Motomami

Standard cover

### Producer

ROSALÍA, Dylan Wiggins, (El Guincho), Frank Dukes, Michael Uzowuru, Noah Goldstein, Pharrell Williams, Sir Dylan, Sky Rompiendo, Tainy, Teo Halm, (The Weeknd)

***MOTOMAMI*** is the third studio album by Spanish singer ROSALÍA, released on 18 March 2022 through Columbia Records. ROSALÍA enlisted producers Noah Goldstein, Michael Uzowuru, Dylan Wiggins and Pharrell Williams as well as longtime colleague el Guincho to create a concept album about her feelings during the past three years, including troubled times with fame, homesickness and isolation in the form of a collage of the singer's musical influences, especially in Latin music. Separated in two parts, it features guest vocals from the Weeknd and Tokischa, and is presented as ROSALÍA's "most personal and confessional album so far."

The album's release was preceded by three singles along with HENTAI as a promotional single. LA FAMA was released on 11 November 2021 as the album's lead single, attaining both critical and commercial success. The song peaked at number two on the US Hot Latin Songs chart and reached the top ten in France, El Salvador, Spain and Panama. SAOKO and CHICKEN TERIYAKI were released as the second and third singles, respectively, both reaching the top twenty in Spain. Other promotional initiatives included a *Grand Theft Auto Online* radio station and a performance on *Saturday Night Live*, becoming the first Spanish solo act to serve as the show's musical guest. ROSALÍA embarked on the MOTOMAMI World Tour, which commenced in July 2022 traveling around Europe and the Americas. A deluxe edition of *MOTOMAMI*, titled *MOTOMAMI +*, was released on 9 September featuring five additional tracks, including the hit single DESPECHÁ. The deluxe tracks may possibly be discarded sessions from the standard version.

Upon its release, *MOTOMAMI* received universal acclaim from music critics, many of whom praised the experimentation and genre-bending sounds. It later became the best reviewed and most discussed album of the year on Metacritic. Commercially, the album entered twenty-two charts in nineteen countries and reached the top ten in seven countries. *MOTOMAMI* entered major market charts, reaching the top forty in both on the UK Albums Chart and the *Billboard* 200. In Spain, it peaked atop the PROMUSICAE chart for six consecutive weeks. At the 23rd Annual Latin Grammy Awards, *Motomami* was nominated for Album of the Year, Best Alternative Music Album, Best Engineered Album and Best Recording Package, whilst LA FAMA is nominated for Record of the Year and HENTAI for Song of the Year and Best Alternative Song. The album also received a nomination for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.

## Background

In November 2018, ROSALÍA released her second studio album *El Mal Querer* to critical acclaim and commercial success. The concept album, inspired by the 13th-century anonymous Occitan *Romance of Flamenca*, launched the singer into mainstream stardom. The album received critical acclaim for its avant-garde production, which fused flamenco music with pop and urbano. *El Mal Querer* was listed in many year-end publications as well as in *Rolling Stone*'s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It was also awarded Album of the Year at the 20th Annual Latin Grammy Awards and Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.

Recording sessions for the singer's next project began in Los Angeles as early as 2019. While on tour that year, ROSALÍA released a collection of singles. In March, the first of eight, Con Altura, featuring J Balvin and el Guincho, was released on digital platforms. It topped the charts in Argentina, Venezuela, Spain and Colombia among others and was the second most-watched music video released in 2019 on YouTube as well as the most-watched female music video that year. May saw the release of Aute Cuture whereas Milionària and Dios Nos Libre del Dinero were released in July. In August, a collaboration with Ozuna, Yo x Ti, Tu x Mi, was released to great commercial success. The singer continued releasing standalone singles such as A Palé, Dolerme and Juro Que throughout 2019 and 2020. Rosalía also collaborated twice with Travis Scott; first on the remix of his track Highest in the Room alongside Lil Baby and then on TKN, the latter of which became her first entry on the *Billboard* Hot 100.

When Dutch radio station *3voor12* asked the singer through a Zoom press conference about a possible single compilation or box set, ROSALÍA expressed total rejection to the idea explaining that "I don't really enjoy records that are just a collection of singles. I usually enjoy records that tell a story and that are alive and involve a lot of thinking." She also revealed that she was "trying really hard to release a new project in 2020" but all of the independent singles released so far wouldn't be included. She continued by saying that "as a musician I feel the responsibility to release a cohesive album, one that makes sense; one in where the songs are linked and share an essence". ROSALÍA was later seen in the recording studio with Michael Uzowuru, Mike Dean, the Neptunes and Playboi Carti among others.

During 2021, ROSALÍA released more standalone singles such as Lo Vas a Olvidar and Linda alongside Billie Eilish and Tokischa, respectively. In May, talent manager Rebecca León confirmed that ROSALÍA wouldn't release an album in 2021. In August, the singer revealed to Santiago Matías that the album "was already taking shape" yet the number of songs was still unknown. In October, the singer teased on TikTok that the project would be released "soon" and premiered 30 seconds of the album's lead single. During a fan meet and greet in Mexico in partnership with Exa FM, ROSALÍA revealed that her new album would be "very different" from its predecessor and that the lead single would be released in November.

*MOTOMAMI* was officially announced on 2 November 2021, the third anniversary of *El Mal Querer*, along with a 15-second trailer directed by Daniel Sannwald which contained a snippet of the title track as well as a tentative 2022 release date. Sannwald also pictured the album cover, which was revealed on social media on 31 January 2022. On 8 November 2021, ROSALÍA announced the album's lead single, LA FAMA featuring The Weeknd. It was released on 11 November.

## Recording

ROSALÍA began work on *MOTOMAMI* in January 2019 and finished in August 2021. However, during the first year of production, she was still promoting her sophomore album on El Mal Querer Tour and was still figuring out the direction she wanted to go in. ROSALÍA had begun thinking of several ideas for the album before *El Mal Querer* was released in November 2018. The confection of the album went through many stages as ROSALÍA was once convinced of making "four projects at the same time" differencing a flamenco record, a piano ballad one, a dark pop one, and an alternative reggaeton record. The singer ended up "finding a purport within chaos", committing to a color palette at the sound level. The production on *MOTOMAMI* distinguishes six elements that get used in almost every track: "aggressive" drums, filters that "make the music seem distant", a nude voice (no use of vocal harmonies or reverbs), the use of vocal chops, and a repeated minimalist production. During the album's creation, ROSALÍA drew influences from artists of all disciplines such as Héctor Lavoe, Nina Simone, Patti Smith, Bach, Michèle Lamy, Ocean Vuong, Yayoi Kusama, Ricardo Bofill and Andrei Tarkovsky. On 25 April 2022, she shared a seven-hour Spotify playlist of music that she was inspired by, dubbed "Inspo$ MOTOMAMI", which included artists such as Daddy Yankee, Madonna, David Bowie, Björk, Snoop Dogg, Manuel Molina, Carla Bruni etc.

The majority of the album was recorded between 2020 and 2021. The process was registered on the singer's private Instagram account 'holamotomami', which she made public in December 2021. During tour season in 2019, ROSALÍA suffered from writer's block as she was constantly releasing new material and performing live, with isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic and partly moving with Frank Ocean to New York City helping the process flow despite being homesick. ROSALÍA didn't leave the United States until June 2021 due to fear that she could not go back due to travel restrictions during the pandemic. During her time in the States, she had "twelve-to-sixteen hour long" sessions almost every day, whether at her rented home in Miami (dubbed as MOTOMAMI House) or at recording studios in Hollywood and Manhattan, where she recorded upwards of nearly 30 songs for the album. ROSALÍA had troubled time with deadlines, pushing the album's release a couple times. The mixing and mastering process of *MOTOMAMI* took nine moths, being completed on 15 April 2021. "Saoko" was the last song ROSALÍA wrote for the album and LA COMBI VERSACE the most modified as she "changed the arrangement completely right before she was going to turn in the album" as well as the featured artist, which was originally Tego Calderón.

## Music

Primarily, *MOTOMAMI* is an experimental pop and alternative reggaeton record that also explores bachata, hip-hop, flamenco, art pop, chiptune, bolero, electropop and dembow as well as mambo and funk carioca in its expanded edition. In an interview with Diego Ortiz for *Rolling Stone*, ROSALÍA described the album as a "brave" record that is heavily influenced by reggaeton. She then expressed that the album is the "most personal and confessional album that I've made so far", revolving around lyrical themes of transformation, sexuality, heartbreak, celebration, spirituality, self-respect and isolation. MOTOMAMI is largely inspired by the Latin music she danced to with her cousins as a child, and encountered again traveling the world as a budding pop star.

Critics compared "the degree of lyrical, rhythmic and sonic experimentation" to Beastie Boys' *Ill Communication* (1994) and Moby's *Play* (1999), and found similarities in Lorde's *Pure Heroine* (2013) and Nine Inch Nails' *The Downward Spiral* (1994) and in the works of Frank Ocean and Kanye West.

## Conception

During an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music 1, ROSALÍA described *MOTOMAMI* as a loose concept album that paints a self-portrait. She also revealed that the album is more playful than her previous albums, explaining: "I feel like I haven't done that in the other albums. Also, they were much more serious if that makes sense. And I think that in this one, I was like, 'I really want to find a way to allow my sense of humor to be present.'"

About the title, ROSALÍA has stated that she chose to name it *MOTOMAMI* in honor of her mother, Pilar Tobella, who used to ride ROSALÍA around town on a motorcycle. The singer also told *Brut* that the 'MOTOMAMI' noun was ideed by her friend Maite back in high school, who used it in her Hotmail adress. It also references the company her mother runs, Motomami S.L., which she created in 2018 to administrate activities around artist representation. ROSALÍA shared that she chose the name *MOTOMAMI* because it's "structured in binaries, two types of contrasting energy." The album is separated into two parts; *MOTO* is the divine, experimental, frictional and the strongest part of the album, while *MAMI* is the genuine, personal, confessional and vulnerable one. ROSALÍA also stated that "feminism is implicit in the intention. It is very much present in some songs, and maybe not some much in some others, because in the end, it's all the emotional journey of the ups and downs an artist can take. There's a lot of my day-to-day life that's why this vindication of women and femininity are implicit. "ROSALÍA hopes *MOTOMAMI*" provides a feminist counterbalance to misogyny in music".

## Release and promotion

The album was issued on 18 March 2022, by Columbia Records, ROSALÍA's first to be released under the label. The standard edition was released on CD, vinyl, digital download and streaming. The vinyl was released on a red coloured vinyl. A premium boxset containing a red 12'' vinyl, a zine photographic shot by Carlota Guerrero in Mallorca and thank you note from ROSALÍA was sent to selected fans, personal friends and celebrities. The deluxe edition of the album, *MOTOMAMI +*, was released on streaming platforms on 9 September 2022. It contains five additional tracks, a remix of CANDY featuring Chencho Corleone, a thank you voice message and a live version of LA FAMA recorded at Palau Sant Jordi, in Barcelona on 24 July 2022 during the MOTOMAMI World Tour.

### **Singles and music videos**

ROSALÍA's executive team chose LA FAMA as the album's lead single, released on 11 November 2021. The song, which features vocals by Canadian singer The Weeknd, was met with great critical reception for its neo form of classical bachata, and achieved commercial success in Europe and Latin America. It became the singer's eighth number one single in Spain as well as her best performing song in France, peaking at five. Columbia released the accompanying music video, directed by Director X, on the same day. Inspired in *From Dusk till Dawn* (1996), it takes place in a cabaret and features a cameo appearance from actor Danny Trejo. SAOKO was released as the second single on 4 February 2022 to universal critical acclaim. Valentin Petit directed its music video, which premiered the afternoon of the single release, and showcases a motorcycle-flipping spectacle around Kyiv. Petit and co-editor Jon Echeveste would go on to win the MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing for their work. CHICKEN TERIYAKI was released as the album's third single twenty days later, featuring a music video directed by Tanu Muino and mixed reviews from music critics.

Two days ahead of *MOTOMAMI's* scheduled release, Rosalía released HENTAI as a promotional single. HENTAI had already been teased via TikTok in January, sparking negative backlash due to its sexual content and "plain, explicit, vulgar" lyrics. Nevertheless, once released, it received positive comments from the general public. CANDY was accompanied with a music video on release day, directed by Stillz and heavily inspired in the 2003 film *Lost in Translation*. Despite the lack of radio promotion, it became the singer's ninth number one single in Spain, while also entering the charts in Argentina, Portugal and Switzerland and reaching the top seventy on the *Billboard* Global 200. A music video for MOTOMAMI, directed by Daniel Sannwald, premiered on YouTube on 18 April 2022 to promote the album's accompanying tour. A music video for DELIRIO DE GRANDEZA, directed by Mitch Ryan, also premiered on YouTube on 11 May 2022 after it was announced on social media one day prior.

### **Marketing**

Promotional strategies for the *MOTOMAMI* rollout started in November 2021, with the album's announcement and the release of its lead single. Catalogued as "brilliant", the marketing campaign behind this third album mixed physical promotional banners, radio singles, magazine features, social media interaction and an extensive use of TikTok to tease future content. ROSALÍA first teased the lead single LA FAMA on the platform in October and formally announced its release on 8 November. The singer would continue teasing her new material through TikTok, later advancing SAOKO, HENTAI and CHICKEN TERIYAKI. With the lead single impacting radio stations and with the album's title and tentative '2022' date revealed, ROSALÍA covered the December edition of *Rolling Stone en Español* with an article written by Diego Ortiz narrating the recording process of *MOTOMAMI*. The singer would later grace the cover of *GQ, El País*, *Vogue Italia* and *I-D.* The recording process of *MOTOMAMI* was also shared through a private Instagram page, 'holamotomami', which she made public in January 2022. This action created engagement with fans and consumers and showed "the best of both worlds" while creating a musical body.

During Art Basel week in December 2021, various promotional graffitis of *MOTOMAMI* started to appear in the streets of Miami Beach. This kind of banners were later exported to other cities including Barcelona, Buenos Aires, New York City, Madrid, Mexico City, Milan, Seoul and Tokyo. These ones included unreleased lyrics of upcoming songs. Light in the dark Spotify-sponsored billboards were placed in central public spaces in Madrid, Mexico City and Milan upon the album's release.

Starting 27 February, ROSALÍA posted daily on Twitter about the characteristics of the 'MOTOMAMI', the fictional concept she adopted for the album, transforming it into an identity. The twenty-tweet series was completed on release day. The technique was popularized within her fanbase and the general public. Several brands and associations (mainly in Spain), such as AliExpress and FC Barcelona, referenced it. ROSALÍA embraced the mixed reviews and backlash she received for her "kitsch" lyrics after teasing HENTAI and CHICKEN TERIYAKI on TikTok, reversing the initial negative idea through self-referential and self-deprecating humor.

As for radio and television, ROSALÍA gave interviews to Zane Lowe from Apple Music, Leila Cobo from VP Latin, Amelia Dimoldenberg, Los 40, RTVE, Cadena SER, RAC 1, Catalunya Ràdio and Exa among others. The singer made her US late night debut on *The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon* on 10 March, performed CHICKEN TERIYAKI and LA FAMA on *Saturday Night Live* two days later, and was interviewed on *El Hormiguero* on 17 March. An album-signing party sponsored by Fnac was held in Madrid on 18 March. ROSALÍA later appeared in various shows in France such as *Quotidien* and NRJ. On 7 April, Spanish musician and YouTuber Jaime Altozano analyzed *Motomami* the same way he did in 2018 with *El Mal Querer,* this time featuring direct notes from the singer.

#### ***Motomami Los Santos***

On 15 December 2021, a new radio station in *Grand Theft Auto Online*, *MOTOMAMI Los Santos*, premiered as a result of a partnership between the singer and Rockstar Games. Curated by ROSALÍA and Arca, it includes personal favorite songs of both artists as well as songs from their own catalogue. It includes tracks from Camarón de la Isla, Daddy Yankee, Caroline Polachek and Aventura among others as well as an unreleased track by Bad Gyal. Kaydy Cain and ROSALÍA's older sister Pilar also make speaking cameos. Coinciding with the release of the radio station, Los Santos' Eclipse Boulevard displayed many billboards promoting Rosalía's upcoming studio album.

#### **MOTOMAMI Live**

On 28 February, ROSALÍA announced a TikTok concert, titled MOTOMAMI Live, filmed in Barcelona and directed by Stillz, to celebrate the album's release. The singer played on the video platform on March 17 and 18. The pre-show included thirty minutes of informal interviews with Brittany Broski, Camilo, Ibai Llanos, Lele Pons, Pabllo Vittar, Pharrell Williams, and Rauw Alejandro. The show attracted four million viewers and featured eleven debut performances of tracks off the album. It is nominated for a Latin Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video.

### **Tour**

Main article: MOTOMAMI World Tour

In October 2021, in the mark of the BIME Pro music conference, tour manager Agustín Boffi revealed that ROSALÍA will embark on a "world tour in 2022" that has been being prepared "for over a year". Boffi also revealed that the tour crew will be expanded to "over 150 people" compared to the 40 people that were working on her previous concert cycle. On April 18, 2022, the tour dates were revealed. The forty-six-date long concert series began on July 6 in Almería and is set to end on December 18, in Paris. It met great commercial reception, selling over 135,000 tickets in a single day in Spain only.

## Trivia

* When broken into two parts, this word roughly translates to “biker chick.”
* MOTOMAMI is one of ROSALÍA's most personal albums so far. It tackles deep and intimate topics such as sexuality, feminism, grief, change, spirituality, self-respect, and isolation.
* ROSALÍA explains that she wanted to hear sounds she had never heard before.