Alt.Latino: Rosalía in her own words

All Songs Considered

NPR

Music

4.4 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 November 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

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Summary

Spanish vocalist and composer Rosalía has been a major presence in Spanish language music since she released her first album, "El Mal Querer," in 2018. She started by leaning into her flamenco roots, but since then she has expanded her musical vision to become one of those musicians who defies category.

Her new album "LUX" stretches that descriptor to its limit. Her musical tools this time include the London Symphony Orchestra, singing in 13 languages, guests like Icelandic performer Björk, and her own vocals that hit operatic heights. This week, Ana and Felix dissect the album and play excerpts from Ana's interview with Rosalía. How can you go wrong?

You can read extended highlights of Ana's interview with Rosalía at NPR.org

This episode was produced by Noah Caldwell. The executive producer of NPR Music is Suraya Mohamed.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	A quick note before the show, this podcast contains explicit language.
0:07.3	From MPR music, this is all Latino.
0:09.5	I'm Felix Contreras.
0:10.4	And I'm Anna Maria Sayer.
0:12.0	Let the chiseme begin.
0:13.5	The chisement is all about La Sejorita Rosalia.
0:17.0	The seniorita Rosalia.
0:19.0	And that percy my man no sehere. The seniorita Rosalia. The I'm going to
0:22.6	The album's called Lux, It was released November 7.
0:39.6	We're finally getting to talk about it. I feel like I've been holding on to like state secrets for weeks now.
0:45.2	Yeah. And we actually have an interview to play this week that you did with Rosalia.
0:50.1	I guess we do. Two weeks ago. Two weeks ago in Mexico City, we talked. It was amazing. She's amazing.
0:55.2	So we're going to hear for Rosalia, but first, let me hear your impressions. Okay?
1:00.1	That's the hardest question you could have asked me.
1:02.3	30 seconds or less?
1:03.8	She told me that she wanted to fit the entire world into a record. She gets pretty close to successfully doing that.
1:11.3	It's beautiful.
1:12.4	It's innovative.
1:13.5	It incorporates sounds in a way from around the world
1:17.6	that I think a lot of people wouldn't believe to be possible.
1:20.5	I think there are a lot of beats and rhythms and sounds
1:22.6	from all over the world that are actually essentially compatible.
	...

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