Shakira’s “Timor” Lyrics Meaning

Simply put, the lyrics of “Timor” find Shakira severely criticizing the American way of doing things.

She was encouraged by recent events which transpired on the island of Timor that were exacerbated by US encouragement in which scores of individuals lost their lives.

Or the way she basically presents the scenario is as the US being dangerously involved in other peoples’ matters in the name of propagating democracy or what have you.  Meanwhile, the eyes of the American people themselves are blind to these atrocities.

Or another way of looking at it is that the average American is more concerned with things remaining as they are – comfortable should we say – as opposed to confronting the truth behind how they have become so in the first place.

So conclusively, the lyrics read as if Shakira is encouraging such beneficiaries to take a more sympathetic look at what people, like those of Timor, may be going through elsewhere at the hands of the American government.

Summary

Shakira’s “Timor” finds the singer using civil strife on the Southeast Asian island of Timor as a sad example of American imperialism gone wrong.

Facts about “Timor”

“Timor” is a song that was written by Shakira herself. Shakira also produced Timor, doing so in conjunction with Lester Mendez.

It was released by Epic Records on 28 November 2005 as part of her album “Oral Fixation, Vol. 2”.

It is noteworthy to mention that Shakira initially had reservations about including this track on her aforementioned project (album).

“Timor” holds the 11th spot on Shakira’s “Oral Fixation, Vol. 2” album. It wasn’t released as a single from the album (which is Shakira’s seventh studio project). Epic Records released three singles in support of the project. They are:

• “Illegal”
• “Hips Don’t Lie”
• “Don’t Bother”

Songs like the above in addition to “Timor” helped make the project a very successful one. For example, as of 2021, the album has sold over 8 million copies all over the world.