NPR Music - Alt.Latino: Rosalía in her own words

Episode Date: November 12, 2025

Spanish vocalist and composer Rosalía has been a major presence in Spanish language music since she released her 2018 album, "El Mal Querer." She started by leaning into her flamenco roots, but since then she has expanded her musical vision to become one of those musicians who defies category.Her new album "LUX" stretches that descriptor to its limit. Her musical tools this time include the London Symphony Orchestra, singing in 13 languages, guests like Icelandic performer Björk, and her own vocals that hit operatic heights. This week, Ana and Felix dissect the album and play excerpts from Ana's interview with Rosalía. How can you go wrong?You can read extended highlights of Ana's interview with Rosalía at NPR.orgThis episode was produced by Noah Caldwell. The executive producer of NPR Music is Suraya Mohamed.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

A quick note before the show, this podcast contains explicit language. From MPR music, this is alt-Latino. I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Anna Maria Sayer. Let the Chisembe begin. The Chisema is all about La Señorita Rosalia. The seniorita Rosalia. The album's called Lux. It was released November 7. We're finally getting to talk about it.

I feel like I've been holding on to like state secrets for weeks now. Yeah. And we actually have an interview to play this week that you did with Rosalia. I guess we do. Two weeks ago. Two weeks ago in Mexico City, we talked. It was amazing. She's amazing.

So we're going to hear for Rosalia, but first, let me hear your impressions. Okay. That's the hardest question you could have asked me. 30 seconds or less. She told me that she wanted to fit the entire world into a record. She gets pretty close. to successfully doing that. It's beautiful, it's innovative,

it incorporates sounds in a way from around the world that I think a lot of people wouldn't believe to be possible. I think there are a lot of beats and rhythms and sounds from all over the world that are actually essentially compatible that it takes an artist like Rosalia to be able to show that. It's thoughtful. The lyrics are incredible. The music is moving.

Classical music is mostly what it's based in, and that's to me some of the most evocative things. touching raw, like human, intense sound you can have. And I think she, it was a success is what I'd say. Rosalia's back. That's what I have to say about that. What about you, Felix? What are your thoughts?

I'm actually very curious. I hope that they're different. Slightly different. So I sat with it for a while. Remember I told you I could only listen once when I first heard it. I only listened to it once. I think that's insane. It was so overwhelming.

You were like, it's one of those records that you listen to once and like you wish you could hear it again for the first. first time. And I was like, dear God, I just wanted to get through it so I could listen to it 20 more times and actually absorb it. Eventually, I did go back, listened critically, listened for a lot of different things because there's so many things to listen to, the languages, the rhythms, the orchestrations, all of that stuff, the themes, the reading along the lyrics and all that stuff. And I couldn't figure out, like, something was like, what is it about this thing that seems familiar, right? She said it's divided in four parts, four different things, four different themes, and then it hit me because there's so much

mysticism, she's chasing the divine. There's all of these really big, giant existential themes. And it hit me. It reminds me of John Coltrane's Love Supreme album. Because Love Supreme is the definitive spiritual statement in jazz. It's also divided into four parts in very much the same way that she has divided her album in. That's what I got out of this record is the way that she did it in a very different way. John Coltrane did with jazz quartet

Alice Coltrane, his wife eventually did it with orchestrations with harps and keyboards and stuff and with vocals but it's after the same thing it's crazy. It's after the exact same thing to express the deepest

most fundamental part of existence and the bigger picture through music. That was my take. Interesting. I heard it as kind of like the evolution of the spirituality of the feminine and of herself. It's kind of funny because I saw that it was broken up into movements

and I was like, I'm just going to ignore that. Like ignore how she broke it up and I'm just going to as I go kind of like mark what I feel are the buckets. And it's interesting because the way she introduces the album, she almost presents herself in a godlike way. There are moments throughout where she kind of assumes that persona and also pretty quickly in the third song, Divinize, she kind of makes that. Eve parallel. And so it's like to me that beginning part is her just figuring out and falling into what it

means to be a woman in the world and also how women are used. It's the relationship is explored there for sure. And then she reaches this enlightenment to me. And you reach the enlightenment like halfway through the record. And it's like, so if we're already enlightened. where do you go from here? And then she gets really tender and soft. And that's where it kind of starts to like devolve a little bit.

And then at the end it's the ascension song. And it's her saying like God meets me in the middle. I ascend and God meets me. That's the love supreme. It's exactly. Except without words. You have your opinion. I have my opinion.

Our take, right? Interpretation. Sure, sure, sure, sure. Let's get into the interview because I thought you did an amazing interview with her and got her to talk about a lot of different things that had related to the record and related to herself. And I think that she said things to you

that I haven't read in any other interviews. So kudos to you for bringing that out. But let's get into the interview. The first sound bite we have is where she talks about feminine mysticism and then the different saints from different parts of the world, thus the different languages,

13 languages in total. 13 languages, that she really did, like, do. Yeah, she learned. The album, I can say that it has a lot of inspiration in the mystica feminine mysticism. And there's a lot of inspiration of different stories of saints, women who are saints, that are considered santa's throughout history, and from all across the world. Each saint, it's from a different place than there's a different language used in different songs. You can't find cancions, songs that have some Arabic, songs that have some Chinese,

and it all responds to that. I think that definitely there's so much of exploring what it is the feminine energy, being a woman here and now, for me. And through trying to understand those stories and those other women, I think that it helps me understand myself better. And maybe, yes, maybe there's some sort of like tension or some sort of like barrier that sometimes you wish it wasn't. And or maybe sometimes you feel like giving so much and others you feel like you need to actually, you need to receive. And yes, maybe all of it is there.

You know, Felix, one of the things that she and I talked about outside of the interview and we stopped rolling and then we were just chatting is this idea that this feeling of being of everywhere means you're from nowhere. And we talked a lot about this sense of like of experiencing a lot of different places and people and not just like building and building on building on the love that you have for like the complexity of what we are and the simplicity of what people are. And I think in many ways her using these saints or these stories as vehicles to explore like the diverse elements of what being a woman has meant throughout time, like currently and throughout time, allowed her to explore the complexity of like the different pieces of the feminine experience that live within her,

which I found to be extremely relatable. Like to be a woman on the earth now is not just to be one particular thing. Like it's to be what it has meant for a long time and it's also to be something new and it's currently constantly being redefined and reshaped. And so I think she does a really good job of exploring that in a lot of the songs. There's one in particular, Felix, I don't know if you remember this one. It's called Madrugan. She sings in Ukrainian, but I actually wrote down it has a very Arabic sound to it. And the lyrics that I clocked from it were at dawn,

I don't want revenge, revenge wants me. And I see this song as like being very much her moment of coming out of this realization of what the woman can be and acting that in a song. I mean, besides the use of the language, which the language, which, you know, the the flow, the syntax of the language itself is another instrument in her voice. It's just fascinating to hear the different ways that she approaches a large symphony orchestra. That's a key thing about this album, is there were so many ways that it could have gone wrong in terms of, I told you this.

The second I listened to it, I reached out to Tom Hisinga, our colleague, who covers classical. And I was like, okay, give it to me straight, Tom. Did she do it? Is this the real deal? Because it sounds like the real deal to me. And he was like, no, she did it amazingly. Like she used all these classical elements in a way that feels like natural and authentic and right. And even the way she sings it is really something that feels like it could fit. in a concert hall.

And I think that there are so many ways she could have sang just on top of a symphony or with a symphony, but she sings in partnership. I mean, the symphony harmonizes with her. Her voice is part of the symphony.

I think that's exceptional. Yeah, it's not Rosalia with strings. It's like the voice is part of, like you said, the symphony. One of my favorite tracks on the album is called Focus Ranie. And there's a part in there where she is truly in harmony

with the strings. One of the other things from your idea of knowing yourself. Isn't it that the most you understand yourself, the more you can see the other. Also, the more you can understand the other, also the more you can understand the other, the more you can see yourself and you understand better yourself. So, I think, at the more, when you're appreciating more your roots, and maybe I don't know, maybe somebody from Colombia is appreciating more now their folk music, the same way that I think also in my country,

I see so many people enjoying their folk music or their roots. I think that there's so much beauty in that. And by understanding where you come from who you are, the more you can appreciate and understand more what's around you and have more, your mind can expand, can see more. So this part was interesting to me because of when we covered Bad Bunny in his record, especially his leaning into Puerto Rico folk music, they're more or less the same age, early 30s.

They are. And as we talked about with Bad Bunny, it's pretty much they're on target with like what we all go through. I certainly went through. So many of us go through this where, okay, who am I? Where do I come from? You know, what are my cultural roots? What are my philosophical roots?

Like it's right on target, and this is, they're both using their incredible art for self-discovery. And she talks about that in the bite. And how people are going all over, all over. We talk about this all the time. People are digging into their roots, Colombian roots, Afro-Columbian, you know, Afro-Uroguayan, wherever, everybody, everybody's digging into their past to find out who they are in the present. I think yes and no, Felix.

I think you're right. There is a phenomenon that is happening. It's quite possible that you could say that the world, or at least the Spanish language world, is about coming of age in our collective early 30s, whatever, cultural early 30s. Because this is a phenomenon, like you said, that we've been tracking across Latin America

that is, or are the Spanish language, language world, really, that is this real interest into diving into where people come from, like we've said, more Mexicans listening to Mexican music, Colombians listening to Colombian music. I mean, it's a phenomenon that's happening all of these places. And specificity is king in that process. I think in the process of what is happening, the unification of a Spanish language world and the process of globalizing some of this music in an authentic way is being specific about where you're from and who you are and representing that authentically in your sound. And so

there's something to be said about artists that seem to be at the fore of this being around this age, that maybe they're perhaps in that exact right place of perspective of feeling about outside of their home and wanting to be more of a participant in it and also being at that stage in life of asking who am I, where am I from? And so there's a force. There's like an energy. I think I've said this even before on the show, but I always say like the best music is music that makes you remember something you had that you lost or long for something you never had that you wish you had. And I think that there's something about that age, the tension of either for a lot of these artists, I used to be closer to home and now I'm not. Or I'm looking for a certainty about who I am that I've never quite had.

And so I think it makes sense that they're leading this charge. But it's certainly something that I think is being felt in especially I think as people are losing their homes. It's being felt in a lot of part of the spend. language world. Well, this is what she said about it. Right now in 33, yes. I've experienced different things through all these years of traveling and being exposed to other music and being exposed to other ways, other cultures, and all of that I think I carry with me with so much love. And I'm like, I want this to be part of this album. And I really believe that I keep in the world and the world cab in me.

world and the world me I feel like hopefully my love is plural and it's infinite or at least

that's what I always try that everything can fit here because I know I can the same way I'm

I'm here and all can I explain this in a song and I tried that's why you can find

in la yugular that's what it's about like everything being connected with everything is connected with

all let's hear that tracks you mentioned This is La Yugular from Lux by Rosalia. Okay, there's much more to hear about this song. We're going to take a break, and then we're going to hear your thoughts, but also more from Rosalia on this song.

We'll be right back. And we're back. okay, this song in particular, La Yulac, encompasses so many different things, but also there's a substantial use of Arabic. And that was something really striking to me that I asked her about because I personally have this obsession with Arabic because of the way that you can express certain emotions that I don't think are available in other languages.

It's like there's so many ways to say, I love you, there's so many ways to say thank you, it's so poetic. And there's a depth to the expression. and I think that was something that she was really trying to get at in using a lot of these different languages. We talked about this idea, too, that in Islam, there's the sense of people were all one soul. She discusses what that meant to her,

and then also just like how the different parts, like the literal ways that these languages are vocalized or expressed, how they help connect us because of the humanness that lives in them. That's the inspiration behind, that song that's like studying from the Islam and being like, okay, so that's those foundations, that's the foundations of it. And then I was like,

how can I explain this on a song? How can I put this idea? It's so beautiful on a song. And also the language, I find it so interesting how much the air is important on how you use the air. Because at the end of the day, the breath, that's where all starts.

That's why in the beginning of the album, after that piano intro, the beginning is a breath. That's the first human sound on the album. And I find it so interesting, so beautiful that in in El Arabbe,

you can hear the use of air in such a special way. Which it taught me so much. I was struggling with recording in Arabic because I'm not used to use my throat like this, make this space,

and I don't even think that I got it right, but I've tried. That was my, That was my love letter to Arabic. It does feel Felix almost like her goal here was to pull together all of the elements of every culture and language and sound that felt like the most connective and put them into one album. Also sort of reminds me of the time that Resente made a record based on the results of his DNA test, where he went to different parts of the world where he has DNA roots. And then he recorded with musicians from those areas. And he was that, you know, he's Puerto Rican.

So it wasn't, he didn't go to Spain. He didn't go to Africa. He didn't go to the obvious places. He went to, like, Siberia and all these different places. And it sort of reminds me the same thing. And what she's talking about, it's like when you get down to it, you know, who knows what's in her DNA. But it's like, you know, I have Ashkenazi Jew and some of my DNA and some Arabic as well. You know, so just the nature of the history of the world and where people migrated and moved around,

I think that that's what she's trying to reflect her in this record. Okay, Felix. Do you have a favorite song? I'm asking this question, and I'm not answering it, by the way. You don't have to answer it. I do for a lot of different reasons, but let's hear a little bit of it. This is Myo Christi Piagi Diamante. So I totally messed it up.

To me, del Cá, we're my rea, to me, to me, a true imprudent, I think when I

recoggy, the of your la creme, and a to a front to to me,

this is one of the tracks that encapsulates, I think everything she was trying to do. The artistry of her voice just captures, where she is in this moment in her career, in her life, and her development as a vocalist and as an artist. Well, she told me she trained an entire year just to sing this song.

And I think that's representative of all of the ways that she's trying to really, like, properly embody some of these things. When I talked to Tom, he was like, she does these technical things that are literally, like, what you would hear in a proper opera. Like that part where she's singing kind of softly, says it's called mesavoche. It's like half voice. And you're singing, it's like where the singer is using their diaphragm and they're singing

really softly, but you can hear it all the way in the back, in the rafters. In the back of the opera hall. But it's like somehow there's this softness to it. And then the talking singing part, it's like what you do in an aria when you're kind of trying to tell a connective part of the story. They call it a recidative. And he's like, she does that too. It's like there's all these really like proper technical things that she's able to do well.

And it was funny, Felix, because I. We talked about this. Like last time I had talked to her years before, she had told me that it was her grandma's dream that she would sing Pavarotti. And there she is. Bullie, singing like she's freaking Pavarotti. It's incredible.

Okay. And that was one of the best parts of the interview because she had a voicemail from her grandmother in Catalan when she heard the record. So let's hear that part of the interview where her grandmother's talking about a specific song called Verghain, but also about her vocal performance

on the entire record. Check this out. If you want, maybe I can play for you the audio. Because she's so funny. Can I have my phone? Can I have my phone? I have it here. Please, I need to hear this.

Let me find my grandma's message because I woke up today at 4 in the morning because I had so much gelac. I woke up with something really nice, which was this message. I've listened to the first disc, and the nina, has changed the style, total. Oh, she's so funny.

Basically, she's saying, like, I heard your new song, and I loved it. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. She's laughing a lot that I'm doing this now because I think she didn't see it coming. Yes, when I was a kid. Yeah. I remember she would have a lot of records,

Pavarotti records in her place, and she would always be a little bit like kind of like singing while she was like washing dishes or whatever. She would always be like, you know, singing a little bit or whistling. And so it's funny to me, because it stuck with me. Yeah.

That she would say that, you know, okay, you're studying flamenco, that's amazing, that's very difficult, but... When you're ready. But... When you're ready. The real deal for her was the classical music and classical trained voices.

And so it stuck with me. And I was like, okay, one day, I'm going to make a song that my grandma's going to be like, ah, okay, now see. Okay, putting you on the spot, man. Aye, fee, por favor. One song.

I really can't. Oh, my God. Come on. Okay, this one is not my favorite, but it makes me freaking cry laughing every time just because the lyrics to me are hysterical. La Perla, which is she does in kind of a Mexican style, and she does with Yerica,

the Yerita and Su Esencia. Oh, la. Laudron de Pazte. Every line on the song Every line on this song is just like a complete take down. It's like the chorus is the local disappointment national heartbreaker, an emotional terrorist, the greatest disaster in the world. He's a pearl. No one trusts him. He's a pearl one to be careful with.

Like, every single line is this crazy zinger about, I don't know who. It's amazing. It's like, she reaches that moment in the record where she's just like, let me just take down men. They're worth nothing. Obviously, Anna, we could go for hours and hours talking about this record. We sort of did on text. But, you know, we got to bring this to a close. I'm wondering if you have any final thoughts. I spent a lot of time. with this record. The first time I listened to it, I think I listened three times through. I was up to, like, I don't know what time. Just listening, listening, listening, reading all the lyrics.

Took a long time to, like, really absorb those. It feels very personal to me. Like, it's this masterpiece of a... Personal to you. Personal to me. Like, I think it's this masterpiece of an art, and it feels like her. And it also, for me, yes, feels like something that I really understand. It feels like a, a, a, a, a complex summation of what it means to be a woman right now. It made me feel things about that and understand things about that that I didn't before. I'm very curious to see how the music world and fans in industry approach and accept this record. Because for all intents and purposes, Rosalia is a pop star. And in addition to listening to this record, I was listening to a lot of her earlier.

I was listening to their first two records. and she's redefined it. This is what great artists do. She's redefined what it means to be a pop musician. And maybe even beyond that, like shed that skin. Like now this is just, to me, this is just strictly art. And there's none of the trappings that go along with it to try to get, you know, what's the single? It's always been for time and more, okay, listen to a record.

What's the single? The single's a whole album. and its approach to art and music and life that just really, it touched me in really profound ways. But one of the things that she said, and I want to wind this up, because it goes back to how I started my analysis today, by her talking about other artists,

but she's actually also talking about herself. My favorite artist, they are vessels. They are something that can shift and that they can embody different things. Because, yeah, I think that's what it is all about. And at the same time, I want to stay flexible enough to explain different stories depending on the moment. And, yeah, I think that's how I understand being a musician and being an artist. Does it ever end?

No, I don't think so. And I hope it never does. There really is much more to save you on that. So I think we should just maybe hear a little bit more music before we close us out. We got to close it on the last song, Magnolias. well. The executive producer of NPR music is Saraya Mohamed. The executive director of NPR music is Sonali Meta. You can read extended highlights of Ana's interview with Rosalea at nprmusek.org. We've also put a link to it in the show description. I'm Felix Contreras. And I'm Anna Maria Sayer.

Thank you for listening.