Rosalía’s new album is her most spectacular challenge but : NPR

Global pop star Rosalía is again with a brand new album Friday. Featuring songs in 13 languages, it is the Spanish star’s most spectacular challenge but.

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

Global star Rosalia is again this week with a brand new album. It’s known as “Lux.”

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “PORCELANA”)

ROSALIA: (Singing in non-English language).

SUMMERS: The Spanish artist is a two-time Grammy and 11-time Latin Grammy Award winner identified for her means to fuse musical types. Here to interrupt down “Lux” with me for our New Music Friday phase is NPR Music’s Stephen Thompson. Hi.

STEPHEN THOMPSON, BYLINE: Hey, Juana.

SUMMERS: All proper, Stephen, I’m enthusiastic about this one. And I perceive that that is Rosalia’s most formidable album but, which says fairly a bit…

THOMPSON: (Laughter).

SUMMERS: …Given the whole lot that she’s achieved. Can you simply begin by serving to us contextualize this album for individuals who could not know her music?

THOMPSON: Well, that is Rosalia’s fourth album. Her roots are form of in flamenco music, however with every document she’s put out, she retains upping the ante on her sound. She’s mixing in increasingly more genres, extra languages, extra ambitions. She’s proven a exceptional knack for mixing, , pop, hip-hop, Latin music in ways in which simply maintain getting grander and increasingly more formidable.

But with “Lux,” even for Rosalia, that is a fully gigantic swing. It’s catchy and genre-bending, however on an enormous stage. She’s working with the London Symphony Orchestra. It’s classical music. It’s opera. It’s pop. It’s so many issues directly. And at instances, it’s virtually breathtakingly stunning. And I have not even talked about, she sings in 13 languages on this document. I can barely muster one.

SUMMERS: Right. Same.

THOMPSON: (Laughter).

SUMMERS: That sounds actually, actually arduous. Does she make it work?

THOMPSON: She actually, actually, actually does. And a part of what jumps out concerning the languages and the deployment of all these languages is how seamless it sounds and the way applicable it feels to any given second. This isn’t a document that you’re – that you simply’re simply going to wish to take heed to as soon as. It simply retains revealing increasingly more because it goes alongside.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “BERGHAIN”)

ROSALIA: (Singing in Spanish).

THOMPSON: At the identical time, all this artwork we’re speaking about right here – this document by no means looks like a museum piece. It’s vibrant and present. And on the similar time, , it isn’t simply her classical document, both. It’s obtained songs like “Divinize,” which is that this huge, catchy earworm. It’s swimming throughout genres fluently, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a pop document in lots of, some ways.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “DIVINIZE”)

ROSALIA: (Singing) Through my physique, you’ll be able to see the sunshine. Bruise me up, I’ll eat all of my satisfaction.

SUMMERS: Stephen, earlier you talked about the orchestra, and the opposite factor that caught my ear was her opera singing. Tell me about her classical background.

THOMPSON: Yeah, she is the actual deal. She has studied this music. You know, you’re taking a music on this document like “Mio Cristo.”

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MIO CRISTO”)

ROSALIA: (Singing in Italian).

THOMPSON: She has mentioned she needed to prepare for a yr to make that music. She has consulted and is collaborating with so many good musicians and composers right here. The technical chops on show all through this document and the way in which that numerous these classical preparations are deployed and intermixed with different genres, the technical chops are unimaginable.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MIO CRISTO”)

ROSALIA: (Singing in Italian).

SUMMERS: I imply, Stephen, this album already sounds superb, however I do must say, I believe you may need one of many coolest jobs at NPR…

THOMPSON: (Laughter).

SUMMERS: …Because you get to take heed to a lot music all yr spherical since you host New Music Friday. And we’re virtually on the finish of the yr. Where do you assume that this album, “Lux,” will fall into your rating?

THOMPSON: Well, to start with, Juana, I all the time say about my job, it beats working within the mines…

(LAUGHTER)

THOMPSON: …You know? I imply, Juana, I’ve beloved a ton of information this yr. It’s going to be an enormous problem to place collectively a high 10 record, simply ‘trigger I get to take heed to a lot music. But proper now, at this exact second, as I’m speaking to you, that is my album of the yr.

SUMMERS: OK.

THOMPSON: And I think I’m not going to be alone in that evaluation if my colleagues at NPR Music are any indication.

SUMMERS: That is NPR Music’s Stephen Thompson. Thank you.

THOMPSON: Thank you, Juana.

SUMMERS: And you’ll be able to hear extra of Stephen’s ideas on the brand new Rosalia album on the New Music Friday podcast from NPR Music.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “LA RUMBA DEL PERDON”)

ROSALIA: (Singing in Spanish).

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