It’s always fascinating when a global superstar makes a piece of overwhelming, uncompromising art and then has to go out and sell that thing. Right now, Rosalía is in that position. A week and a half ago, Rosalía released her soul-shattering, impossible-to-categorize album LUX. It’s arguably her best. LUX was presumably a very expensive production that required assistance from the London Symphony Orchestra and linguistic coaches and Pharrell Williams and Björk. Now, Rosalía is on a global promo tour, doing everything in her power to make the world aware of this incredible thing that she has created.
LUX is now Rosalía’s first top-10 album in the US; it debuted at #4 over here. Rosalía was the main guest on Sunday’s post-football episode of Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show, both as a musical guest and an interview subject. The performance was awesome. She did “La Perla,” with subtitles onscreen and orchestral backing behind her, and she made an absolute spectacle of it. She began the song while reclining on a giant pile of mattresses, as in “The Princess And The Pea.” Then she dug into the mattresses and pulled out the pea that kept hear from sleeping: A pearl. Watch it below.
As for the interview, this was one of those rare situations where I am completely on board with Jimmy Fallon’s general gushing. Rosalía talked a bit about singing in 13 different languages and getting started in flamenco, and she radiated charm in every direction. She also played a language game. I’ll be honest: I made it maybe 30 seconds into that bit. See how far you can go below.
The show’s other big guest was DJ Khaled. Stay away from her! Get a job!
But Rosalía’s LUX promotional tour has gone far behind the US. On Nov. 7, for instance, she performed “Reliquia” live for the first time at the LOS40 Music Awards in Valencia, Spain.
On November 10, sang a partial version of “La Perla,” seemingly impromptu, on the Spanish show La Rebuelta.
If you speak Spanish then perhaps you can tell us what the hell happened around the 10:35 mark of her interview with host David Broncano.
But when Rosalía arm-wrestled Broncano, it transcended linguistic differences:
Also! Designer Bella Freud, great-granddaughter of Sigmund, interviewed Rosalía on her Fashion Neurosis podcast, and we learned that Rosalía is disgusted when a man shows his feet.
Earlier in the LUX promo tour, Rosalía also talked to Apple Music, Vogue Spain, and our friends at the New York Times Popcast. And over the weekend, she got an all-important cosign from Andrew Lloyd Webber, who says that “LUX is going to be eternal.”
LUX is out now on Columbia.
