Rosalía releases new album ‘Motomami’ featuring collaborations with The Weeknd and her grandmother

‘Motomami’ was one of the most anticipated albums of Catalan singer, Rosalía. The 45-minute release was unveiled to the world on Friday and includes reggaeton, ballads, and ‘Hentai’, a track that generated controversy on social media when the single was launched.

"Te quiero ride, como a mi bike. Hazme un tape, modo Spike. Yo la batí hasta que se montó. Segundo es chingarte, lo primero Dios," the Catalan musician sings in ‘Hentai’.

It could be translated as "I want to ride you, like my bike. Record me on a video, following Spike’s mode," this last sentence, however, does not have a real translation as nobody, except Rosalía, knows what she meant with "modo Spike," some have speculated it related to either filmmaker Spike Lee or Spike Jonze.

The song continues: "I mixed it until it was assembled. Second is to fuck you, as God is first," as a literal translation. 

Rosalía’s latest album 'Motomami' also features collaborations with several internationally renowned artists, such as Canadian singer The Weeknd in their track ‘La Fama’. But, Rosalía's followers have been more intrigued by the appearance of the musician’s grandmother in ‘G3 N15'.

At the end of the song, Rosalía's grandmother praises the work of her granddaughter with a message in Catalan reminding that "in difficult moments, it is always useful to have a reference in God. God is always in the first place, followed by the always important family," her grandmother says in a voice note before the track finishes.

Third album

‘Motomami’ is the third album of the singer from Sant Esteve Sesrovires, a near town to Barcelona. In 2017, Rosalía released‘ Los Ángeles’, but it was not until ‘El Mal Querer’ in 2018 that she became internationally recognized.

Her new album starts with ‘Saoko’, a song that was released in February in tribute to classical reggaeton. "It is a musical genre that I really like and it has been quite present and a source of inspiration during the ‘Motomami’ project," Rosalía said.

The album also includes flamenco, a genre of Spanish music strongly present in her previous album, ‘El Mal Querer’.

International recognition

The Catalan singer was not known to the majority of the population until she released ‘El Mal Querer’. However, some international artists had already been working with her, either as a songwriter or featuring her singing.

After the singer’s 2018 album, everything changed and she has since become renowned in Catalonia and further afield. In fact, she has become the first female singer to sing two songs in Spanish on the famous American NBC TV show, Saturday Night Live (SNL) in its 47 seasons.

On March 12, Rosalía sang two of her new hits: ‘Chicken Teriyaki’ and ‘La Fama’. But, if you add this TV appearance to the one she did in 2021 with Puerto Rican Bad Bunny, the Catalan singer has sung more songs in Spanish than any other artist in the history of SNL.