On the 7th of leaf fall, the 33-river Spanish star Rosalía released her fourth studio album LUX, which music critics unanimously call the greatest rock album.
Who is Rosalía?
A deep lyrical soprano, poignant texts that speak about special dramas, experiments with flamenco, hip-hop and orchestra, a bright special style and radical humor: without a doubt, the 33-river Rosalía is one of the leading The song of our hour, “the new goddess of pop music,” as they call their musical media.
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Rosalía was born in 1992 in a small town on the outskirts of Barcelona, sang flamenco from childhood and graduated from the Vischu Music School of Catalonia. These musical events began traditionally: the girl slept at parties and at music bars, for which she was paid “a little more than 80 euros or in exchange for the evening.” In 2016, she signed a contract with Universal Music and moved to California, and in 2017 she released her debut album, the gloomy and atmospheric Los Angeles, which was nominated for the Latin Grammy Awards.
As a result of their breakthrough album El Mal Querer in 2018, Rosalía has created a worldwide recognition of avant-garde flamenco experiments. Already in this work, she demonstrated the depth of her approach to music and culture: El Mal Querer from the 13th century Flamenca, and the song in the album is indicative of a particular section of her work.
For her upcoming album, Motomami (2022), Rosalía received high praise from critics for her daring exploration of Caribbean and Latin American rhythms.
What makes it possible for a singer to create a revolution in music is not only her uninterrupted talent, but also her deep illumination. She graduated from the conservatory and began at the Catalan College of Music, where she studied flamenco vocals in a prestigious program, and soon accepted more than one student. Rosalía became the first solo victor, having won the “Album to Rock” at the Latin Grammy after Shakiri's birth in 2006, and established herself as a mystic who boldly experiments with the change and form of flamenco.
What is the new album LUX about?
LUX is Rosalía's fourth album released on the Columbia Records label. Recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra under the performances of Daniel Bjarnason, and featuring, among others, Björk and Yves Tumor. The album follows the themes of “female mysticism, transformation and transcendence”, the miraculous sounds of our culture in intimate and grandiose orchestral arrangements, the same classical music, fado and flamenco In the words of Variety, this is a “triumphant and richly voiced” album, in which you will not find the same obvious “gіtіv”; The main respect is paid to the artist’s voice and the ensemble’s performance.
Before the album, which has 18 songs, Rozalia added thirteen languages to the compositions – the middle of them being Ukrainian. In the song De Madruga, which Alina Pash helped the singer write, the line sounds like a nightingale: “I don’t seek revenge, revenge seeks me.”
On the album cover, Rosalía stands in the image of a nun, which she hugs under her robe. During the creation of the album, the singer was inhaling women's mysticism and the posts of saints – Olga of Kiev, Joan of Arc and Hildegarde of Bingen. Wrap yourself under your robe – a symbolic gesture of support and pressure on those who need support in the darkest hours a woman knows in herself. During this period, Rosalía herself experienced a break-up with the musician Raúl Alejandro, which is also clearly evident in the album.
“It’s so greedy to watch out for this woman’s growth,” Bjork wrote on Twitter. “I’m hanging out with this incredible album.” Madonna waited for her, saying that “I can’t pinpoint Rosalía.”
Special drama as a source for creativity
The lead song of the album is called Berghain – this is a striking three-part opus, which was recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), the Catalan choir, as well as Björk, who sings about “divine handing in”, and a glimpse of alternative rock. Tumor, as in the song repeats Mike Tyson's 2002 tirade to rock, brutalized to his opponent Lennox Lewis: “I'm gonna fuck you until you will love me.”
The song and video have a very special character: in them, Rosalía metaphorically speaks about the trauma experienced – the death, about the joy of a terrible boyfriend, whom in one of the other compositions of the album she calls an “emotional terrorist”.
The Berghain video can be solved like a puzzle. The orchestra symbolizes anxiety and depression: in one of her previous announcements on Instagram, the singer published a lesson on how to sound without a violin, and wrote: “This is how my intrusive thoughts sound.” The track itself begins with a German recitation: “Your fear is my fear. Your anger is my anger. Your love is my love. Your shelter is my shelter.” Further in the frame a number of symbolic scenes appear. The actress looks at the heart pendant and takes it to the jewelry salon, where the man looks at the jewelry and it seems that it is impossible to please. On the wall of the jewelry box hangs a painting by Leonardo da Vinci “The Lady with an Ermine” – a creature that emphasizes purity and beauty, and even, according to the legend, the ermine would rather die than spoil its evil. In one of the final scenes, Rosalía reminds Snow White that she wanders through the forest and meets creatures that become joy and encouragement for her – among them is a deer and birds.
The Berghain motif as a confession about a special drama experienced is continued in other tracks on the album, including “Novia Robot” (“Robot Girlfriend”), Rosalia sings in Mandarin: “Everything you want, if I were a girl-robot. Vibach, hello, I’m right.” – according to the Taoist rhyme, the saint, according to the legend, poured boiling oil for herself in order to lose human respect and completely dedicate to herself her divine path.
Fashion
The presentation of the album took place on the 6th night of leaf fall at the National Museum of Catalonia. The oval hall of the museum was redesigned with great ease, with whom she spent a few years, while her friends heard tracks from the scarf. On the “stage” Rosalía appeared in a spectacular Gucci cloth.
Rosalía is known for her own distinctive style, which combines glamor and rock and roll, sometimes with a playful touch of kitsch. Representatives of the Swedish brand Acne Studios were the first to note, and in the spring of 2022, Spivachka became an ambassador of the brand. At the Coachella 2023 festival, she showed up in tight skinny Acne Studios pants, large sunglasses and a horny top with laces.
Today, the artist is a frequent guest of key fashion shows, from Alaïa to Balenciaga, Vivienne Westwood and Louis Vuitton. In 2024, she became an ambassador for Dior, and this year – a brilliant advertising campaign for Calvin Klein.
Rosalía combines products with fewer well-known brands. Thus, on the album cover she appears in the image of the young French brand Alain Paul, demonstrating that her passion for fashion goes far beyond the famous names of the industry.
