Released in 2018, Rosalía’s second studio album, El Mal Querer, which translates into “The Bad Desire/Love,“ is an experimental flamenco pop album with a strong Arabic influence in the singing. Rosalía was a classically trained musician but began to experiment with genre-bending and is now locally known as the “Princess of Spain.” To attempt to make a very long story short, the album was based off of a 15th century story entitled Flamenca—the story of an immensely jealous husband who locks his beautiful wife in a tower and abuses her in fear of losing her.
I could go on a 30-page rant about how incredible Rosalía’s songwriting and innovation in production are. The ability to mix: flamenco handclaps, motorcycle revving, melismas, vocoders, synths, and reggaeton beats is absolutely next level. Yet, it gets even better when we experience how she uses these tools to further the storyline. The climax of the album, De Aquí No Sales, takes the best parts of every song and put them together. The use of the motorcycle revving in place for traditional flamenco claps and raw, emotional singing make the song’s message come through even if the listener doesn’t understand Spanish. The song’s lyrics goes through many tactics that abusers use to guilt their victims and the melodic line is much more aggressive and in-your-face than the previous songs. Overall, El Mal Querer utilized a myriad of genres and hyperlocal techniques to create an eclectic and distinct-to-Rosalía vibe.