ROSALíA MAKES OTHER POP STARS LOOK LAZY WITH THE BEST GIG OF THE YEAR
It’s not often you see a full orchestra in the pit of the O2 Arena at a pop concert, let alone one set in the midst of a giant crucifix. It’s even rarer to see the singer on stage clad in a full ballerina outfit, en pointe, singing an album influenced by opera and baroque music. But that’s Rosalía for you: no ordinary pop star. At her mesmerising show in London, the Catalan singer made her contemporaries look lazy by comparison.
This was the gig of the year thus far: ambitious, sprawling, perfectly choreographed, with no note (or outfit change: there were several) wasted. Raised on Spanish folk music and educated at the prestigious Catalonia College of Music, the 33-year-old Grammy-winner was catapulted into another realm of acclaim last year following the release of her genre-bending, awe-inspiring album Lux. Its themes span religion and sainthood, mortality and relationships; she sings in 13 languages; and its sounds vary from traditional flamenco to romantic-era opera, baroque and electronica.
With concert tickets now regularly costing upwards of £100, this is what fans deserve. The hymnal Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti (“My Christ cries diamonds”) soared, thanks to an evocative string section and her towering soprano; La Perla shifted away from the Catholic imagery to take aim at a useless lover (“Local fiasco / National heartbreaker / Emotional terrorist”). Berghain, an ode to club culture named after the Berlin nightclub, was epic: a full-frontal, sensual overload of thrashing beats and thudding, repetitive monk-like chants (sadly, Björk, who features on the album version, did not appear). There was also, rightly, time dedicated to 2022’s excellent alt-reggaeton album Motomami, with standout track Saoko managing to get even the stuffy press row dancing.
There was more light relief, too, from a posed “confession” featuring the rising British pop star Lola Young, who regaled the crowd (which included Louis Theroux and Pep Guardiola) with a tale of a love affair gone wrong.
At one point, Rosalía, her eyes filled with tears, told the audience how happy she was to be in London – if at the wrong venue. It had been a lifelong dream of hers, she said, to sing at the Royal Albert Hall: “I never did. But now I sold out the O2 in London, twice!” While she seems more than happy with the spatial upgrade, one wonders why on earth she wasn’t booked to bring Lux to this year’s BBC Proms, considering the album’s role in getting a younger generation into classical music. Is that not the type of original artistry the Proms should be rewarding? Maybe next year.
Rosalia plays the O2 Arena tonight, then touring the US; rosalia.com
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