When she’s not hanging out with the youngest of the Kardashians clan, Kylie Jenner, she’s making collabs with the cosmetics billionaire’s ex, Travis Scott.
Born in Barcelona, the 26-year-old dancer/singer/songwriter/producer has been described often as an avant-pop music artist. Her modern interpretations of flamenco, have seen her rise to fame particularly in spring of 2018, with her single Malamente, which landed her five Latin Grammy nominations and a performance at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
Her love for music began at the early age of seven, when she would sing along with her father - of Andalusian decent (which would later explain her passion for flamenco-inspired music). She then began to dedicate herself to music and receive formal training as a 13-year-old, when she discovered Spanish Romani flamenco singer Camarón de la Isla.
She was on the way to stardom at the age of 16, when she kick-started her professional musical formation at Taller de Músics in Barcelona, where she did a 6-year course before being transferred to the Superior School of Music of Catalonia.There she received private one-to-one lessons with the flamenco singer Chiqui de La Linea.
Rosalia started to then make appearances on television shows and multiple film festivals such as the Panama International Film Festival (2013) and at the Festival Grec de Barcelona for the contemporary dance work De Carmen. She also worked with clothing brand Desigual and sang the single for their 2015 campaign jingle "Last Night Was Eternal". She spent most of her teenage years and early twenties, performing in musical bars and weddings before then going on to work as a flamenco teacher.
In 2016, she released her first studio album, Los Ángeles, a rendered version of traditional flamenco songs. The album was awarded “Album of the Year” at the Time Out Awards and the Ruido de la Prensa Award for Best National Record, among others.
Although her career is said to have taken off when she collaborated with former boyfriend at the time, Spanish rapper C. Tangana on “Antes de Morirme” (2016), a song featured on the soundtrack of the first season of Spanish Netflix show Elite (2018).
But other music critics may argue that her gaining momentum - and international attention - has without (a) doubt been favoured by her evolving to a more urban reggaeton sound. In 2017 she began recording songs for her second studio album, El Mal Querer at the same time that J Balvin was releasing his fifth studio album, Vibras. The two linked up and made way to Brillo, a sparkling reggaeton ballad which earned five Latin Grammy nominations, out of which Rosalía won two; one for Best Alternative Song and another one for Best Urban Fusion/Performance.
As if Brillo hadn’t indulged us enough, last year Balvin and Rosalia decided to smash it again, this time with a more playful reggaeton banger Con altura, described by her as a personal tribute to classic reggaeton. The music video, which won two MTV Video Music Awards for Best Latin and Best Choreography, became the most-viewed music video by a female artist of 2019, ranking the 5th on the list of Billboard’s 100 Best Songs of 2019.
And then it was back to (romantic) reggaeton with Yo X Ti, Tu X Mi featuring Puerto Rican reggaeton artist Ozuna; a flirtatious song - and video - fusion of reggaeton, flamenco and electronic sounds.
It is clear that whether she's singing flamenco, reggaeton or pop, her long flamboyant nails and often controversial imagery, have become a symbol of female empowerment within pop culture. She definitely is one hell of a - female- artist!
