usually sings in, and from there we developed
my verse. Within minutes, he wrote his verse,
added a few details. I couldn’t believe it.
You also teased a collaboration with Billie
Eilish on social media earlier this year.
What can you share about it?
When I released “Malamente,” Billie was one
of the first huge artists who shared the video.
She has been there from the onset. Then, when
I was working with Frank Dukes in Los Ange-
les, Billie and I had a session together, totally
independent from her other projects. We wrote
with her at the piano. We created a great idea
for a song and had a great time.
“Aute Cuture,” which you released in May,
is another very different track for you — it
has the hand claps of flamenco but a lot of
pop elements, too.
Pablo asked me to work on some beats for a
big artist with him. When I started to write the
chords, it was so clear: The beat had to be mine!
I wrote the toplines a few weeks later while
I danced. It’s the first time I have done that,
where the movement inspired the toplines.
You have said that you learned to dance
before you learned to sing. What role does
movement usually have in your work and
your live show?
From 13 to 23, I only did music and left dance
to the side. I got used to singing sitting down
because that’s what happens in traditional
flamenco. But in this particular show, move-
ment is important. I made the choreography
with Charm La’Donna [who has worked with
Madonna and Britney Spears]. I wanted to
put her in the same room with Ana Nuñez, a
flamenco dancer from Barcelona whom I was
studying with at the time, and figure out how
we could create a live show that was inspired
by flamenco and also urban music.
How did you and Charm start working
together?
The little money I had at the time I wanted to
put into the music and the live show, so I con-
tacted her through Instagram and said, “This
is what I can pay.” She said yes. This woman I
had never met came to Spain to work with me.
After about five days of rehearsals, my sister
and I asked her, “Honestly, how is it possible
that someone of your level came to us?” And
she said she felt God had told her she needed
to be there. It’s as if she had the intuition of
what could happen if we worked together.
Tell me about your spirituality.
I always pray, in my way, before taking the
stage. I feel we all have a task in life — a path, a
destiny. Before I perform, I try to connect with
my body. I give thanks for the possibility of
performing and sharing with others. I always
try to reconnect with that intention: to be at
the service of the music.
A CHANCE DISCOVERY. A BIDDING WAR. A YOUTUBE BOOST. INSIDE ROSALÍA’S RAPID RISE
I
N THE SUMMER OF 2017, ROSALÍA —
then a rising star in the tradition-bound world
of flamenco — sat on a stool and, accompa-
nied only by a guitarist, played an intimate
acoustic set at a Madrid festival. At the time,
she had attracted critics’ attention in Spain with her
independently released, Universal- distributed debut
album, Los Ángeles.
The festival audience was small, but it included
two big names in Latin music: singer-songwriter
Bebe and her superstar friend Juanes, who was
so impressed by Rosalía that he invited her to
perform with him in Madrid later that year. He was
far from her only fan: Rosalía was already talking
to labels including Universal and Sony, and Sony
Music Spain president José María Barbat was
especially enthralled.
“He called and said: ‘I have an artist who is going
to drive you crazy. Her name is Rosalía,’ ” recalls Afo
Verde, chairman/CEO of Sony Music Latin Iberia.
Verde didn’t see Rosalía in person until months later,
at the Latin Academy’s Person of the Year event in
November 2017. She participated in a tribute to Ale-
jandro Sanz (another prominent fan of hers), accom-
panied by a string orchestra playing an arrangement
Rosalía herself had commissioned.
That crowd was immediately smitten — a com-
mon reaction from the many artists and execs who
have observed Rosalía’s charisma up close and then
immediately lent their support, spurring her uncom-
monly fast rise. Juanes’ manager, Rebeca León, saw
Rosalía’s sound check for her Madrid performance
with Juanes and was struck by her self-assurance
both onstage and off as she worked with the concert
production staff (especially since at that point Rosalía
was unsigned and did not have management). A few
months later, she took her on as a client. “I didn’t
know what the hell she was going to do next,” recalls
León. “But I knew I wanted to know.”
By early 2018, Rosalía had recorded “Malamente”
as the first single for what would become her next
album, El Mal Querer. “She was very convinced
about these songs, even though they didn’t sound
like anything else out there,” says León. Rosalía was
close to signing with Sony Music Spain, but León
wanted her to release “Malamente” by May to make
Latin Grammy submission deadlines. She went to
YouTube’s global head of artist relations, Vivien
Lewit, who says she was “immediately mesmerized
by Rosalía’s voice and presence in her visuals.”
Lewit signed her “on the spot” to YouTube’s Foundry
international artist development program, providing
Rosalía with funding for the “Malamente” video,
along with tools to build a fan base on the platform.
(“Malamente” ultimately earned three Latin Gram-
my nominations and two wins.)
Just a month later, on June 15, Rosalía arranged
her own appearance at Barcelona’s Sonar (tradi-
tionally an EDM-centric festival), where Barbat and
his entire team watched her, entranced. “It was
like witnessing the apparition of the Virgin [Mary],”
he says today. “This artist took the flamenco and
music scene by storm.” He sent a video of the
performance to Verde, who in turn passed it to
Sony Music CEO Rob Stringer; he invited Rosalía
to perform at the company’s global convention in
New York that September.
“There was interest, frankly, from all our labels,”
says Jenifer Mallory, executive vp/GM for Columbia
Records. While Rosalía sang in Spanish, “we saw a
huge global opportunity. She represents a new face
of pop. Between Lizzo and Billie Eilish and the peo-
ple owning American culture right now ... there has
to be an edge, a uniqueness.” With multiple labels
interested, says León, “at some point, we just had to
make a decision. Columbia seemed to be the right
fit. They really understand the flamenco side of her,
and they’ve taken the time to immerse themselves
in that part of the culture.”
Ultimately, Columbia and Sony Music Latin
entered a joint venture to release El Mal Querer
in November 2018. León, meanwhile, connected
Rosalía with agent Samantha Kirby Yoh at WME,
who immediately booked her for major festivals in
2019, including Lollapalooza in Latin America and
Coachella in the United States.
“We have seen these [tipping-point] moments
before, but never quite like this,” says Mallory. “Peo-
ple feel ownership over her. The word-of-mouth
around this project is so powerful — it’s a quality
that artists would die for.” Indeed, Verde was at first
a bit worried by how fast things were moving for
Rosalía. In October, Sony had arranged a live show
in London “in a space that fit 1,000 to 1,500,” recalls
Verde. “The next day, they told me 1,500 people had
been left outside.”
When El Mal Querer came out last November,
it debuted at No. 1 on the Latin Pop Albums chart.
And though Rosalía has yet to score mainstream
success on the level of male contemporaries like
J Balvin and Ozuna (who have both collaborated
with her and, along with Bad Bunny, frequently
gush over her on Instagram), her label is treating
her as a global superstar and investing accordingly.
Her first solo shows in Spain arenas, scheduled for
December, sold out in hours. But she and her team
are keeping a relatively low profile — agreeing to
only select collabs and a limited number of shows
— as she prepares to record her second Columbia
album (and third overall). “We’re not going to rush,”
says Mallory. “We are investing in the long-term
future of Rosalía.” —L.C.
Rosalía (center) at
Coachella in Indio,
Calif., on April 19.
OCTOBER 12, 2019 • WWW.BILLBOARD.COM 53
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