Motomami: A Brief Study on Rosalía’s Cultural Appreciation

Still of a music video from Rosalía’s album ‘Motomami’

The term cultural appropriation is thrown around very loosely today. The official definition is “the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society”, according to the Oxford dictionary. Spanish Artist Rosalía has been the subject of claims of cultural appropriation since the start of her career, but these have only grown and intensified with the release of her third studio album, Motomami. Rosalía started out as a Flamenco artist, and has become more exploratory in her music through the years. Los Angeles, her first studio album, adhered to her Flamenco training roots, while her second release, El Mal Querer, took Flamenco into an international spotlight with innovative instrumentals combined with traditional melodies. Given the heavy Flamenco influence in the album, Andalusian people have been claiming that there was cultural appropriation since these first two releases. These claims left the borders of Spain with the release of tracks like “con altura” and several others in her latest album, as well as her wins in the Latin Grammys for Best Alternative Song and Best Urban Fusion/Performance. As a Latino who studies Hispanic culture and has grown up listening (and continues to listen) to Latin music, I don’t believe that Rosalía is a cultural appropriator. Rather, she is a cultural appreciator. The criticisms against her don’t take into account the variety and regionalism of music within the Latin community and lack the contextualization of the genres and artists she collaborates with. 

El Mal Querer was very experimental in comparison to Los Angeles, and it was her final project at the Catalonia College of Music, where she specialized in Flamenco. Examples of the mix between Flamenco and Pop are heavily evident in “Malamente”, “Pienso en tu Mirá”, and “Que no salga la luna”. In these songs, she includes elements such as the rhythmic hand clapping, bulería (a type of Flamenco song), and the background vocalists that are common in Flamenco groups. With this line blurring, Andalusian people felt like their culture had been appropriated. A friend from Granada told me “Nos imita el acento y nos imita la música. Ella no es de aquí” (‘She imitates our accent and she imitates our music. She isn’t from here’). In an interview in 2018, she responded to similar criticisms by saying, “I know where flamenco comes from”. I have studied an entire degree on it. The flamenco experts have tried to explain its origins. It is the product of a mix of cultures. It owes much to the gypsy culture but music doesn’t have an owner.” Rosalia brings up a good point about music being a story of cultural exchange without a single owner, which I will come back to after taking a look at her interaction with Latin genres. 

“The diversity of our music is what makes our region beautiful. Reggaeton is from Puerto Rico, Salsa is from Cuba, Bachata and Merengue are from the Dominican Republic, Cumbia is from Colombia, Funk Carioca is from Brazil.”

There is an ongoing debate about Rosalía’s most recent album, Motomami, and whether she appropriates Latin culture with her choices of music styles. The songs in Latin genres are: “La Fama” (Bachata), “Saoko” (Reggaeton antiguo), “Bizcochito” (Reggaeton), “Despechá” (Merengue), “Diablo” (Reggaeton). She also paid homage to the greats of the respective genres. For example, “Saoko” is based on the song “Saoco” by Wisin and Daddy Yankee, and she introduces experimental sounds to the old school Reggaeton vibe by adding more jazz and electronic sounds. Furthermore, Wisin and Yandel, who are Reggaeton legends, recently released “Besos Moja2 '' with Rosalía, showing their appreciation for what she’s doing with Reggaeton. With Bachata, a genre born in the Dominican Republic, the track “La Fama'' featuring The Weeknd takes a modern approach to Bachata with stripped down instrumentals, leaving only percussion and smooth synths, resulting in a refreshing sound without losing the Bachata sound. As with Wisin and Yandel, Romeo Santos, the king of Bachata, released “El Pañuelo '' with Rosalía, and I highly recommend a listen because it shows her interest in the more traditional Bachata sound too. These collaborations seem, to me, to make it obvious that Rosalía  is not mocking Latin culture, but is instead excited to work with Latin genres, and she is doing so successfully. Although parts of the Latino and worldwide audience have not warmed up to her, her success with Latino audiences is evident in her sold out shows all over the South American continent. 

The critiques launched against her regarding the cultural appropriation of Latin music are, I believe, tone-deaf and also harmful to the diversity of Latin America. People see a Spanish woman making Latin tracks and automatically assume she is a “colonizer” of the music and that she doesn’t deserve accolades, such as Latin Grammys, associated with the Latin genres. The criticisms are harmful because they generalize Latinos and the regionalism of our cultures and music. Although we are connected by the same language, our cultures have different characteristics, and music is one of those. The diversity of our music is what makes our region beautiful. Reggaeton is from Puerto Rico, Salsa is from Cuba, Bachata and Merengue are from the Dominican Republic, Cumbia is from Colombia, Funk Carioca is from Brazil. There are artists from all over Latin America making songs in these genres. Rosalía is part of Hispanic culture, and she has the right, like any artist, to explore different genres of music. The story of music is one of cultural exchanges. From African slaves in Latin America mixing different instruments and languages to create Salsa, to Rap music becoming an international phenomenon, music has always been an exchange one way or the other. Gatekeeping music is counterproductive to its natural evolution. There is definitely a line between appreciation and appropriation, and it lies in the actions and treatment of the styles an artist is exploring, and Rosalía, in appreciating and paying homage to Latin sounds and culture,  has not crossed it.