Introduction
2023; University of North Carolina Press; Volume: 63; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/rmc.2023.a919719
ISSN2165-7599
AutoresN. Michelle Murray, Rosalía Cornejo-Parriego,
ResumoIntroduction N. Michelle Murray and Rosalía Cornejo-Parriego Rosalía Vila Tobella (1992—present; henceforth, "Rosalía") exploded onto the international pop music scene in 2018 with her sophomore album El mal querer (henceforth, EMQ), a follow-up to her debut Los ángeles (2017). EMQ finds its origins in the thirteenth-century novel Flamenca (itself wholly unrelated to the homonymous musical genre). In fact, new editions of the anonymous medieval text would begin to bear the unfortunate label of "la novela que ha inspirado El mal querer de Rosalía" along with the description of "un clásico feminista del s. xiii" (Llanos Martínez). EMQ was Rosalía's thesis for completing the requirements for graduation with the degree of Título Superior de Flamenco from the Escuela Superior de Música de Cataluña. The artist explains the background of her conceptual album in the following way: "Cuenta la vida de una mujer que se casó con un hombre. Y por celos ese hombre la presiona. Hay una inspiración en el tema de la novela, pero el disco va hacia otro lado" (qtd. in Sánchez Hidalgo). As this quote suggests, EMQ is extremely innovative: we see the tremendous force of the album as a reconceptualization of the flamenco genre with urban and pop influences, a feminist stance on love in the twenty-first century, and the figure of Rosalía as an artist fashioning—in every sense of the word— a unique image and moment within the world music scene. In a now viral video, popular Spanish YouTuber Jaime Altozano asserts, "Sin duda Rosalía es una de las cosas más interesantes que ha salido de la música española recientemente, pero hay muchas más propuestas muy intrigantes. No es un fenómeno aislado, forma parte de una generación (la millenial) con mucho talento" (qtd. in Sánchez Hidalgo).1 Indeed, the Spanish musical scene has presented numerous talented singers in recent years, many [End Page 247] of whom share a similar flamenco-inspired sound. For example, Madridbased singer-songwriter, C. Tangana (born Antón Álvarez Alfaro, 1990—present), an artist who also mixes trap, Latin pop, flamenco, and reggaetón, participated in the NPR TinyDesk concert series in 2021, obtaining 25 million views, making it the most watched clip of that year and one of the most celebrated offerings in the series' history (Net). While there are many alluring Spanish artists lighting up the global stage, Rosalía's impact is undeniable. Rosalía was the most watched woman on YouTube in 2019 (Di Iorio). And, as of November 2023, she has 28.1 million Instagram followers, and she has won 12 Latin Grammy Awards and 1 Grammy Award. While she sings exclusively in Spanish, she nevertheless dominates the American cultural scene, having the only Spanish language song on former President Barack Obama's 2019 summer playlist and being the first woman to perform entirely in Spanish on Saturday Night Live in that show's 47-season history. Curated social media posts showcasing her friendships with reality television stars like the Kardashians and Jenners and collaborations with North American pop stars like The Weeknd and Travis Scott have only increased her notoriety. Rosalía has also transformed into a veritable object of cultural critique and academic interest. In 2021, riffing off the title of EMQ, Jorge Carrión edited a collection entitled La Rosalía. Ensayos sobre el buen querer with the participation of an exciting group of Spanish scholars who discuss diverse issues related to Rosalía and her oeuvre—feminism, quinqui cinema, her musical experimentation, and more. Rosalía herself closes out the volume with her own interpretations of herself. Building upon global popular and academic interest in the Catalan singer, The Rosalía Effect is a special issue of Romance Notes that analyzes Rosalía as a phenomenon to examine both conceptualizations of Spain in contemporary culture and the impact of music in forging said culture. Bringing together diverse academic voices to interrogate these topics, this collection takes Rosalía as a point of departure to explore matters of cosmopolitanism and cultural purity, fashion and appropriation...
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