ROSALÍA is a Spanish singer and songwriter known for her blend of flamenco and pop, creating a jazzy pop vibe. After a jump start from critics like Anothney Fantano, aka TheNeedleDrop, she has become a superstar all over Spain. Not only that, she has been consistently making pretty great pop music that critics and fans have been loving to death. I hadn’t heard this artist until it came up as one of the highest-anticipated albums of this year while looking for review ideas. Curious, I decided to listen to any singles from the album to see if it was good.
There was only one single for the lead-up to the album, which was “Berghain.” The other notable thing about this album is a guest feature from the highly acclaimed Icelandic singer, Björk. Björk is one, if not the greatest, solo artist of all time. Her unique vocals can either be jazzy or almost opera-level, and her electronic/trip hop style of production can produce nothing but vibes. She has proved time and time again that music can never die with how consistent her work is. Just this year, she released a live album from her 10th tour, and it’s one of the best live albums of the year.
Back to ROSALÍA. The single “Berghain” starts with this fast group of violins that flurries before slowing down and stopping. This moment of silence doesn’t last long before we get body slammed by a whole orchestra as support. The interesting thing about this song is that even though she is a Spanish artist, she sings in German. This language connects to the name, as Berghain is a nightclub in Berlin, but it had less to do with the nightclub and more to do with the meaning of the word, which translates to “mountain forest or grove.” It’s more to do with the thoughts going through her head in this song. Nonetheless, this single blew me away, and I became interested in what this album held.
The song of the album is “Sexo, Violencia y Llantas,” which translates to Sex, Violence and Tires. It’s a super simple intro that gets you into the mood of the album with a light piano beginning before a light bass in the background. This lightness is suddenly expanded to a loud choir, helping her vocals to become an overwhelming harmony that dies back down to the piano. In less than two minutes, you know that something crazy is going on with this album as it transitions into the next track titled “Reliquia.”
Reliquia, or Relic, was technically started as a single, but it was only released for three hours before being taken down. It begins with twin violins dancing back and forth to create a pop-like melody. ROSALÍA starts to sing. You are going to have to give me a break on the lyrics and most lyrics on this album, as she sings in 13 different languages, and I’m reading them through Google Translate. The lyrics talk about her personal relics she lost along the way, and the only one that mattered was her heart, which she wanted to give away. Now, cheesiness aside, she does a great job of being creative, which artists with this kind of writing aren’t. She gets personal about the things she lost and the reason why she cares about this person that she wants to keep close. Lines like “I lost faith in DC, and the friend in Bangkok/A bad love in Madrid, and in Mexico the blunt,” where she talks about the things that she had lost and the places she lost them in, give us a great idea of the headspace that she was in when writing this song. Not only that, the song matches this vibe by being this grand, orchestral monster that lifts her and hardens her resolve to this love that she wants to give. These two songs did an amazing job in starting off the vibe of this album and added to what the first single did with its complexity.
The last track I wanted to talk about is “Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti,” or My Christ Weeps Diamonds. This song talks about wanting to give someone a good relationship after being in an abusive one and making them feel safe with her. Lyrics such as “I carry you, I carry you always” and “How many punches have they given you/That should have been hugs?” show how she cares for this person and wants them to be ok. And she uses religious imagery as a way of showing how she can care for her with the line, “When you cry/Gather your tears/And wet your brow/Whatever the crime,” referring to baptism and being reborn from who you once were, in this case, from your past abuse. The song adds to the incredible songwriting. The track starts with the piano from before, slowly gaining speed into this grand, triumphant blast of sound, continuing this theme of grand sound. It slows down again to just her voice in the chorus with faint whispers of notes in the background. The progression repeats once more, but is more grand than the last, with absolute power in her vocals that demand respect, before ending like that. Amazing. Just amazing. Give her all the Grammys.
Overall, I was very surprised by this album, and I think it must be listened to by everyone. Even if you don’t understand the lyrics, it’s still a stunning and heroic album to top off the end of the year. I’m going to give this album an 8.5 out of 10. Great work.
