Rosalía: From Flamenco Roots to Global Pop Queen

Rosalía was twenty-five when El Mal Querer made her the most talked-about new voice in Spanish music, and the album is still the centre of her story, the record against which everything else is measured. She was born on 25 September 1992 in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, a town in Catalonia near Barcelona, as Rosalía Vila Tobella, and she grew up in a place that was neither a big city nor a village, a town of factories and commuters where flamenco was not the local music but a tradition she chose. She studied flamenco seriously, at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona, and she learned the old forms, the palmas, the cante, the discipline of a music that is centuries old, and then she did something that flamenco purists did not expect: she took that tradition and made it new, mixing it with pop, with reggaeton, with electronic music, and with a visual imagination that made her videos as famous as her songs.

Sant Esteve Sesrovires, 1992: A Catalan Childhood

Sant Esteve Sesrovires is a town in the Baix Llobregat, about thirty kilometres from Barcelona, a place of industry, of warehouses and commuter trains, and Rosalía was born there in 1992, when Spain was hosting the Olympic Games in Barcelona and Catalonia was full of confidence. She grew up in a family that was not musical in a professional sense, but that encouraged her interest in singing, and she has described her childhood as happy and ordinary, with school, with friends, and with a growing love of music that she discovered for herself. The town matters because it is not Seville, it is not Jerez, it is not a flamenco town, and Rosalía’s flamenco is therefore a choice, not an inheritance, a tradition she sought out, studied, and made her own, rather than a music she absorbed from the streets around her.

The Catalan beginning also matters because Rosalía is Catalan, she speaks Catalan, and she has kept her connection to Catalonia even as her music took her around the world. She sings in Spanish, she sings in Catalan, she sings in English, and the languages are all part of her, and the choice of language in each song is a choice about who she is speaking to. The small town is the anchor, the place she comes from, and the anchor holds, even when the fame pulls hard, even when she is performing in stadiums in Mexico City or in Los Angeles, and the audience that knows her best knows that she is still the girl from Sant Esteve who fell in love with flamenco and decided to learn it properly.

Flamenco School: Learning the Old Forms

Rosalía studied flamenco at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya, known as ESMUC, in Barcelona, one of the most respected music schools in Spain, where she learned the cante, the singing of flamenco, and the theory, the history and the discipline of the form. Flamenco is not a music that can be learned quickly: it requires years of listening, of practice, of understanding the palos, the different forms, and of learning how to sing with the duende, the spirit that flamenco singers talk about, and Rosalía took that learning seriously. She studied with teachers who were strict, she practised for hours, she learned the old songs, and she earned the respect of the flamenco world, which is a world that does not give respect easily, especially to a young woman from Catalonia who did not grow up in a flamenco family.

The training shows in everything she does, even in her pop songs. The voice is the key: it is strong, it is clear, it is capable of the melisma, the ornamentation, of flamenco, and it can also sing a pop melody, a reggaeton rhythm, a ballad, and the flexibility is the result of years of training. The handclaps, the palmas, appear in her music, the rhythms of flamenco appear in her beats, and the attitude of flamenco, the pride, the drama, the refusal to be small, appears in her performances. The school gave her a foundation, and the foundation is deep, and it is why her experiments work: she is not a pop singer borrowing flamenco, she is a flamenco singer who decided to make pop, and the difference is audible in every song.

Los Ángeles: The First Album

Rosalía’s first album, Los Ángeles, was released in 2017, in collaboration with the producer and musician Raül Refree, and it is a stark, beautiful record, a set of traditional flamenco songs, mostly about death, sung with a voice that is young and old at the same time, over a single guitar. The album was a critical success in Spain, and it introduced Rosalía to an audience that knew flamenco, and it showed that she was a serious singer, a woman who understood the tradition and who could sing it with depth. The songs are dark: they are about death, about loss, about a woman who is dying, and Rosalía sings them without sentimentality, with a clarity that makes the darkness bearable, and the album is still, for many flamenco listeners, her most impressive work.

The album also showed her ambition, because a first album of traditional flamenco songs, with just a voice and a guitar, is not a commercial choice, it is an artistic one, and Rosalía made it without hesitation. She could have made a pop album, she could have chased a hit, and she chose to make a flamenco album, and the choice earned her respect, and it earned her a foundation from which she could experiment. The collaboration with Raül Refree was important too: Refree is a producer who understands flamenco and who is willing to strip it back to its essentials, and the two of them made a record that is both old and new, a record that honours the tradition and that points toward the future, and the future arrived sooner than anyone expected.

El Mal Querer: The Breakthrough

The breakthrough came in 2018, with El Mal Querer, an album that took flamenco and mixed it with pop, with electronic music, with reggaeton, and with a concept: the album is based on a thirteenth-century Occitan novel, the story of Flamenca, a woman who is imprisoned by her jealous husband, and each song is a chapter, a step in her story. The singles, Malamente, Pienso en tu mirá and Di mi nombre, were hits in Spain and across Latin America, and the videos, directed with a visual imagination that made them famous, showed Rosalía in a world of red, of gold, of religious imagery and of fashion, and the album became a phenomenon. It won the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year in 2019, and it made Rosalía the most talked-about new artist in Spanish-language music.

El Mal Querer matters because it proved that flamenco could be pop, that a centuries-old tradition could speak to a young audience, and that a woman from Catalonia could make an album about a medieval novel and make it a hit. The album’s success was not just commercial; it was critical, and it was cultural, because it showed that Spanish music did not have to copy American pop, that it could be Spanish, it could be flamenco, and it could be modern, all at once. Rosalía became a star, and the star was not a pop star who happened to be Spanish, but a Spanish artist who had made pop on her own terms, and the terms were flamenco, were Catalan, were hers.

Con Altura, TKN and the Collaborations

After El Mal Querer, Rosalía became one of the most sought-after collaborators in music, and the collaborations show her range. In 2019 she released Con Altura with J Balvin, a reggaeton song that was a huge hit, that won Latin Grammys, and that showed she could sing reggaeton without losing her flamenco voice. In 2020 she released TKN with Travis Scott, a song that mixed Spanish and English, that was dark and hypnotic, and that introduced her to an American audience that had not heard El Mal Querer. In 2021 she released Lo Vas a Olvidar with Billie Eilish, a bilingual ballad that was recorded for the television series Euphoria, and that showed a different side of her, a quiet, intimate singer, a woman who could sing softly and still hold an audience.

The collaborations matter because they show that Rosalía is not confined to one genre, one language, or one audience. She sings with J Balvin, with Travis Scott, with Billie Eilish, with The Weeknd, and each collaboration is different, each one asks her to be a different singer, and she is, because she has the training, the voice and the imagination to adapt. The collaborations also made her a global star, a woman whose name is known in the United States, in Latin America, in Europe, and the global fame is real, but it is built on the flamenco foundation, on the years at ESMUC, on Los Ángeles, and on the decision to make music that is hers, even when she is singing with someone else.

Motomami: The Second Act

In 2022 Rosalía released Motomami, her third album, and it was a deliberate break from El Mal Querer, a record that is wilder, more experimental, more personal, and more difficult. The album mixes reggaeton, bachata, jazz, flamenco, electronic music and pop, and the songs, Saoko, La Fama with The Weeknd, Despechá, Bizcochito, are each different, each one a small world, and the album as a whole is a portrait of a woman who is famous, who is tired, who is funny, who is angry, and who is trying to be herself. Despechá became a huge hit, a summer song that was played everywhere, and La Fama, a bachata with The Weeknd, showed that Rosalía could sing a traditional Latin form and make it hers. The album won the Grammy for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album in 2023, and the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year, and it confirmed that Rosalía was not a one-album artist, but a major figure in music.

Motomami matters because it is a risk, and the risk paid off. An artist who has had a huge success with El Mal Querer could have made El Mal Querer again, and Rosalía did not; she made a different album, a harder album, an album that asks the audience to follow her into new territory, and the audience followed. The album’s title, Motomami, is a combination of two words, a motorcycle and a mother, and the combination is the album: speed and care, danger and love, and the two qualities are Rosalía’s, a woman who is fast and who is tender, and who refuses to choose between them. The tour that followed, the Motomami World Tour, took her to stadiums and arenas around the world, and it showed that she was now a global live act, a performer who could hold a stadium with her voice, her dancing, and her presence.

The Videos, the Fashion and the Visual World

Rosalía’s videos are as famous as her songs, and they are part of her art. The video for Malamente, directed by Canada, is a world of red, of gold, of religious imagery, of a woman in a car, of a bullfighter, and it won awards, and it made Rosalía a visual artist as well as a musical one. The videos for Pienso en tu mirá, for Di mi nombre, for Saoko, for Despechá, are each a small film, a world that Rosalía creates and inhabits, and the world is consistent: it is Spanish, it is Catholic, it is flamenco, it is fashion, and it is modern. The fashion is part of it too: Rosalía works with designers, she wears red, she wears gold, she wears the colours of flamenco and of Spain, and the image is as carefully made as the music.

The visual world matters because it shows that Rosalía thinks about her art as a whole, not just as songs, but as images, as clothes, as videos, as performances, and the wholeness is the point. A Rosalía song is not just a song; it is a world, and the audience enters the world through the video, through the fashion, through the live show, and the world is hers. The visual imagination is also a form of control: Rosalía controls her image, she decides what the audience sees, and the control is the mark of an artist who knows what she wants, and who is not willing to let others decide for her.

Lux and the New Chapter

In November 2025 Rosalía released Lux, her fourth album, a record that arrived after a period of silence, and that showed a new side of her: the album is more orchestral, more intimate, more spiritual, and it includes collaborations with Björk and with the composer of film music, and the single Berghain, with Björk and Yves Tumor, was a statement of intent, a song that is dark, that is electronic, that is unlike anything she had done before. The album’s title, Lux, is Latin for light, and the record is about light and darkness, about faith, about love, and about the search for meaning, and it is a long way from the reggaeton of Con Altura, and the distance is the point: Rosalía keeps changing, keeps growing, keeps refusing to repeat herself, and Lux is the latest proof.

The album also showed that Rosalía is willing to take her time, to disappear for a while, to work in private, and to return when the work is ready. The silence before Lux was a choice, and the choice is the mark of an artist who values the work more than the fame, who would rather be quiet than release something she does not believe in. The audience waited, and the waiting was rewarded, because Lux is a serious album, a beautiful album, and an album that will be listened to for years. The new chapter is open, and the audience does not know what comes next, which is exactly as Rosalía wants it.

Love, Privacy and Life in the Public Eye

Rosalía’s private life has been the subject of intense press interest, and she has handled it with a discretion that is unusual for a star of her size. She was in a relationship with the singer Rauw Alejandro from 2019, the couple became engaged, they recorded songs together, including Beso in 2023, and they separated in 2023, and the separation was reported around the world, and Rosalía spoke about it briefly and with dignity, and then returned to her work. She keeps her private life private, she does not share it on social media in detail, and she lets the music speak, and the choice is a statement: the artist is not the gossip, and the gossip is not the art, and the audience should judge her by the music.

She remains close to her family in Catalonia, and she has spoken about her mother, her sister, and about the importance of home. The family is the anchor, the place she returns to, and the anchor holds, even when the career takes her to Los Angeles, to Mexico City, to Tokyo. Rosalía is now in her early thirties, she has a global audience, she has Grammys and Latin Grammys, she has a career that is hers, and she has the freedom to choose her next work, and the choices she has made so far suggest that she will keep changing, keep growing, and keep making music that is hers, in Spanish, in Catalan, in English, and in a language that is only hers.

The Voice and the Place in Spanish Music

Rosalía’s place in Spanish music is now secure, and it is a place that no one else occupies. She is a flamenco singer who became a pop star, a Catalan who became a global star, a woman who studied the old forms and made them new, and the combination is unique. She has shown that Spanish music can be modern without ceasing to be Spanish, that flamenco can be pop, that a medieval novel can be a hit album, and that a woman from a small town in Catalonia can become one of the most important artists in the world. The voice is the key: it is strong, it is clear, it is trained, and it is hers, and the audience hears it and knows, at once, that this is Rosalía, and that there is no one else like her.

The Motomami Tour and the Live Performer

The Motomami World Tour, which ran in 2022, took Rosalía to arenas and stadiums across Europe, Latin America and the United States, and it showed that she was now a global live act, a performer who could hold a large audience with her voice, her dancing and her presence. The show was a spectacle: she sang, she danced, she rode a motorcycle on stage, she changed costumes, she performed with a large cast of dancers, and the spectacle was not a distraction from the music; it was the music, made visual, made physical, and the audience that saw the tour remembers it as a complete experience, a world that Rosalía created and inhabited for two hours. The tour also showed her stamina: dozens of shows, in different countries, in different languages, and the voice held, the energy held, and the performance never flagged, which is the mark of a trained singer, a woman who learned her craft at ESMUC and who knows how to protect her voice.

The live show matters because it proves that Rosalía is a performer, not just a recording artist, a woman who can sing live, who can dance, who can hold a stadium, and who can make a large audience feel as if she is singing to them alone. The show’s design, the motorcycle, the costumes, the choreography, is as carefully made as the albums, and the care is the point: Rosalía thinks about her art as a whole, not just as songs, but as images, as clothes, as movement, and the wholeness is what makes the tour memorable. The audience that saw the Motomami tour saw an artist at the height of her powers, a woman who had taken flamenco, pop, reggaeton and electronic music, and made them into a live experience that no one else could give.

The tour also showed the global reach of her music: she performed in Mexico City, in Buenos Aires, in São Paulo, in Los Angeles, in New York, in London, in Paris, in Madrid, and the audiences were young, they were passionate, they sang along in Spanish, and they knew every word. The global audience is not a matter of marketing; it is a matter of music, of songs that speak to young people in different countries, in different languages, and the speaking is the achievement. Rosalía’s music is Spanish, it is Catalan, it is flamenco, and it is also universal, and the universality is the reason the tour filled stadiums, and the reason the audience keeps coming back.

My Take:

The first thing to say about Rosalía is that she studied, and the studying is the foundation of everything. She went to ESMUC, she learned flamenco, she practised for hours, she learned the palos, and she earned the respect of a world that does not give respect easily. The studying matters because it means that her experiments are not accidents; they are choices made by a woman who knows the tradition, who understands it, and who has decided to change it. A pop singer who borrows flamenco is borrowing a costume, but Rosalía is not borrowing; she is a flamenco singer who decided to make pop, and the difference is audible, in the voice, in the rhythms, in the attitude, and the audience, even when it does not know flamenco, can hear that the music is real.

The second thing is El Mal Querer, and how it works as a concept. The album is based on a thirteenth-century novel, the story of Flamenca, a woman imprisoned by her jealous husband, and each song is a chapter, and the concept could easily have been pretentious, a clever idea that gets in the way of the music. It is not, because Rosalía makes the medieval story feel modern, makes Flamenca feel like a woman the audience knows, and makes the jealousy, the imprisonment, the escape, feel like a story about now. The concept gives the album a shape, a beginning and an end, and the shape makes the hits, Malamente, Pienso en tu mirá, Di mi nombre, feel like parts of a larger story, not just singles, and the larger story is what makes the album last.

The third thing is the voice, and how it carries everything. Rosalía’s voice is strong, it is clear, it is capable of flamenco melisma and of pop melody, and it is the instrument that makes the experiments work. In Los Ángeles the voice sings traditional flamenco over a single guitar, and the voice is enough. In El Mal Querer the voice sings over electronic beats, and the voice is still enough. In Motomami the voice sings reggaeton, bachata, jazz, and the voice adapts, and the adapting is the talent. The voice is trained, it is disciplined, and it is hers, and the audience hears it and knows, at once, that this is Rosalía, and that there is no one else who sounds like her.

The fourth thing is Motomami, and the risk it took. After the huge success of El Mal Querer, Rosalía could have made the same album again, and she did not; she made a wilder, more difficult, more personal album, and she trusted the audience to follow her. The trust was rewarded, because the audience did follow, and the album won Grammys, and the tour filled stadiums, and the risk became a triumph. The risk matters because it shows that Rosalía is an artist, not a brand, a woman who values the work more than the formula, and who would rather fail by trying something new than succeed by repeating herself. The audience respects that, and the respect is the foundation of a long career.

The fifth thing is the videos, and how they make the music visual. The video for Malamente is a world, a world of red and gold, of religious imagery, of a woman in a car, and the world is Rosalía’s, it is Spanish, it is Catholic, it is flamenco, and it is modern. The videos are not advertisements for the songs; they are part of the songs, part of the art, and the audience watches them and enters the world. The visual imagination is a form of control: Rosalía decides what the audience sees, she creates the image, and the image is as carefully made as the music. The control is the mark of an artist who knows what she wants, and who is not willing to let others decide for her.

The sixth thing is the collaborations, and how they show her range. She sings with J Balvin, with Travis Scott, with Billie Eilish, with The Weeknd, and each collaboration is different, and she is different in each one, because she has the training and the imagination to adapt. The collaborations are not a sign that she needs help; they are a sign that other artists want to work with her, that they hear something in her voice that they want in their music, and the wanting is a compliment. The collaborations also made her global, and the global fame is real, but it is built on the flamenco foundation, on the years at ESMUC, on Los Ángeles, and the foundation is what makes the collaborations work.

The seventh thing is Lux, and the silence before it. Rosalía disappeared for a while before Lux, she did not release music, she did not perform, and the silence was a choice, a choice to work in private, to take her time, and to return when the work was ready. The choice is the mark of an artist who values the work more than the fame, who would rather be quiet than release something she does not believe in. The audience waited, and the waiting was rewarded, because Lux is a serious album, a beautiful album, and an album that shows a new side of her, more orchestral, more intimate, more spiritual. The silence was not an absence; it was a preparation, and the preparation shows.

The eighth thing is the Catalan identity, and how it survives. Rosalía is Catalan, she speaks Catalan, she comes from Sant Esteve Sesrovires, and she has kept that identity even as she became a global star. The identity matters, because it gives her a home, a language, a place that is hers, and the home is the anchor. The global fame could have made her a citizen of nowhere, a woman who belongs to the internet, but she belongs to Catalonia, to her family, to the town where she grew up, and the belonging is the point. The audience in Catalonia claims her, and the audience abroad claims her, and both claims are true, which is a difficult balance, and Rosalía holds it well.

The ninth thing is the fashion, and how it relates to the music. Rosalía wears red, she wears gold, she wears the colours of flamenco and of Spain, and the fashion is not decoration; it is part of the art, part of the world she creates. The fashion is also a form of control: she decides what she wears, she works with designers, and the image is hers. The control matters, because a woman in pop music is often told what to wear, how to look, how to be, and Rosalía decides for herself, and the deciding is the point. The audience sees the red, the gold, the flamenco, and the audience knows, at once, that this is Rosalía, and that the image is hers.

The tenth thing is the privacy, and the boundary she keeps. Rosalía was in a relationship with Rauw Alejandro, the couple were engaged, they recorded together, they separated, and the separation was reported around the world, and Rosalía spoke about it briefly and with dignity, and then returned to her work. The brevity is the point: she does not make her private life into content, she does not share it in detail, and she lets the music speak. The boundary is healthy, and it is also useful, because it means that when Rosalía appears on stage, the audience sees the artist, not the gossip, and that is a rarer and more valuable thing than it used to be.

The eleventh thing is the feminism of the work, and how it is built into the music. El Mal Querer is about a woman imprisoned by a jealous husband, and the album is a story of escape, of a woman who finds her voice, and the story is feminist, not because Rosalía says so, but because the music says so. Motomami is about a woman who is famous, who is tired, who is funny, who is angry, and who refuses to be small, and the refusal is feminist too. Rosalía does not lecture; she sings, and the singing is the argument, and the argument is that a woman can be flamenco and pop, can be Catalan and global, can be traditional and modern, and can be all of it at once, without apologising.

The twelfth thing is the live show, and how it works. The Motomami World Tour took Rosalía to stadiums and arenas around the world, and the show is a spectacle: she sings, she dances, she rides a motorcycle on stage, she changes costumes, and the spectacle is not a distraction from the music; it is the music, made visual, made physical. The live show matters because it proves that Rosalía is a performer, not just a recording artist, a woman who can hold a stadium with her voice and her presence, and who can make a large audience feel as if she is singing to them alone. The performance is the proof of the training, of the years at ESMUC, of the discipline, and the audience that sees her live knows that it is watching a real singer, not a studio creation.

The thirteenth thing is the age, and what it means. Rosalía was twenty-five when El Mal Querer came out, and she is now in her early thirties, and the work has grown with her: Los Ángeles was a young woman singing old songs, El Mal Querer was a young woman telling a medieval story, Motomami was a woman in her late twenties telling her own story, and Lux is a woman in her early thirties searching for light. The growth is the point, and the audience that has followed her has grown with her, and the growing together is the foundation of a long career. The late work will be different again, and the audience should expect it, because Rosalía has never repeated herself, and she will not start now.

The fourteenth thing is the place in Spanish music, and how unique it is. Rosalía is a flamenco singer who became a pop star, a Catalan who became a global star, a woman who studied the old forms and made them new, and the combination is unique. She has shown that Spanish music can be modern without ceasing to be Spanish, that flamenco can be pop, that a medieval novel can be a hit album, and that a woman from a small town in Catalonia can become one of the most important artists in the world. The place is hers, and no one else occupies it, and the uniqueness is the achievement.

The fifteenth thing is the future, and what it might hold. Rosalía has released Lux, she has toured the world, she has won Grammys, and she has the freedom to choose, and the choices she has made suggest that she will keep changing, keep growing, and keep making music that is hers. The audience should expect more surprises, more collaborations, more risks, and more albums that are different from the last, and the expectation is a happy one, because Rosalía has earned it. The girl from Sant Esteve who fell in love with flamenco became one of the most important artists in the world, and the becoming is not over, and the audience should be glad, because the best work may still be ahead.

The sixteenth thing is the influence, and how it is already visible. Young Spanish artists cite Rosalía as an influence, young flamenco singers see that flamenco can be modern, young women see that a woman can control her image, her music, her career, and the seeing is the influence. The influence is not a matter of copying; it is a matter of permission, of Rosalía giving other artists permission to be Spanish and modern, to be traditional and new, to be themselves. The permission is the gift, and it is a gift that will last longer than any single album, because it changes what other artists believe is possible.

The seventeenth thing, and the last, is the lesson. Rosalía’s career says that studying matters, that tradition matters, and that the way to be new is to know the old, deeply, and then to change it. She studied flamenco, she learned it properly, and then she made it hers, and the making is the art. The lesson is not that talent will always be recognised, but that the work, done with discipline and with imagination, is its own reward, and that the reward, when it comes, is deserved. Rosalía’s reward has come, in the form of Grammys, of stadiums, of a global audience, and the audience that listens to her now knows that it is listening to a great artist, and that the greatness was earned, in Sant Esteve, in Barcelona, in every rehearsal room and every studio where she learned to sing.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Rosalía’s most famous album?

El Mal Querer, released in 2018, is her breakthrough album. Based on a thirteenth-century novel about a woman imprisoned by a jealous husband, it includes the hits Malamente, Pienso en tu mirá and Di mi nombre, and it won the Latin Grammy for Album of the Year in 2019.

Where was Rosalía born?

She was born on 25 September 1992 in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, a town near Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain, as Rosalía Vila Tobella, and she studied flamenco at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona.

What is Motomami?

Motomami is Rosalía’s third album, released in 2022, a wilder and more experimental record mixing reggaeton, bachata, jazz, flamenco and pop. It includes Despechá and La Fama with The Weeknd, and it won the Grammy for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album in 2023.

What is Lux by Rosalía?

Lux is her fourth album, released in November 2025, a more orchestral and intimate record about light and darkness, including the single Berghain with Björk and Yves Tumor, showing a new and more spiritual side of her music.

Who did Rosalía collaborate with on Con Altura?

She released Con Altura with J Balvin in 2019, a reggaeton hit that won Latin Grammys. She has also collaborated with Travis Scott on TKN, Billie Eilish on Lo Vas a Olvidar, and The Weeknd on La Fama.

Did Rosalía study flamenco?

Yes, she studied flamenco singing at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC) in Barcelona, learning the traditional forms, the palos and the discipline of cante, which became the foundation of her music.