Motomami

In November 2018, Rosalía released her second studio album El Mal Querer to critical acclaim and commercial success. The album, a concept album inspired by the 13th-century anonymous Occitan novel Romance of Flamenca, launched the singer into mainstream stardom.[1] 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 the Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.[2][3]

Recording sessions for the singer's next project began in Los Angeles as early as 2019.[4][5] While on tour that year, Rosalía released a collection of singles. In March, the first of eight singles, "Con Altura", featuring J Balvin and El Guincho, was released on digital platforms.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] The singer continued releasing standalone singles such as "A Palé", "Dolerme" and "Juro Que" throughout 2019 and 2020.[9] Rosalía also collaborated twice with Travis Scott; at first on the remix of his track "Highest in the Room" alongside Lil Baby and then on "TKN", the latter of which became the singer's first entry on the Billboard Hot 100.[10][11]

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.".[12] 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.[13][14]

During 2021, Rosalía released more standalone singles such as "Lo Vas a Olvidar" and "Linda" alongside Billie Eilish and Tokischa respectively.[15][16] In May, talent manager Rebecca León confirmed that Rosalía wouldn't release an album in 2021.[17] In August, the singer revealed to Santiago Matías that the album "was already taking shape" yet the number of songs was still unknown.[18] She later admited that she had troubled times with deadlines and was unable to write anything while on tour, with isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic helping the process flow.[19] In October, the singer teased on TikTok that the project will be released "soon" and premiered 30 seconds of the album's lead single.[20] During a fan meet and greet in Mexico in partnership with Exa FM, Rosalía revealed that her new album will be "very different" and that the lead single would be released in November.[21]

Motomami 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 one of the album's songs as well as a tentative '2022' release date.[22] On 8 November 2021, Rosalía announced the album's lead single, "La Fama", which features Canadian singer the Weeknd, which was released on 11 November.[23]

Speaking to Diego Ortiz for Rolling Stone, Rosalía described her upcoming record as "brave" and revealed that the album's biggest influence has been reggaeton music.[24] Motomami revolves around themes like "transformation, sexuality, heartbreak, celebration, spirituality, self-respect and isolation". This will be the first album of Rosalía to tell a personal story as Los Ángeles is a cover record of public domain songs and El Mal Querer follows the storyline of the Romance of Flamenca. During the whole composition process, Rosalía took inspiration of Héctor Lavoe, Nina Simone, Patti Smith, Bach, Michéle Lamy, Pedro Almodóvar and Andrei Tarkovsky, between others.[25] About the genres sung during the album, Ortiz stated that "there’s room for everything here. Every element has been hand-sewn to form a skeleton of what modern music should be: art and flavor, dembow, champeta, flamenco, bachata, hip-hop, piano melodies etc".[26]

Ortiz compared "the degree of lyrical, rhythmic and sonic experimentation" to the Beastie Boys’ Ill Communication or Moby’s Play and found similarities in Lorde's Pure Heroine and The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails.

The album's title is confected as a non-accepted binominal. Rosalía stated that she chose to name her album like that because it "is structured in binaries, two types of contrasting energy." She also explained 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.[27] Rosalía hopes Motomami "provides a feminist counterbalance to misogyny in music".[28] Tokischa, Rita Indiana and Caroline Shaw are some of the women who are part of this future project. In 2020, Pharrell Williams spoke to the Othertone podcast that he was "blown away by the title" and by "how well Rosalía knows herself", and expressed that he is "honoured to be a part of it”.[29]

The title also references the company her mother Pilar Tobella runs, Motomami S.L., which administrates activities around artist representation.[30]

• "La Fama" (featuring the Weeknd)
• "Delirio de Grandeza"[32] (samples "Delirio de Grandeza" by Justo Betancourt & "Delirious" by Vistoso Bosses).
• "Saoco"