Rosalía’s kaleidoscope in the crossroads of late modernity

Abstract

Rosalía gained worldwide fame with the release of El Mal Querer in 2018, carving a niche for herself in mainstream music with her distinctive aesthetic style and the incorporation of flamenco rhythms in her music. Our study aims to analyse four of her most important songs to highlight how she created her artistic place by incorporating collective cultural memories and translating them into a late modern scenario while at the same time commodifying the working-class standard of choni women in Spain. Our main findings suggest that (1) Rosalía’s work appropriates certain cultural and collective memories and translates them into a fashionable and desirable late modern lifestyle that combines a flamenco sound with other rhythms that could lead to the sustenance of this music genre in the new generations; (2) Rosalía establishes her youth style and femininity by incorporating a set of consumer practices that are also guided by elements of the postfeminist sensibility; and (3) there are four main actions that helped Rosalía to establish the choni-chic style. With this combination, we argue that Rosalía brings to the present a hybridized flamenco for contemporary generations while also rescuing cultural and patrimonial elements that are relevant within the construction of identities.