LUX BY ROSALIA OR HOW TO PUT EFFORT IN CREATING AND RELEASE A MUSICAL STATEMENT
When “Malamente” dropped back in 2018 we did not have any idea of what was about to come, we just could see that ROSALÍA was one of our most promising pop stars in years. She showed us a multifaceted music style reflecting her flamenco studies at ESMUC in Barcelona and a curated aesthetic vision that fused everything that is known to be Spaniard with a contemporary sense of the youth; that resulted in “El Mal Querer” an album that redefined the idea of what can be done coming from Spain, how a national proposal can resonate internationally. Before that she dropped in collaboration with Raül Refree “Los Ángeles” a compilation of different flamenco songs inspired by death and it sorrows that provoked lots of criticism; and after her second album, “MOTOMAMI” arrived as an eclectic mix of songs that refuse to think of music as compartmental boxes, but as creative and experimental reasons to serve conceptual and clear messages.
With LUX there is a sense of wanting to get international in a whole new level; by mixing 14 different languages in the same album, recording all songs in collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra (putting lot of emphasis on the classical musical aspect of it all, rejecting to be urban this time) or featuring a range of mesmerizing voices from established artists like Carminho, Bjork or Estrella Morente and form upcoming artists like Yahritza. There is a sensation that this is a huge compilation, not of references like in her previous project, but of effort to rewrite the idea of what is to make an album in 2025 with all the resources that can provide a major like Sony, to an artist that is ruling the actual fashion and music space.
With this project, she has achieved the strongest world debut of her career. A giant amount of stream and sales that have evolved into getting the nuncore to the whole world, with an album that relies heavily on hagiographies and convent aesthetic to get across a statement of freedom and the power of research. Throughout the album we can see how this idea developed, from Reliquia’s understanding of how blessed the artist is to the confrontation in Magnolia with the idea of death, considering every knife wound that life has dealt you until you reach your goals. Berghain served as a great single, resulting in one of the most sonically avant-garde releases for the masses in years and returning to Nicolás Méndez’s direction for an unforgettable music video produced by CANADÁ. We find certain elements from previous projects across the selection of songs that the artists elaborated over three years: Mundo Nuevo as a vocal remembrance of El Mal Querer, the MOTOMAMI’s straight-forward thinking of a composition like Porcelana (with raunchy vocals from Dougie F and sharp lyrics from the artist herself) and the reinterpretation of a Flamenco genre in La Rumba del Perdón with Estrella Morente and Silvia Pérez Cruz as traditional examples of this genre; just like she did in her debut.
Since she finished her MOTOMAMI Music Festival Tour in July 2023, we had so little knowledge of her moves regarding her next project. We just been knowing that she is going to make an appearance as a character in the next season of Euphoria (due to Sam Levinson’s obsession with her persona and her relationships with some of the other cast members); her look in collaboration with Balmain, under the creative direction of Olivier Rousteing, for the Met Gala 2025 was also a big thing this year; but what really conducted the international media attention to her was being named the global ambassador of New Balance and her protagonist paper in the latest campaign of Calvin Klein, after Bad Bunny breaking the internet due to his hotness.
Here you can find the list of cities that this tour is going to stop by, let’s secure one or two tickets before locals find their way in. Let’s show up for our rights to be standard-bearers of the Rosalía movement from its beginnings, before she defended her graduation thesis. In the picture below you can find the list of the different dates and places she will be performing during 2026 (a festival tour for 2027 is awaiting for us, maybe a Coachella headline gig????).
We hope to feel in this tour what selected fans got to feel in the listening parties, spiritual and intimate spaces where opulent and angelical white (or Cloud Dancer, as Pantone called its colour of the year for 2026) contrast with the rawness of the album’s lyrics or her previous work; a tension that I want to see resolve in a curated wardrobe that reflect what we are going through in terms of creative directors, more than one different outfit for show in custom Kering and LVMH brands, without forgetting an stellar appearance of Julie Kegels (in which last show she started the communication for this era) or ALAINPAUL (the infamous restricting garment that she is wearing in the cover of the album with a nun’s headdress). We want to experience a catharsis of emotions in which religion meets urban signifiers, where a live orchestra plays a reggaeton hit like CON ALTURA.
See you in Madrid (and maybe more cities???)
Words: @alraco43