Rosalía Vila Tobella (born 25 September 1992), known mononymously as Rosalía, is a Spanish singer, songwriter and producer from Barcelona. Her music is inspired by the genre of flamenco, making a modern interpretation of it.
Her debut album, Los ángelesnote was released in 2017, and was mostly composed of acoustic takes on old flamenco songs centered around the themes of death. Made in collaboration with guitarist Raül Refree, it gained a lot of critical acclaim in her home country due to her vocal performance and became a Sleeper Hit.
After collaborating with Colombian reggaeton singer J Balvin on the hit album Vibras, she started teasing the release of her second album with the single "Malamente"note . It became one of the most successful singles of the year in Spain, marking the change of her trademark acoustic flamenco style for something more inspired by experimental R&B and Electronic Music.
Finally, El mal querernote , a Concept Album inspired by an obscure Occitan novel of the 13th century, was released in November 2018, to widespread success and acclaim both in Spain and the rest of the world.
Discography:
- Los ángeles (2017)
- El mal querer (2018)
- Motomami (2022)
Her works provide examples of:
- The Cameo: Rosalía made a rather unexpected appearance in one of Francis Bourgeois’s trainspotting TikToks.
- Concept Album: El mal querer, being loosely based on the 13th century Occitanian book Flamenca, each track is divided in "chapters" along with a title accompanying the song's official title.
- Cover Version: The entirety of Los ángeles is based around covers of old flamenco songs.
- A cover of "I See a Darkness" by Bonny "Prince" Billy closes the album.
- Driven to Suicide: The narrator of "Catalina".
- Everything Is an Instrument: "De aquí no sales" is based on samples of motorbike engines.
- Genre-Busting: El mal querer is flamenco + everything else, really.
- Intercourse with You: "Di mi nombre" and, infamously so, "Hentai".
- Last Note Nightmare: "Sí tú supieras compañero" slowly devolves into "Psycho" Strings that last for two minutes.
- Lighter and Softer: Los ángeles, a sparse, funereal pure flamenco album was followed by the more accessible and poppier, although somewhat experimental El mal querer.
- her work since El mal querer qualifies, with singles like "Aute Cuture", "Con altura" and "Yo x Ti, Tu x Mi" being simple pop songs.
- Lyrical Dissonance: Despite being ethereal and quite catchy, "Bagdad" is about descending to hell.
- New Sound Album: El mal querer compared to Los ángeles.
- Sampling: "Bagdad" samples Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me A River" and "Que no salga la luna" samples "Mi cante por Bulerías" de La Paquera de Jeréz.
- Toros y Flamenco: Being flamenco-inspired music, a lot of the imagery surrounding her music videos is based around this trope.
