Of course the next worldwide pop star would scramble the sounds of the 1990s, from dance music to grunge. Of course she would be both a pin-up girl and a media manipulator, so canny she makes Madonna look naive. And of course she wouldn’t be American.

At least, not North American. Shakira is a Colombian singer of half-Lebanese descent, and she conquered the Western hemisphere from the bottom up. She didn’t release her first English-language album, Laundry Service, until 2001. By that point, she had already won millions of fans by sticking to a grueling program of her own invention: deep hooks, sharp songwriting, ferocious hip-shaking.

Laundry Service was a triumph, selling more than 13 million copies worldwide. On the album’s hit single “Whenever, Wherever,” Shakira sang lyrics designed to make unsuspecting radio listeners spit up their coffee. When she announced, “Lucky that my lips not only mumble/They spill kisses like a fountain/Lucky that my breasts are small and humble/So you don’t confuse them with mountains,” it was clear that she was the very best kind of pop star: a confounding one.

Now comes the follow-up, Fijación Oral 1, to be followed this fall by its all-new English-language sequel, Oral Fixation 2. It’s no coincidence that the Spanish-language album comes first: You get the feeling Shakira likes making the rookie Anglophone fans wait in line behind the veteran Hispanic ones. Maybe this is her playful way of reminding us that globalization and Americanization are no longer the same thing (if they ever were).

In any case, one of the best new songs starts in another language altogether. “Las de la Intuición” (“A Woman's Intuition”) begins with Shakira murmuring in French. It’s the start of a surprisingly sentimental stanza, roughly translated as “When you take me in your arms/When I look into your eyes/I see that God exists.” This is an extravagant love song, sung simply and sweetly, with only a shy guitar line and some unobtrusive electronics to keep the singer company. You don’t realize anything is wrong until Shakira mentions that these are her “recuerdos”—her memories. Suddenly the breezy love song is also a heartbroken way of saying goodbye, or perhaps a defiant refusal to say it.

Whereas Laundry Service found inventive ways to graft alt-rock guitars onto Latin-inflected pop songs (there were obvious nods to No Doubt and Alanis Morissette), this one has more in common with Shakira's buoyant 1996 breakthrough album, Pies Descalzos (which is most commonly translated as “Bare Feet”). In any case, it’s more consistent than Laundry Service, and maybe even more irresistible—provided, of course, you don’t mind hopping over a language barrier.

The album’s first single is “La Tortura,” a kicky duet with the Spanish star Alejandro Sanz, and although the title hints at political critique, the song is about a bitter and witty lover’s quarrel. After scoring a few points (if she’s throwing pearls, guess what that makes him?), she splits, sounding more gleeful than bereaved.

Shakira loves to emphasize the gap between sound and sense, which means non-Spanish speakers will get to experience these songs twice. On the CD, you can hear Shakira explore everything from buzzy house music to graceful samba, and her voice can go from a clear sigh to a choked sob in a single phrase. Then, reading the translated lyrics, you can watch her pick apart the romantic clichés her voice conjures up; no other pop star is better than Shakira at saying “come here” and “get lost” at the same time.

This is a short album: there are just 10 songs, plus a stripped-down version of “La Pared” (“The Wall”) and a fantastic reggaeton remix of “La Tortura.” After that, you'll have to wait for the release of Oral Fixation 2, which will give Spanish-speakers the chance to experience a sensation some English-speakers are probably experiencing right now: the addictive feeling of loving an album you can’t totally figure out.

DOWNLOAD: “Las de la Intuición,” “La Tortura,” “Obtener un Sí”