Bagdad (song)
"Bagdad" (stylised in all caps, officially "Bagdad – Cap 7: Liturgia") is a song by Spanish singer and songwriter Rosalía. A fan favourite, it is the seventh track on the singer's second studio album "El Mal Querer" (2018), released on 2 November 2018, through Sony Music. It was sent for a radio release on 4 December 2018 as the album's fourth single. Inspired by the Barcelonian erotic club of the same name, lyrically "Bagdad" talks about a woman's loneliness. It was written by Antón Álvarez, Leticia Sala, Luís Troquel and Rosalía, with production on being handled  by the performer and El Guincho. It contains an interpolation of Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River" and a choral participation by the Orfeó Català as well as arrangements by Joan Albert Amargós. In 2021, "Bagdad" was included in the soundtrack for season four of the hit Netflix show "Élite", which pushed the song's commercial success to the point that the daily consumption of its music video tripled and the song entered the top 40 of the Shazam Global chart. Background. In an interview with Beats 1, Rosalía said she was inspired by an erotic club in Barcelona  called Bagdad and by Timberlake's "Cry Me a River": "He heard the song and said, "Yes, you can use the melody"; I was so excited because he never approves anything." In this song, Rosalía represents a woman drowned by her anguish and grief due to a bad love. The woman does nothing to prevent it, but flooded by her own tears she finds salvation. The liturgy, a worship ceremony, ends with a rebirth. The song's lyrics, part of a narrative arc that spans the whole album, revolve around the main character of the story being seen alone crying  in the streets at night, clapping her hands in sorrow "like she's praying to the rhythm of bulerías", and then being rescued by a "fallen angel". Music video. The music video for "Bagdad", directed by Helmi, was filmed in Paris and released on 4 December 2018 on YouTube. It features Rosalía as a strip-club dancer, dancing in a pole wearing a blonde wig and a red latex mono similar to the one Britney Spears used in the music video for "Oops!... I Did It Again" in 2000. She goes to the place's bathroom after having a heated  up phone conversation, where she starts crying to the point that the water from her tears fills up the whole room, drowning her. The singer tweeted that the music video is "For all those who were heartbroken and drowned in their sorrow." A portion of an unreleased track "Lo Presiento", initially intended for "El Mal Querer", can be spotted at the beginning of the video.