Rosalia

Catalan singer-songwriter Rosalia Vila i Tobella debuted with an album of covers before becoming a pop start with Malamente, the slow ballad (a sort of anemic flamenco) off El Mal Querer/ The Bad Loving (2018), produced by Pablo "El Guincho" Diaz-Reixa and boasting other elegant examples of soul-flamenco fusion (Pienso en tu Mira'), followed by a reggaeton collaboration with J Balvin, Con Altura (2019).

Motomami (2022) nods at all the fashionable genres of the time: neosoul (Hentai, produced by Pharrell Williams and Noah Goldstein), reggaeton (Saoko, one of her signature songs), bachata (La Fama, a duet with the Weeknd), soul, dembow, bolero, salsa and jazz. But she rises above the fray mainly in the a-cappella songs: the flamenco-folk chant Buleria and the melodrama Sakura.

Eager to gain recognition as a high-brow artist, she concocted the classical crossover concept Lux (2025), structured as a four-movement song cycle devoted to female Christian saints and sung in 13 languages. The music was shaped by an army of songwriters and producers, notably Noah Goldstein, Dylan Wiggins and classical composers Caroline Shaw and Angelica Negron. However, the result is underwhelming. No matter how grandiose, theatrical and cinematic the arrangements become, this "avant-garde" orchestral pop It rarely rises above old-fashioned kitsch muzak: Berghain (where Vivaldi-esque strings segue into an Orff-esque choir which segues into operatic vocals), Reliquia (an orchestral melodrama with again operatic vocals) and Porcelana (rapping over disjointed orchestra and choir). The humbler songs might actually work better Or at least don't raise unattainable expectations: the flamenco-tinged Dios es un Stalker, the Shakira-esque La Rumba Del Perdon and the moving elegy Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti. Mov I Sexo, Violencia Y Llantas Reliquia Divinize Porcelana Mio Cristo Mov II Berghain La Perla Mundo Nuevo De Madrugá Mov III Dios Es Un Stalker La Yugular Focu ‘Ranni Sauvignon Blanc Jeanne Mov IV Novia Robot La Rumba Del Perdón Memória Magnolias