Arca – “Hips Don’t Lie” (Shakira Cover)
Arca’s Xen went to a dark place, providing a twisted look at modern pop filtered through a sexualized and post-apocalyptic lens. Despite the hellish bent of his music, it’s still very playful — sure, in a nasty and kind of unsettling way, but there’s a strong mischievous atmosphere that hangs over the whole affair. Enter his cover of Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie” — arguably one of the better pop songs of the ’00s — that the Venezuelan producer made for Dazed’s year-end list. It’s a sinister take on the song, chopping and screwing it almost beyond recognition and turning Shakira’s voice into a ghostly spectre that haunts in the background. Listen below.