No Majesty Music Profiles takes a look at artists’ careers from start to present, with the aim of documenting their impact on music culture.
From failing a talent show to working endlessly in her craft, Rosalía could perhaps be seen as another inspirational icon who has encouraged a modern take on traditional Spanish music.
It seems to be getting harder and more pressurising for artists in the 21st century to become icons of the music industry. Yes, there are many successful musicians, but truly iconic and legendary? Not as many. When we think of the most successful musicians ever, we believe fresh, extraordinary, impactful. These are the things that make a truly revolutionary artist.
Take Lana Del Rey for example. Her style is sad and depressing, but she makes it look appealing and cool, portraying a sort of nostalgic teen raised in the ’30s. Though several artists have emulated her style, we can say she inspired this theme by merging genres in her work such as indie pop and rock and bringing the vintage and nostalgic vibe to it, kick-starting the sad pop genre.
Rosalía has now been added to this list of revolutionary artists, as demonstrated by several milestones including her nomination for Best New Artist at the 18th Grammy Awards, and the many high praises she has gotten by other iconic musicians worldwide including the own Queen of Pop, Madonna.
Born in small-town Sant Esteve Sesrovires, near Barcelona, Rosalía didn’t have it easy breaking through into the music industry. The 26-year-old star worked hard to get where she is at, and her talent was mostly built through countless hours of practice rather than something that came naturally to her.
Music was clearly her dream, as at the age of eleven years old she devoted all of her time to it. Her music career properly started when she was around 14 or 15 years old, which is when she began to combine studying music with performing on stage. It was also around this time when she decided to attend Spanish TV talent show Tú Sí Que Vales.
In the end, she was not selected, and was told by judges that she “had lots of potential but did not yet know how to bring it out.” This did not discourage Rosalía however, it actually pushed her to want to do better, and she was quick to tell judges that it was okay, and that she had joined the talent show to learn from professionals like them.
After not getting far in the competition, she attended the academy Taller de Músics in Barcelona, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in flamenco and music production. Her high grades and various recommendations enabled her to eventually move on to the Superior School of Music of Catalonia, where she received lessons from prestigious flamenco teacher Chiqui de La Línea, who only accepted one student per year.
In an interview with El País, Chiqui de La Línea talked about the seven years that Rosalía spent studying with him. He revealed how, at first, she had absolutely no clue of Flamenco genre – which happens to be the genre her music is mostly inspired by. “She had listened to it and fell in love with the sound while listening with her friends. She then decided that she wanted to learn about the genre, she searched, and she found me.” De La Línea says how Rosalía is an artist who “has left a significant print”, he mentions how she is a “highly intelligent girl and a fast learner with character, hard-working, disciplined and a talent that is hard to find.”
She is a perfect example of a flower grown from the concrete. Despite how hard it has become to be a truly unique musician, Rosalía has clearly shown that she is a big deal, as she was able to break the mould and create something wholly new and unexpected.
With her unique style and genre, her album El Mal Querer, which she revealed to be her college thesis, quickly became a phenomenon that made her one of the most famous and revolutionary Spanish singers of all time. It was after the release of El Mal Querer through Sony Music, that artists and prominent figures including Pharrell Williams, Dua Lipa and Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóbar started noticing Rosalía and began praising the star for her breath-taking talent and unique masterpiece.
But what makes Rosalía one of a kind, and what is so unique about her sound? The answer is simple. Even though there are thousands of Spanish artists, such as Flamenco idol Camarón De La Isla, who have brought in the sounds of traditional Flamenco genre into their music, Rosalía was the very first artist ever to modernise the genre completely by using its roots and fusing it with the sounds of urban and Latin music, along with other genres, making the sounds of Flamenco more appreciated worldwide.
Yes, traditional Flamenco has been there longer than Rosalía has. Critics have been quick to call her out for cultural appropriation and the flamenco influence in her music. Still, it can’t be denied that the star’s way of modernising the genre has made its audience expand beyond Spain, with more young people like myself acknowledging and appreciating the genre of Flamenco worldwide – this is amazing. Not that Flamenco wasn’t always a beautiful genre, but it had its niche until Rosalía came through and changed that, turning more people to recognise the genre.
Her latest album El Mal Querer – which followed from previous album Los ángeles – is a work of art, with a mysterious and abstract concept surrounding the idea of problematic love, or “almost like a Greek tragedy” as the artist herself explains. The tracks come with chapter numbers and subtitles, and it is its ambiguity and unique sound that makes Rosalía and her work be seen as “the calling card of a unique new talent”, able to grip listeners without the need to understand a word.
In an interview with MTV Music which introduced Rosalía as an artist, she explained her journey with discovering music as something she loved from when she was only nine years old when her parents gifted her with a guitar. She began playing and quickly realised how much she enjoyed it, which pushed her to study music for what has been most of her life.
During the 19th Latin Grammys, she was asked by a presenter: “Did you imagine that things were going to pan out this way for you?”, to which she responded: “I would tell you that I have wanted it so much and put so much effort in and so many years of devotion, that at the end this is simply a confirmation that dedication always gets you to a good place.”
Rosalía could perhaps teach many upcoming artists an important lesson: if it wasn’t for her breaking all the rules by being experimental with her sound, and working her ass off without desisting, she wouldn’t have become the sensational, ground-breaking and award-winning artist she is today.
