Latest Release
- 24 SEPT 2024
- 1 Song
- New Woman (feat. ROSALÍA) - Single · 2024
- RR - Single · 2023
- Assume Form · 2019
- TKN - Single · 2020
- MOTOMAMI · 2021
- DESPECHÁ - Single · 2022
- JACKBOYS · 2019
- Lo Vas A Olvidar - Single · 2021
- Yo x Ti, Tu x Mi - Single · 2019
- EL MAL QUERER · 2018
Essential Albums
- “I literally don’t take breaks,” ROSALÍA tells Apple Music. “I feel like, to work at a certain level, to get a certain result, you really need to sacrifice.” Judging by MOTOMAMI, her long-anticipated follow-up to 2018’s award-winning and critically acclaimed EL MAL QUERER, the mononymous Spanish singer clearly put in the work. “I almost feel like I disappear because I needed to,” she says of maintaining her process in the face of increased popularity and attention. “I needed to focus and put all my energy and get to the centre to create.” At the same time, she found herself drawing energy from bustling locales like Los Angeles, Miami and New York, all of which she credits with influencing the new album. Beyond any particular source of inspiration that may have driven the creation of MOTOMAMI, ROSALÍA’s come-up has been nothing short of inspiring. Her transition from critically acclaimed flamenco upstart to internationally renowned star—marked by creative collaborations with global tastemakers like Bad Bunny, Billie Eilish and Oneohtrix Point Never, to name a few—has prompted an artistic metamorphosis. Her ability to navigate and dominate such a wide array of musical styles only raised expectations for her third full-length, but she resisted the idea of rushing things. “I didn’t want to make an album just because now it’s time to make an album,” she says, citing that several months were spent on mixing and visuals alone. “I don’t work like that.” Some three years after EL MAL QUERER, ROSALÍA’s return feels even more revolutionary than that radical breakout release. From the noisy yet referential leftfield reggaetón of “SAOKO” to the austere and Yeezus-reminiscent thump of “CHICKEN TERIYAKI”, MOTOMAMI makes the artist’s femme-forward modus operandi all the more clear. The point of view presented is sharp and political, but also permissive of playfulness and wit, a humanising mix that makes the album her most personal yet. “I was like, I really want to find a way to allow my sense of humour to be present,” she says. “It’s almost like you try to do, like, a self-portrait of a moment of who you are, how you feel, the way you think.” Things get deeper and more unexpected with the devilish yet austere electronic punk funk of the title track and the feverish “BIZCOCHITO”. But there are even more twists and turns within, like “HENTAI”, a bilingual torch song that charms and enraptures before giving way to machine-gun percussion. Add to that “LA FAMA”, her mystifying team-up with The Weeknd that fuses tropical Latin rhythms with avant-garde minimalism, and you end up with one of the most unique artistic statements of the decade so far. For the deluxe MOTOMAMI +, ROSALÍA expands on the original with an additional eight tracks. Among these are the liberating summer jam “DESPECHÁ”, a live version of “LA FAMA” (sans The Weeknd) from Barcelona’s Palau Sant Jordi and a “Thank Yu :)” voice note from the artist herself. Also of note, reggaetón veteran Chencho Corleone hops on a remix of “CANDY” that further elevates the album favourite.
- It's not enough that rising Spanish star ROSALÍA ingeniously blends traditional flamenco with contemporary pop on her second album—she also gets a narrative based on medieval literature in there, too. Inspired by Flamenca, a 13th century book about a woman imprisoned by her jealous fiancé thought to be the first modern novel, each of the 11 songs on this collaboration with producer El Guincho (Pablo Díaz-Reixa) serves as a “chapter” of a running story about a doomed relationship. ROSALÍA went through the album track by track with Apple Music. MALAMENTE (Cap. 1 Augurio) “It’s a premonition—this moment when you know in the beginning of the story how it’s gonna end, but even then you go and do it. I was trying to compose a song everybody could understand, doing experimentation with electronic sound but also connected with my roots and flamenco. It’s combining these worlds.” QUE NO SALGA LA LUNA (Cap. 2 Boda) “This song is about commitment and that feeling you get when you get in a relationship with somebody. Sometimes you lose something of yourself in the process. It's the dark side of getting engaged—it's something beautiful but at the same time, there's another part, right?” PIENSO EN TU MIRÁ (Cap. 3 Celos) “It’s ‘Thinking About Your Gaze.’ This was a song that started from a sample of Bulgarian voices. I did the bassline on an island in Spain, El Hierro. I was so inspired in this place.” DE AQUÍ NO SALES (Cap. 4. Disputa) “It’s the most aggressive part of the record...and one of the most risky. I wanted to use the motorcycles in this song with this crazy rhythm that combines [chapters] three and four. Khalid told me he liked the song—I would love to do music with him.” RENIEGO (Cap. 5. Lamento) “It’s a traditional melody from flamenco. [Spanish singer] Camarón was singing with an orchestra; he created the arrangement. I think it sounds very magical.” PRESO (Cap. 6 Clausura) “You can hear Rossy de Palma’s voice—she’s an iconic actress from Spain. You can feel the experience in her voice. It’s heavy, you know?” BAGDAD (Cap. 7 Liturgia) “I was very inspired by an erotic club in Barcelona called Bagdad and by ‘Cry Me a River’ by Justin Timberlake. He heard the song and said, ‘Yes, you can use the melody’; I was so excited because he never approves anything.” DI MI NOMBRE (Cap. 8 Éxtasis) “It’s a very flamenco vibe, very traditional, [but] the structure is very pop. It’s about this connection between two people; the sexual moment. The lyrics—'Say my name, say my name'—I'm such a big fan of Destiny's Child. [It's] paying tribute to all these artists I heard when I was a teenager. ” NANA (Cap. 9 Concepción) “This is a traditional flamenco melody used when you have a child you’re trying to make fall asleep. I was very inspired by what James Blake does—the space and the production he uses in his songs. I feel like in 50 years, people in universities will study him.” MALDICIÓN (Cap. 10 Cordura) “We’d been working with Pablo on the production and composition for a year and a half, and I didn’t like it enough. Then: This Arthur Russell sample—I think it’s perfect in this moment.” A NINGÚN HOMBRE (Cap. 11 Poder) “The last song of the record is the first I composed. Pablo was very excited by it and we saw that we sound good together, so I was like, ‘Let’s do the entire record together.’ It’s about the power of a woman.”
Albums
- 2022
- 2017
- 2023
- 2023
- 2023
- 2023
Artist Playlists
- First, the Spanish singer remade flamenco. Then she took on everything else.
- Visual collages of motorcycles, manicures and much-copied dances.
- “It’s very important for me to spend time with the people I love.”
- The nuevo flamenco explorer reveals hip-hop and R&B inspirations.
- 2023
Appears On
- Sech, Daddy Yankee & J Balvin
- Conversation around her album ‘MOTOMAMI.'
- ROSALÍA takes over this week’s episode of MEMENTO MORI.
About ROSALÍA
ROSALÍA may be a flamenco singer, but her favourite musicians are those who have carved out new niches for themselves—artists like James Blake, Billie Eilish and Frank Ocean. That’s no accident. Like them, she flouts genre conventions while exploring silence and space as much as sound—and she’s remade flamenco and pop in the process. Rosalia Vila Tobella was born in 1992 into a non-musical family in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Spain. She began singing and dancing at age 9. “I always felt that this is my path, that I had to do music, that I couldn’t do anything else in life,” she told Apple Music in 2018. Fortunately, her family supported her ambitions: she began training as a flamenco singer at 13, and in 2017, at age 23, she released her first album, Los Ángeles, an extraordinary, spare set of traditional flamenco featuring just her voice and guitarist Raül Refree. But ROSALÍA had devoured hip-hop and R&B as voraciously as flamenco while growing up, and her 2018 breakthrough concept album, EL MAL QUERER, saw her demolish the barriers between those genres. Working with friend and producer El Guincho, she found a way to interweave flamenco with electronic music with authenticity and integrity. Her extraordinary voice has led a growing procession of artists, including Travis Scott and J Balvin, to line up for collaborations.
- HOMETOWN
- Sant Cugat del Vallès, Catalonia, Spain
- BORN
- 25 September 1992
- GENRE
- Pop