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Pop’s latest breakout is a hip-hop-loving, boundary-busting, genre-defying Spanish flamenco sensation. Behold: Rosaliavt, the future of music:
When the flamenco-influenced singer Rosalía was growing up in Barcelona, she would imagine entire worlds full of intrigue and excitement for her dolls. “I had big dreams for my Barbies,” Rosalía, 26, told me on a cloudy morning in late August, as we had breakfast in the patio restaurant of her hotel in downtown Manhattan.
She was wearing a red knit ensemble by Escada consisting of a cropped long-sleeve sweater that showed off her bare midriff, wide-leg pants accented by a gold chain belt, and sky-high platforms. As always, her nails were very long and vividly adorned, this time with black sequins that sparkled despite the gloomy weather. In contrast, Rosalía’s face, which looks instantly theatrical when she’s wearing her signature red lipstick, was freshly scrubbed and makeup-free, and her hair was still damp from a shower. As she ate her scrambled eggs and steamed spinach, she looked both sophisticated and childlike. “I would always change my Barbies,” Rosalía, whose full name is Rosalía Vila Tobella, continued, in accented English. “I’d cut their hair, paint on tattoos, and create new clothes for them. I would invent elaborate stories: fights, dramas, successes. I would try out my ideas on them.” She smiled. “And sometimes they would sing!” By the time she was 8, Rosalía put the dolls away and started singing herself. One evening, her parents, who work in construction and are not musical, asked her to perform at dinner. “I didn’t really know any songs,” Rosalía recalled, “so it was just ‘La, la, la, la, la.’ I shut my eyes and was making up this melody. When I opened my eyes, my whole family was crying. It sounds strange, but at that moment I knew what I wanted to do with my life.”Photograph by Willy Vanderperre; Styled by Katie Grand. Hair by Syd Hayes for BaByliss and BaBylissPro at Art + Commerce; Makeup by Hiromi Ueda for Chanel at Art + Commerce; Manicure by Chisato Yamamoto at David Artists. Set design by Julia Dias at the Wall Group. Produced by Ragi Dholakia at Ragi Dholakia Productions; Production Coordinator: May Powell; Photography Assistants: Romain Dubus, Benjamin Coppola, Jared Beck; Digital Technician: Henri Coutant; Retouching: Stéphane Virlogeux; Fashion Assistants: Oliver Volquardsen, Julia Veitch; Gianmarco Rosati; Production Assistants: Jordan Kilford, Nina Parsons; Hair Assistants: Paula McCash, Makoto Hayashi; Makeup Assistant: Libby James; Set Assistant: Steph Webb; Tailor: Allison Bullock. Rosalía looked over at her day-to-day manager, Cayetana Smith, who was helping with any translation questions, and said something to her in Spanish about needing a coat or a scarf or both. “I can’t afford to get sick,” Rosalía explained, lightly touching her throat. Since releasing her breakthrough single and video, “Malamente,” in May 2018, she has been on an international whirlwind, playing high-profile concerts from
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