El mal querer

El mal querer
Studio album by
Rosalía
Released2 November 2018
RecordedMay 2016–November 2017
Studio
  • Casa Arte (El Hierro, Canary Islands)
  • El Guincho Studio (Barcelona)
  • Lo-Fi Studios (Barcelona)
Genre
Length30:13
LanguageSpanish
LabelColumbia
Producer
Rosalía chronology
Los Ángeles
(2017) 		El mal querer
(2018) 		Motomami
(2022)
Singles from El Mal Querer
  1. "Malamente"
    Released: 30 May 2018
  2. "Pienso en tu mirá"
    Released: 24 July 2018
  3. "Di mi nombre"
    Released: 30 October 2018
  4. "Bagdad"
    Released: 4 December 2018
  5. "De aquí no sales"
    Released: 22 January 2019

El mal querer (transl. "The Bad Loving")[1] is the second studio album by Spanish singer and songwriter Rosalía. It was released on 2 November 2018 by Columbia Records[a]. The album was written by Rosalía and co-produced with El Guincho on an initial low budget as an independent artist.[2] Presented as experimental and conceptual; a "romantic document that seamlessly links flamenco's characteristic melodrama to the storytelling of modern, woman-flexing R&B",[3] the album follows the anonymous 13th-century Occitan novel Flamenca.[4][5] It served as the singer's baccalaureate project, graduating from Catalonia College of Music with honors.[6]

Promotion prior to the album release encompassed the release of three singles: "Malamente", "Pienso en tu mirá"—both accompanied by music videos that went viral on social media[7]— and "Di Mi Nombre". Two other singles, "Bagdad" and "De Aquí No Sales", were released after the album. Other promotional initiatives included the display of a billboard in Times Square,[8] as well as live performances at several Spanish festivals, a sold-out concert at Plaza de Colón, the 2018 MTV Europe Music Awards and the Latin Grammy Awards.[9][10][11] To further promote the album, Rosalía embarked on the El Mal Querer Tour, which commenced in March 2019 and ended that December.[12]

The album received universal critical acclaim for its experimental production— the use of flamenco elements mixed with pop and urbano music—, Rosalía's vocals, and accompanying visuals. It became a commercial success, reaching the top of the Spanish Charts and the US Billboard Latin Pop Albums chart. It also scored her second consecutive Premio Ruido win.[13] Since June 2021, El Mal Querer holds the record for the longest-charting album in Spanish history.[14]

All aspects of El Mal Querer, including visuals, engineering, composition and vocals, were highly awarded by the Recording Academy. At the 2018 Latin Grammy Awards, "Malamente" was nominated for five awards including Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Short Form Music Video, Best Urban Fusion Performance and Best Alternative Song, winning the latter two, and at the next year's ceremony, the album won for Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Album, Best Engineered Album and Best Recording Package, while the song "Pienso En Tu Mirá" was nominated for Best Pop Song. With six awards, it became the most awarded album by a female artist and the only female artist to win Album of the Year after Shakira.[15] The album also won the Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.[16] In the 2020 update of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, El Mal Querer was named the greatest Spanish-language album of all time and the 315th best overall.[17] The same magazine placed it in the 50 Best Concept Albums of All Time of 2022, also being the best in Spanish-language and the 10th best overall.[18]

  1. ^ "Rosalía: The Pop Star Bringing Flamenco to a New Generation". Archived from the original on 14 November 2018. Retrieved 15 November 2018.
  2. ^ "Rosalía, entrevista en la revista Mondo Sonoro (2018)". MondoSonoro (in Spanish). 2 November 2018. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  3. ^ Pitchfork (4 October 2021). "The 200 Most Important Artists of the Last 25 Years". Pitchfork. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  4. ^ Linés, Esteban. Rosalía: 'Ni yo ni mi música hemos cambiado' Archived 2 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine (In Spanish). La Vanguardia. Retrieved 31 October 2018
  5. ^ López-Egea, Sergi (16 November 2018). "Rosalía, una musa en el bar Xapakó". elperiodico (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 22 June 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  6. ^ Observador, El. "Rosalía: un terremoto de la música global que nació de una tesis de grado". El Observador. Archived from the original on 12 July 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  7. ^ Alonso, Sebas E. Rosalía, número 1 en YouTube España con 'Malamente' y en los virales de Spotify con 'Brillo' Archived 2 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine (In Spanish). Jenesaispop. Retrieved 31 October 2018
  8. ^ Guillén, Raúl (13 September 2018). "Rosalía revela la portada y la fecha de publicación de 'El mal querer' con un anuncio en Times Square". Jenesaispop (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 1 October 2018. Retrieved 30 September 2018.
  9. ^ "El huracán Rosalía arrasa a su paso por los Grammy Latinos con 'Malamente'". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 16 November 2018. Archived from the original on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  10. ^ "Tienes que ver la actuación de Rosalía en los MTV EMAs". El HuffPost (in Spanish). 4 November 2018. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  11. ^ "'Rosalía de España', a la conquista del mundo desde la Plaza de Colón de Madrid arropada por 11.000 fans". Europa Press. 31 October 2018. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  12. ^ "Fotos: 'El Mal Querer', la gira de Rosalía". El País (in Spanish). 11 December 2019. ISSN 1134-6582. Archived from the original on 6 December 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  13. ^ "'El Mal Querer' de Rosalía, Premio Ruido al mejor disco español". Marilians (in Spanish). 1 February 2019. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  14. ^ Info, Rosalía (8 June 2021). "'El Mal Querer' de Rosalía es ahora el álbum con más longevidad en la lista de ventas de España". Twitter. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  15. ^ Francia, Ricardo Mir de (15 November 2019). "Rosalía logra lo que solo había logrado Shakira". elperiodico (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 27 January 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  16. ^ "2020 GRAMMY Awards: Complete Winners & Nominations List". Recording Academy Grammy Awards. 20 November 2019. Archived from the original on 26 January 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  17. ^ "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 22 September 2020. Archived from the original on 22 September 2020. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  18. ^ "The 50 Greatest Concept Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. 22 September 2020. Archived from the original on 13 October 2022. Retrieved 14 October 2022.


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