"Underneath Your Clothes" is a song by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira for her third studio album and English-language debut, Laundry Service (2001). The power ballad was the second English-language single released from the album; being released on 11 February 2002. It features lyrics by Shakira with music and production from Shakira and Lester Mendez. Lyrically, the song tells the story of the unconditional love that a woman has for her boyfriend, with lyrics about being worthy of somebody's love. Some critics commended the song for being a highlight from the album. However, others were more critical towards her songwriting and the song's production, which according to them resembled the Bangles' "Eternal Flame" and the Beatles' "Penny Lane". The song became a success on the charts, topping the charts of seven countries, while also reaching the top ten in several countries, including the United States. The accompanying music video for the song was directed by fashion photographer Herb Ritts. It depicts Shakira's loneliness as a tourist musician. It features Shakira's then-boyfriend Antonio de la Rúa, whose unpopularity in Argentina led to a ban of her albums there. Shakira promoted the song with a series of live performances across the world, while also performing it on her worldwide tours, Tour of the Mongoose (2002–2003), Oral Fixation Tour (2006–2007), The Sun Comes Out World Tour (2010–2011) and El Dorado World Tour (2018). Background and release After releasing her first live album, MTV Unplugged: Shakira (2000), which won her first Grammy Award, Shakira expressed the desire to breakthrough in the United States and the world with songs in English. With the help of a personal tutor, and after studying the lyrics of Bob Dylan and the poetry of Walt Whitman, she started writing songs in English "with a dictionary in one hand and a thesaurus in the other." During the songwriting process for Laundry Service, Shakira wrote "Underneath Your Clothes" as a love song for de la Rúa. She explained that, "If you check the subject of my songs, most of them talk about my own experiences and feelings and what I was actually going through in my life." "Underneath Your Clothes" was released to US radio stations as the second single from the album in February 2002, while the physical single was released in May 2002. Composition and lyrics "Underneath Your Clothes" has lyrics by Shakira, and music and production by Shakira and Lester