Shakira’s She Wolf is Inarguably the Best Song to Play at a Halloween Party, And Here’s Why
by Abi Roberts
Ok. I can hear your counter-argument already, wonks.
Believe me, I know. I know that Monster Mash is the best song written for Halloween. That’s the inarguable truth - it’s fun, catchy, and you’ve been singing it your whole life. It’s full of great memories of your elementary school Halloween parties and being dressed up as a Disney character. It’s a goddamn classic.
But a song that you’ve been listening to since pre-school isn’t exactly the upbeat, shake-your-ass song that you’re looking for in the basement of your Tenleytown townhome that’s falling apart at the seams. You’re an adult. You’ve already got a haunted house, now start acting like it.
Halloween is built for a dope playlist. If you’re scratching your head on where to start, check out The Rival’s Halloween Playlist. Halloween is the time of the year where everyone lets go and goes all out. Whether you’re dressed up as someone from Pulp Fiction, Risky Business, or as a Playboy Bunny, those are the only three costumes you’ll see on Thursday, the main objective of a Halloween party is to get smashed, have fun, and to look good while doing it.
Back to my point, She Wolf is a masterpiece.
The three-minute bop was released in 2009 and in those 10 years; it’s been nominated for a VMA, racked up a whopping 267 MILLION views on YouTube, has hit #1 on the Billboard dance charts, top 10 charts in 12 countries, and has surprisingly become an anthem for the gay community. She Wolf is littered with raw lyrics like “I’m starting to feel a little abused like a coffee machine in an office” and “darling this is no joke, this is lycanthropy” complete with an annotation on Genius of Jacob Black from Twilight. Shakira really shows that when seven songwriters come into a room, magic can happen.
The lyric “I've been devoting myself to you Monday to Monday and Friday to Friday” was even said to be the inspiration to Sza’s The Weekend, and the intro notes immediately make you turn to your floormates and wind your way through sweaty frat boys in basketball jerseys with interlocked hands to the basement dance floor. This song is more iconic than just about any other Halloween tune of the modern era.
And can we talk about how Shakira is the original wonk? She speaks English, Spanish, Arabic, French, Portuguese, and Italian, and has albums in all of those languages. She’s had a record deal with Sony Latin America since she was 13 (how many internships did you have by that time?), belly dances, and plays seven instruments.
Here’s the thing, I don’t need to describe this song to you. If you’ve ever been to a dance in a middle school cafeteria you’ve heard it over the yells of “no grinding!”. Now that you’re in college, grinding is allowed, even encouraged, to this song.
This is the perfect song to dance to with that kid who you’ve been eyeing across SIS 212 who only corrects the professor when they’re being problematic. Shakira’s hips may not lie, but you sure will when recounting the night to your parents on Facebook the next morning with a Pedialyte just out of frame.
Happy Halloween, wonks. Stay safe, don’t talk to strangers outside of 7-11 on your way to McDonald’s, and add She Wolf to your Halloween playlists this year.