a bonus track.

*The singer's second live album, Live & Off the Record (2004), presented a live acoustic version of the song performed during an April 22, 2003 concert in Rotterdam, Netherlands, which was part of the singer's Tour of the Mongoose (2002-2003).

*Shakira performed the song live at the concerts for her Oral Fixation Tour (2006-2007), however the song was not in the set-list of the Spanish and Latin American concerts. It was announced that a DVD will be released from a December 9, 2006 concert in Miami, Florida. The DVD will be titled Shakira Oral Fixation Tour: Live from Miami and will be released somewhere in 2007.

Official remixes

#Underneath Your Clothes (Acoustic Live Vox Version) #Underneath Your Clothes (Bastone & Burnz Mix) #Underneath Your Clothes (Fairlite Remix) #Underneath Your Clothes (Lester Mendez Club Mix) #Underneath Your Clothes (Lester Mendez Club Mix Radio Edit) #Underneath Your Clothes (Lester Mendez Dub Mix) #Underneath Your Clothes (The Xquizit Dj X D&D Dub Mix) #Underneath Your Clothes (The Xquizit Dj X D&D Vocal Remixes) #Underneath Your Clothes (Thunderpuss Club Mix) #Underneath Your Clothes (Thunderpuss Club Radio Edit) #Underneath Your Clothes (Thunderpuss Club Video Edit Mix) #Underneath Your Clothes (Thunderpuss Radio Edit) #Underneath Your Clothes (Thunderpuss Thunder Dub) #Underneath Your Clothes (Thunderpuss Tribe-A-Pella) #Underneath Your Clothes (Video Edit Version)

Chart success

At the time of its release, "Underneath Your Clothes" became an instant hit for Shakira, reaching the Top 10 in the majority of charts that it entered, and continued her success on the International scale, after "Whenever, Wherever". In the U.S., "Underneath your clothes" reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Shakira's second Top Ten single. In addition to this, a remix of the song reached #5 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart.

"Underneath Your Clothes" continued Shakira's success in the UK where it peaked at #3 on the Singles Chart, becoming her second consecutive Top 3 hit and spent three weeks in the Top Ten and 15 weeks within the Top 75.

In Australia, "Underneath Your Clothes" debuted at #1, becoming Shakira's second consecutive #1 debut (her next #1 single "Hips Don't Lie" will be a #1 debut too) but was less successful than "Whenever, Wherever" which kept the top position for 6 consecutive weeks.

The song peaked at #1 in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal and Slovenia, it peaked at #2 Worldwide as well as in Argentina, France, Germany, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland. "Underneath Your Clothes" reached the Top Ten in some countries like Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Brazil, Greece, UK and U.S..

Chart performance

*(¹ Remixes)

Personnel

*Producer by Shakira *Co-produced by Lester Mendez for Living Stereo *Arranged by Shakira and Lester Mendez *Keyboards: Lester Mendez *Guitars: Tim Pierce and Brian Ray *Bass: Paul Bushnell *Percussion: Richard Bravo *Drums: Abraham Laboriel, Jr. *Horn arrangements: Lester Mendez *Horn charts and direction: Camilo Valencia *Trumpet: Tony Concepci?n *Trumpet and piccolo trumpet: Jim Hacker *Baritone and tenor sax: Ed Calle *Bass trombone and tuba: Joe Barati *Trombone and bass trombone: Dane Teboe *Background vocals: Shakira and Rita Quintero *Recording engineers: Terry Manning, Javier Garza and Gustavo Celis *Mixing engineer: Eric Schilling *Additional engineers: Carlos Paucar, Mike Couzzi, Jorge Gonz?lez and Alfred Figueroa *Assistant engineers: Jorge Gonz?lez, Tony Mardini, Ken Theis, Ed Williams, Chris Carroll, Christine Tramontano, Nicholas Marshall, Oswald Bowe and Alex Dixon

Cover versions

*Kieran Goss on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 1.