Rosalía

Rosalía was born in Sant Cugat del Vallès and raised in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, Catalonia. Her mother, María Pilar Tobella Aguilera, managed a family business specializing in window metalworks, while her father, José Manuel Vila, worked in industry. Her older sister, Pilar "Pili" Vila, works closely alongside her as her stylist and creative director. Rosalía is fluent in Catalan, Spanish, and English, and has spoken openly about managing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Between 2016 and 2018, Rosalía was in a relationship with Spanish rapper C. Tangana, who co-wrote eight tracks on her breakthrough album El mal querer. In 2019, she had a brief relationship with American actress Hunter Schafer, with whom she remains close friends. Later that year, she began dating Puerto Rican singer Rauw Alejandro. The couple collaborated on multiple tracks and released the joint EP RR in 2023. They announced their engagement in December 2022 before publicly confirming the end of their relationship in July 2023. Rosalía was subsequently in a relationship with American actor Jeremy Allen White from late 2023 until the summer of 2024.

Rosalía developed a passion for flamenco at age 13 after discovering the music of legendary singer Camarón de la Isla. She initially trained at the Taller de Músics in Barcelona before earning admittance into the Superior School of Music of Catalonia, studying under master flamenco instructor José Miguel Vizcaya, known as Chiqui de La Línea. At age 17, she underwent vocal cord surgery due to strain from intense practice and spent a year in vocal rehabilitation.

During her early twenties, Rosalía performed as the lead vocalist of the flamenco fusion group Kejaleo and worked with guitarist Juan "Chicuelo" Gómez on live projects. In 2016, she partnered with musician and producer Raül Refree to record her debut solo studio album, Los Ángeles (2017). Released by Universal Music, the acoustic folk record reimagined traditional flamenco songs focused on themes of mortality, earning Rosalía widespread critical acclaim in Spain and a nomination for Best New Artist at the Latin Grammy Awards.

Rosalía conceived her second studio album, El mal querer (2018), as her baccalaureate degree project at the Catalonia College of Music. Co-produced with Spanish musician el Guincho and inspired by the 13th-century Occitan romance Flamenca, the conceptual record merged flamenco with urban beats and contemporary pop. Its lead single, "Malamente", became an international hit, propelled by its acclaimed music video directed by the Barcelona production company Canada. The follow-up singles "Pienso en tu mirá" and "Di mi nombre" solidified her mainstream popularity.

El mal querer earned critical acclaim worldwide, winning the Latin Grammy Award for Album of the Year and the Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album. In 2019, Rosalía expanded into reggaeton and urbano styles with the standalone singles "Con altura" alongside J Balvin and "Yo x ti, tú x mí" with Ozuna. "Con altura" earned over one billion views on YouTube, won two MTV Video Music Awards, and made Rosalía the first Spanish act to win a VMA. In 2020, she made history as the first Spanish-singing performer nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards.

In March 2022, Rosalía released her third studio album, Motomami, through Columbia Records. Departing from the flamenco focus of her previous work, the record delivered an experimental take on reggaeton, bachata, industrial music, and jazz. The project produced international hit singles including "La Fama" featuring the Weeknd, "Saoko", and the standalone summer release "Despechá". Motomami became the best-reviewed album of 2022 on Metacritic and achieved the highest single-day streaming debut on Spotify for a Spanish-language album by a female artist up to that point.

To promote the album, she embarked on the extensive Motomami World Tour in 2022 and staged a major festival run in 2023, performing across 21 countries for nearly two million fans, including a historic free concert for over 160,000 attendees at Mexico City's Zócalo. Motomami won four Latin Grammy Awards, making Rosalía the first woman to win Album of the Year twice as a lead artist, and earned the Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album.

Rosalía continued to broaden her sonic range with her fourth studio album, Lux, released in November 2025. Co-produced alongside various collaborators and featuring the London Symphony Orchestra, the record combined art pop and classical orchestration while exploring spiritual themes and female saints. The album featured lyrics written in fourteen different languages and spawned chart-topping singles such as "Berghain", a collaboration with Björk and Yves Tumor, and "La Perla". Lux debuted in the top ten of the Billboard 200 and UK Albums Chart, breaking daily streaming records for Spanish-speaking female artists.

In addition to her recording career, Rosalía expanded into acting. She made her feature film debut with a cameo in Pedro Almodóvar's 2019 drama Pain and Glory, appearing opposite Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas. She also joined the cast of the HBO television series Euphoria in a recurring role for its third season.

Rosalía's vocal style incorporates elements of traditional flamenco cante jondo, characterized by intricate melismas and emotive delivery, often juxtaposed with electronic synthesizers and auto-tune effects. She has cited Camarón de la Isla, Björk, and James Blake as foundational musical influences, alongside visual and performance inspirations like Spanish dancer Carmen Amaya and entertainer Lola Flores.

Her modern reinterpretation of traditional Spanish music has generated public discussion regarding cultural exchange and representation, particularly from members of the Gitano community over her use of Andalusian cultural motifs. Rosalía has maintained that flamenco is an art form rooted in multicultural exchanges among Romani, Moorish, and Jewish traditions, describing musical expression as universal. Her global profile has helped open mainstream international audiences to Spanish-language contemporary folk and pop.