Eight Years Of Rituals With Rosalía

In 2018, I became convinced that flamenco had South Asian origins. I hadn’t listened to much flamenco, if any at all, until my roommate Jake introduced me to Rosalía. I watched her dance—using her feet to strike the ground, making an instrument of her body, raising her arms in intricate flourishes—and I thought … I’ve seen this before. It looked so Indian to me.

Jake and I used to argue about it whenever we watched her music videos, which means we argued about it constantly. Me: “Romani people are from Rajasthan, and there is no flamenco without Romani people!” Him: “Bitch, you can’t even spell flamenco.” We didn’t go anywhere without first downing black cherry White Claws and watching the “Con Altura” music video, mimicking her stomps on the brown carpet of our living room. I think I still have the whole thing memorized.

Even though Rosalía experienced success early in her career—her debut album was beloved by critics—it took some time for pop fans to catch up. I remember going to Lollapalooza in 2019 and begging my high school friend to ditch a white rapper named “Yung Gravy” and come with me to catch Rosalía instead. She did, and she thanked me afterward.