Took me a few listens to hear, absorb, and appreciate everything going on on this album -- it's ridiculously cool. Opener "Saoko" really sets the tone; here, let's put a jazz piano interlude in a 2:17 pop song that interpolates a Wisin & Daddy Yankee track.
― Indexed, Monday, 9 May 2022 15:37 (two years ago) link
I'm warming up to Motomami, especially on the strength of G3 N15, consecutive to the fun Bizcochito and the fragile feminine beauty and preciousness that contrast her vulgar vocals on Hentai in the middle of the album. The apparent sketchiness of the short songs hide flashes of brilliance, and the fragmentation and attention to detail at least keep you on your toes, even if the overall result is still not totally convincing me. There is a lot more flamenco influence than I thought at first... so I actually see some kind of continuation with El Mal Querer now, even if we are far from a thesis on a medieval romance.
― Nabozo, Thursday, 16 June 2022 12:47 (one year ago) link
I also like the way her vocals detach themselves completely from the background many times
― Nabozo, Thursday, 16 June 2022 12:58 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQiGqGMT8i4
― butt-mooning is a polysemous word, hoss! (breastcrawl), Thursday, 16 June 2022 13:31 (one year ago) link
video not available in my country :(
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 16 June 2022 15:26 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2ESxHKuSOk
new single is fun
― ufo, Thursday, 28 July 2022 07:00 (one year ago) link
most definitely!
― big movers, hot steppers + long shaker intros (breastcrawl), Thursday, 28 July 2022 11:48 (one year ago) link
my favourite single of hers in quite a while
― ufo, Thursday, 28 July 2022 11:53 (one year ago) link
Like it as well. Previously performed as Lao Lao as part of her reggaeton medleys.
― Nabozo, Saturday, 13 August 2022 19:54 (one year ago) link
no loessless anywhere :(
― (grim) pump track (wales) (map), Saturday, 13 August 2022 20:11 (one year ago) link
amazing song
― groovemaaan, Friday, 26 August 2022 00:58 (one year ago) link
there’s a deluxe version of Motomami out, which includes the new single, a remix and a live version, plus a few new songs, of which “Aislamiento” sounds like the highlight on first listen.
― big movers, hot steppers + long shaker intros (breastcrawl), Monday, 12 September 2022 10:24 (one year ago) link
her show that she's doing on tour right now is incredible. 90 mins straight thru, mostly motomami songs w/ some others peppered in & a really chic but fun set design. i'm hard pressed to think of many current artists who provide the same combination of experimentalism w/in the context of pop, pure raw vocal & performance talent, and modernist visual/aesthetic sense.
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 20 September 2022 20:21 (one year ago) link
seeing her this Friday, v excited
― Murgatroid, Tuesday, 20 September 2022 20:40 (one year ago) link
j0rd otm
― Murgatroid, Saturday, 24 September 2022 03:40 (one year ago) link
She's in DC tonight & alas I have a conflict and can't attend.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 26 September 2022 16:45 (one year ago) link
you should de-conflict because that show was one of the best large-scale shows i've been to in recent memory
― Murgatroid, Monday, 26 September 2022 17:37 (one year ago) link
Still bummed I had to miss it. Have checked out some video clips on IG that show her impressive choreography, vocals, music, etc
― curmudgeon, Friday, 30 September 2022 16:53 (one year ago) link
David Byrne email--
A few days ago I went to Rosalia’s concert at Radio City and was knocked out! I had seen her before at Webster Hall some years ago, along with Caetano Veloso. She’s not strictly Afro Caribe, like most of these tracks, but she sort of fits right in. Her roots are Flamenco (she’s from Spain), but she’s evolved and broadened her scope and now she kind of does it all but still pulls out the duende stuff as a soulful reminder. Her show had very innovative staging consisting of 8 dancers and a video cameraperson on stage. They mostly perform on a giant seamless which acts as a stage for the video screens. Making the video become part of the show. She seemed to be wearing no makeup- other than a little lipstick. Possibly because with all the sweating it might have become a mess? Her presence was very sincere and heartfelt - unusual for a pop show like this.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 3 October 2022 15:34 (one year ago) link
late pass but i was lured in by the promise of el guincho and it paid off. this album is dense and catchy and diverse and clever and fucking great. wasn't expecting a straight up experimental work but wow!
― “Cheeky cheeky!” she trills, nearly demolishing a roadside post (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 17:40 (one year ago) link
welcome, forks
― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 7 December 2022 17:57 (one year ago) link
i like the album too, do i get a welcome
― imago, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 18:02 (one year ago) link
i liked el mal querer a lot but then cooled as she became a megastar. didn't know she was working toward something as complex and fully baked as this; it's executing on the same level of difficulty as lamar and beyonce.plus: Vistoso Bosses!
― “Cheeky cheeky!” she trills, nearly demolishing a roadside post (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 18:03 (one year ago) link
i agree w/ your assessment, her pivoting away from superstar collaborations (lead single aside) for an experimental and deeply idiosyncratic album is prob the most pleasant surprise in music this year for me. you should check out her interviews in NYT & pfork where she talks about her creative process
― J0rdan S., Wednesday, 7 December 2022 18:05 (one year ago) link
will look
― “Cheeky cheeky!” she trills, nearly demolishing a roadside post (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 18:22 (one year ago) link
I have seen a few Spanish language memes in Instagram stories critical of Spain raised Rosalia getting more attention for incorporating reggaeton and Bachata and other Latin American styles than artists who have long been using those styles from Latin America/Caribbean /Iberian locales , but those grumblers seem to be more the exception
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 20:14 (one year ago) link
"don't culturally appropriate reggaeton!!" has to be one of the funnier takes available
― rob, Wednesday, 7 December 2022 20:20 (one year ago) link
I found her interviews fascinating, as I find interviews with other really intelligent artists with a real grasp on what they're doing and why. I don't enjoy listening to the album, because the music just isn't for me (and I say the same about Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé) but the work is undeniable.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 20:40 (one year ago) link
I'm listening to the bonus tracks, nothing very remarkable but fun and shows the wider sonic palette she was using. One thing I like is how close many songs stay to a song hummed to oneself, and the real distance between her and the background (is there a name for this ?). I like the punched percussion on two songs that sounds like a typewriter. If you close your eyes and have some fantasy, Chiri sounds a little like a Spanish version of Björk's Medulla.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gONN93t5aPgRosalía - Chiri
― Nabozo, Thursday, 8 December 2022 13:04 (one year ago) link
Re:her artistic process. It's crazy how anytime I relisten to a song from this album, I like it more. And it's like she made the album that way.
― Nabozo, Thursday, 8 December 2022 13:22 (one year ago) link
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/rosalia-motomami-hentai-cultural-influences-1234642989/
Interesting interview with her. She explains how much research and thought goes into her work and gives credit to many others. The article’s author addresses the discussion of a white artist from Spain having success in the Black created genres of bachata and reggaeton ; and sees her performing in Puerto Rico
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 14 December 2022 01:16 (one year ago) link
Re:her artistic process. It's crazy how anytime I relisten to a song from this album, I like it more. And it's like she made the album that way.― Nabozo, Thursday, 8 December 2022 13:22 (one month ago) link
― maf you one two (maffew12), Wednesday, 11 January 2023 04:57 (one year ago) link
“LLYLM” is really fucking good
― Murgatroid, Friday, 27 January 2023 05:21 (one year ago) link
it is. i like it a lot more than “despechá” personally
― J0rdan S., Friday, 27 January 2023 07:19 (one year ago) link
I hope that's not her new direction, those hooks sound too much like generic upbeat pop to me.
― Nabozo, Friday, 27 January 2023 10:17 (one year ago) link
Even if the hook is a bit more “generic” than usual from her, the verses are anything but imo
Either way, I know better than to worry about her direction after the post-El Mal Querer singles, some of which were not great, and Motomami, which I’m sure I wasn’t the one whose doubts were assuaged
― Murgatroid, Friday, 27 January 2023 12:13 (one year ago) link
Definitely, she's a chameleon and singles are absolutely for trying things out and I don't doubt her.Con Altura, Aute Cuture, Yo x Ti, A palé, and Juro que were fantastic and a favorite period of hers. Maybe what I'm missing here is the radical production choices.
― Nabozo, Friday, 27 January 2023 12:39 (one year ago) link
It sounds a little tame
Yeah chorus sounds a bit… amateur?
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 27 January 2023 15:15 (one year ago) link
Not sure if it’s hearing her sing in english and how generic it sounds. Verses are good.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 27 January 2023 15:16 (one year ago) link
yes, for some reason I felt inclined to play Ellie Goulding’s “Love Me Like You Do” and Rita Ora’s “Let You Love Me” this morning. LYLM is a banger - LMLYD less so. as for LLYLM, it does feel like a conscious attempt at a (US) (radio) crossover hit.
― the shaker intro bit the shaker outro in the tail, hard (breastcrawl), Friday, 27 January 2023 15:29 (one year ago) link
...and it's far far inferior to, say, "Aute Cuture"
(but I guess I'm just not a Rosalía fan at this point)
― Vexatious litigant (morrisp), Friday, 27 January 2023 15:49 (one year ago) link
i only heard her first album. unimpressed by that "neo" flamenco sound
― CerebralCaustic, Friday, 27 January 2023 16:19 (one year ago) link
Motomami has many good ideas and it’s hardly neo-flamenco - it’s more like a melancholic, experimental mix of neoperreo, deconstructed club and art pop.
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Friday, 27 January 2023 16:46 (one year ago) link
the new single probably has more ‘neo-flamenco’ than all of Motomami combined
― the shaker intro bit the shaker outro in the tail, hard (breastcrawl), Friday, 27 January 2023 16:59 (one year ago) link
i'm with the majority here, this is weak and not very good. gonna have to put up with these kinda songs as a fan tho, she's making occasional arena tracks to satisfy a bigger audience.
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Friday, 27 January 2023 19:17 (one year ago) link
i think i disagree w/ just about every point made itt about this song. in particular i think the chorus is great pop lyricism, the way she plays around w/ the idea of reality & what kinda relationship one might want w/ another person -- "cover me in a dream / i'll be yours or fantasy". i mean, "who needs the honesty? / baby, lie like you love me, lie like you love me / maybe at the end it becomes real enough for me" packs the kind of direct emotional punch i look for in good pop writing. i think it's a novel way of expressing emotions typical to a pop song & to me that isn't "generic" ... unless you want to call pop music in general "generic," which is a POV one can have just not one that i share personally. i really don't find this song to be much different than i.e. "hentai" in terms of the lyrical approach... it's just wedded to the structure of a pop song instead of an experimental ballad. and even then i think you can very easily find the throughline in the song back to the music she has been making from the beginning. i feel like we're returning to the same convo we had about the "con altura" era... ppl seem quite eager to jump on her for not always being purely idiosyncratic w/o acknowledging that her more "mainstream" songs typically have a sonic POV that still feels like her own
also i'd push back on the notion that this song is some sort of cynical play for a "bigger audience" or that she thinks about "satisfying" american fans. she just had her biggest US chart hit w/ “despechá” which is also straightforward compared to motomami but is sung entirely in spanish. the idea that artists need to crossover now is basically completely antiquated. shakira has a top 10 hit on the hot 100 w/ an argentinan youtuber. rosaliá was accused of this same thing in the "con altura" era... that she was making a cynical ploy to expand her audience in latin america and her response was "me & my friends love reggaeton so i decided i wanted to make some reggaeton" which is a completely legitimate explanation & i'm sure would be similar to her justification for making a version of a westernized pop song. ppl seem to want her to stay in one place & she's proven remarkably good at not doing that
― J0rdan S., Monday, 30 January 2023 22:08 (one year ago) link
great post
― Indexed, Monday, 30 January 2023 22:10 (one year ago) link
i think it's a novel way of expressing emotions typical to a pop song & to me that isn't "generic" ... unless you want to call pop music in general "generic," which is a POV one can have just not one that i share personally.
It's possible find the chorus melody generic (as I do), and the chorus lyrics nothing special, without calling pop music in general generic...
― degenerative AI (morrisp), Monday, 30 January 2023 22:16 (one year ago) link
the idea of a “generic” melody is a slippery one to me but yeah i mean everything comes down to taste at the end of the day, which, you know, hey
― J0rdan S., Monday, 30 January 2023 22:22 (one year ago) link