Spanish star Rosalia reaches for divine in new album

This image released by Columbia Records shows "LUX" by Rosalía. (Columbia Records via AP)

Spanish singer Rosalia released her anticipated fourth album, “Lux,” on Friday, a sweeping, spiritual work that marks a departure from her previous work.

After the acclaim for her breakthrough album, El Mal Querer, which fused flamenco with R&B rhythms, and her genre-defying follow-up, Motomami, Rosalia offers an orchestral meditation on faith and femininity.

“Lux” -- the Latin word for “light” -- features lyrics sung in 13 languages including German, English and Sicilian in addition to her native Spanish.

“I love travelling, I love learning from other humans,” the 33-year-old Grammy-winning singer told The New York Times.

“Why would I not try to learn another language and try to sing in another language? The world is so connected,” the Catalan said.

The album features collaborations with the London Symphony Orchestra, Icelandic singer Bjork and the youth choir of the Montserrat Abbey in Catalonia, whose performance moved Rosalia to tears during a recent visit.

“That spiritual feeling has always been there, it’s just that I haven’t rationalized it or intellectualized it,” she said in the Times interview.

Rave reviews

Early reviews have been rapturous. Rolling Stone hailed “Lux” as “a truly timeless work of art,” while music magazine NME called it “arrestingly beautiful.”

Cristina Cobo, a Barcelona pharmacist, said she listened to the entire album for the first time on Friday morning and “thought it was incredible.”

“It’s true that it’s not the kind of music I’m used to listening to, but I loved it. I thought it was magical. I mean, I was listening to it as if I were in another world,” she told AFPTV.

Record stores reported strong sales.

“The public response has been fantastic,” said Pablo Mola, managing director of the FNAC electronics and book store on Las Ramblas, Barcelona’s central promenade.

“It’s an album that will really get people talking, and well, ‘Lux’ will be a huge success. You will see,” he told AFPTV.

Jesus Moreno, managing director of the nearby Revolver Records music store, said he sold out all 20 vinyl copies of the album in just hours.

“We still have three or four CDs left,” he said.

Listening party

The album’s release was preceded by a series of promotional appearances, including a mass gathering last month of fans who crowded Madrid’s central Callao square after Rosalia invited them online to join her.

Dressed in white and with a rosary hanging from her car’s rear-view mirror, she drove through the city but became trapped in traffic.

Videos posted on social media showed her suddenly opening her car door, bolting into the street and running as fans cheered and followed.

Fans who had hoped for a surprise concert were instead rewarded with only a brief glimpse of Rosalia waving from a cinema window.

The incident made headlines in Spain, and Madrid city hall said it was reviewing whether a fine was warranted for holding the event without a permit.

On Wednesday night, Rosalia reappeared in more serene form at a listening party at Barcelona’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

Lying motionless on a stage draped in white fabrics, she let the album’s ethereal soundscapes wash over a silent audience.

Spain’s Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun praised the singer as “one of our country’s foremost musical talents” in an interview with Cadena Ser radio on Thursday, noting her influence on both national and global stages.

Rosalia is scheduled to perform tracks from “Lux” live for the first time on Friday night at a radio gala in the eastern city of Valencia.

AFP