Critical reception towards "Laundry Service" ranged from favourable to mixed, with critics expressing different opinions regarding the production and composition of the album. Alex Henderson from AllMusic commended Shakira's songwriting abilities in English, calling it a "challenge that she handles impressively well. Shakira, it turns out, sings quite convincingly in English," and also praised her different mixes of musical styles, saying "Like Shakira's Spanish-language albums, this self-produced CD is enjoyably eclectic; she successfully combines pop/rock with everything from tango on "Objection (Tango)" and Andean music on "Whenever, Wherever" to Middle Eastern music on "Eyes Like Yours". He concluded that ""Dónde Están los Ladrones?" remains Shakira's most essential album, but "Laundry Service" is an excellent English-language debut for the South American vocalist." A critic from "Billboard" also favoured the presence of various musical styles on the album and commented that ""Laundry Service" finds the 24-year-old artist unafraid of merging musical flavors," and complimented Shakira's vocal talent. Similarly, the Entertainment.ie review of the album deemed the lyrical content "surreal" and the production "no less bizarre [...] imposing breakneck tangos, twanging guitar solos and bizarre raps onto a familiar soft rock template." They felt that "Laundry Service" could not be called a "great album", reasoning that "the line between fascinatingly strange and offputtingly weird is a thin one, and "Laundry Service" crosses it far too often," but also stated that "Even so, Shakira's star quality can hardly be denied - and in today's increasingly conformist pop industry that deserves at least two cheers."