After hanging the sold-out sign at concerts in the United States, Argentina, Mexico or Spain, Rosalía’s Motomami World Tour closed in Paris (France), on December 18. Here are five facts about the Spanish singer, a young flamenco talent who became a world pop superstar in 2022.
Although she continues to be her greatest inspiration, Rosalía is not limited to flamenco. Without having gypsy origins, Rosalía Vila Tobella -her full name of hers- discovered this genre during her childhood, in her native Catalonia, thanks to friends of Andalusian origin.
The crush is instant. In 2017, her first album “Los Ángeles”, in which she sings alone accompanied by a guitar, integrates her into this traditional genre. But despite the critical success, the album does not give him international recognition. Still inspired by flamenco, Rosalía never turned her back on other genres, an essential duality in her discography.
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At the age of 25, her second opus “El mal querer” (2018) launched her to international stardom. The album, which won the Album of the Year award at the Latin Grammys and took home three other awards that year, reflects Rosalía’s Spanish and flamenco imagery, accompanied by voluntarily more pop and danceable tones. Among her hits, her essential “Malamente” (160 million views on YouTube) or “Pienso en tu mirá” (89 million views).
Divided into eleven songs, this conceptual album that began as Rosalía’s final degree project recounts the stages of a toxic love relationship, inspired by the anonymous medieval work “Flamenca”. As the chapters go by, the female protagonist, personified by the singer, progresses towards emancipation.
Ozuna, The Weeknd, Bad Bunny or Travis Scott… Rosalía dares with any duet with the biggest stars of urban music. But if there is a collaboration that stands out in her discography, it is the one she did with the Colombian J. Balvin.
Titled “Con Altura”, the song came out in 2019 and today has more than 2,000 million views on YouTube. It was one of the first international collaborations of the Spanish and one of her first reggaeton songs. True to its influences, the song exposes these small references to flamenco, such as “I carry Camarón (De la Isla) in the glove box”, and to Latin music with the verse “I put palms on the guantanamera”.
“I feel like on ‘Motomami’ I did and said exactly what I wanted to say and do, in my own way. After this there is no going back, ”he told the US edition of Rolling Stone magazine in mid-December.
Released in March 2022, “Motomami” was acclaimed by critics and audiences. The butterfly became the symbol of this album, a symbol of transformation, as Rosalía herself sings in “Saoko”: “A butterfly, I transform”, “I contradict myself”, “I am all of the thing’” . Pop, reggaeton, hip-hop, electro, jazz… The album covers all genres. The content of this third opus is undoubtedly the most intimate. Rosalía addresses her sexuality, feminism, spirituality or self-love.
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Rosalía is sound and songs, but she is also an extremely careful aesthetic linked to Spain, present in her clips, album covers and concerts. Some of her video clips are nods to the cinema of Bigas Luna or that of Pedro Almodóvar, with whom she worked, playing a brief role in “Pain and Glory” (2019). The video clip for “Juro que” shows the influence of the director of “Volver” in the colors and compositions.
The video clip for “Pienso en tu mirá” begins with a shot of a doll dressed as a flamenco dancer, the one for “Say my name” is inspired by the painting “La maja vestida” by Goya, and in the one for “Malamente” a Nazarene appears , figure of the Spanish Holy Week, riding a skateboard.
Source: AFP.
La Nación / Rosalía, the Spanish superstar who triumphed in 2022