By MIKEL TOOMBS

You’d think that Shaikra had earned enough money, from her “life in the spotlight” as an international superstar and now cohost of TV’s “The Voice,” to afford more clothes than she shows up in on her new album, the deceptively titled “Shakira.”

Not that I mind, of course. In fact, a stripped-down Shakira (er, musically speaking here) is very revealing, especially on the delightful, acoustic guitar-driven “The One Thing.”

While her duet with fellow “Voice” coach Blake Shelton is fairly generic country, and “Empire” seems to be channeling Tori Amos and “Dare (La La La)” every Max Martin/Dr. Luke concoction, she shines when paired with Rihanna on the lesbionic, Caribbean-accented “Can’t Remember to Forget You.” (Shakira’s solo version in Spanish, “Nunca me acuerdo de olvidarte,” is even better.)

And Shakira, who can (and does) quote Roland Barthes, earns bonus points for this literate lyric from the disarming “23” (it briefly features her very young son, Milan): “I used to think that there was no God/But then you looked at me with your blue eyes/And my agnosticism turned into dust.”

Visit Shakira’s official website here.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Mikel Toombs is a frequent contributor to GeneStout.com. Read his recent post on Reagan Boggs here.)