Ojos así

After the success of Pies Descalzos in 1995, Shakira was introduced to Emilio Estefan, then the most important producer in the Hispanic market, by her promoter Jairo Martínez. Estefan wanted to help her break into the US Latin market, and one of her concerns was creative control. Before signing, the terms were settled: he would be her manager and executive producer, while she would handle all material and arrangements with final approval over her records. Work began at his Crescent Moon Studios in Miami, where she made two or three demos of each song and labored until, in her words, the song made her hair stand on end. The resulting album, Dónde Están los Ladrones?, took nine months to produce.

"Ojos así" was written by Shakira and composed and produced with Pablo Flores and Javier Garza. Infused with Arabic pop, its lyrics describe a traveler who has gone from Beirut to Bahrain without finding eyes like her lover's. The track is sung mostly in Spanish with a few verses in Arabic, plus a backing chorus in the latter language. Released as the album's fifth single in October 1999, it became a top-ten hit on the Billboard Latin Pop Airplay chart in the United States and ranked on several European charts.

At the inaugural Latin Grammy Awards in 2000, the song won Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and it later received a BMI Latin Award in 2002. Gloria Estefan translated it into English as "Eyes Like Yours" to persuade a hesitant Shakira that her music could cross over, and the English version appeared on Laundry Service in 2001. Reviewers felt it paled beside the original.