Biography
Biography: from flamenco schools to global stages
Early life and training
Rosalia Vila Tobella was born on 25 September 1992 in Sant Cugat del Vallès and grew up in Sant Esteve Sesrovires, a town in the Baix Llobregat area of Catalonia. She came from a family without a musical background and discovered flamenco as a teenager, drawn in particular to the recordings of Camarón de la Isla. Formal study followed at the Taller de Músics in Barcelona, where she completed a six-year course, and later at the Catalonia College of Music, from which she graduated in 2017.
Before her records, she sang with the flamenco group Kejaleo, which released Alaire in 2013, and worked as a duo with the guitarist Chicuelo on soundtrack and festival dates. She also taught flamenco and worked as a vocal coach, and in 2016 recorded Antes de morirme with the rapper C. Tangana, a collaboration that later charted in Spain after it appeared on the soundtrack of the Netflix series Élite. These early assignments shaped a method she still uses: close study of tradition, then deliberate disruption of it.
Los Ángeles and the early breakthrough
A 2016 show at Barcelona's Tablao del Carmen brought Rosalía to the attention of the producer Raül Refree, and she signed with Universal Music soon afterward. Their album Los Ángeles, released on 10 February 2017, reworked flamenco standards over Refree's spare, aggressive guitar. Critics received it warmly, and the record settled into a long run on Spain's albums chart. At the 2017 Latin Grammy Awards she was nominated for Best New Artist.
For her second album, Rosalía worked with the producer El Guincho, and the pair built El mal querer largely in a Barcelona apartment with a computer, a microphone and a sound card. The album follows the toxic relationship described in the anonymous thirteenth-century Occitan novel Flamenca, mixing traditional palmas and cante with hip-hop, trap and electronic pop. Released on 2 November 2018, it entered Spain's albums chart at number two. The lead single Malamente, issued in May 2018, had already drawn international attention.
El mal querer and the awards breakthrough
El mal querer converted critical attention into institutional recognition. At the 2018 Latin Grammy Awards, Malamente earned Rosalía two wins, for Best Urban Fusion/Performance and Best Alternative Song. The following year she collected five Latin Grammys, including Album of the Year for El mal querer and Best Urban Song for Con altura with J Balvin. In 2019 Billboard presented her with its Rising Star award at Women in Music, and in January 2020 she won the Grammy for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album while also being nominated for Best New Artist.
Stage and screen work broadened the picture. In 2019 she toured El mal querer across the Americas, Europe and Africa, released the J Balvin collaboration Con altura, which shared the MTV Video Music Award for Best Latin Video, and acted in Pedro Almodóvar's film Pain and Glory. She performed Juro Que at the 62nd Grammy Awards ceremony, where she was also a Best New Artist nominee.
Between albums and the making of Motomami
The years between her second and third albums were dense with guest appearances: with Sech and others on the Relación remix; with Bad Bunny on La Noche de Anoche; with the Weeknd on a Blinding Lights remix; with Billie Eilish on Lo Vas a Olvidar for Euphoria; with Arca on KLK; and with Travis Scott on TKN, which gave Rosalía an entry on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2020. She and the producer Arca also curated the Motomami Los Santos radio station for Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto Online.
Motomami arrived on 18 March 2022 through Columbia Records. Lead single La Fama, featuring the Weeknd, was followed by Saoko and Chicken Teriyaki, and the album's sixteen tracks ranged across bachata, dembow, champeta, salsa homage and straight flamenco. Pitchfork's Julianne Escobedo Shepherd called it a showcase for Rosalía's exceptional range, while The Guardian's Kitty Empire heard gem after gem as flamenco rhythms rubbed against party flexes.
Motomami's awards run
At the 23rd Latin Grammy Awards in November 2022, Motomami won Album of the Year; Rosalía took home four Latin Grammys that night, and the Los Angeles Times reported that the victory made her the first woman to win Album of the Year twice. At the 65th Grammy Awards she added Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album for Motomami, her second Grammy. The album also collected Latin Grammy nominations in alternative, pop and video categories.
The Motomami World Tour carried the album through arenas and festivals on several continents, and a recorded TikTok live performance of the project earned a Best Music Film nomination at the 2023 Grammy Awards.
Lux and the present chapter
Rosalía's fourth album, Lux, was released in 2025 through Columbia Records. Its credits, published on her official site, show sessions recorded between 2023 and 2025 in Los Angeles, Miami, London, Barcelona and Seville, with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daníel Bjarnason, Catalan choirs, and collaborators including Pharrell Williams, Björk, Yves Tumor, Estrella Morente, Silvia Pérez Cruz and Carminho. The record is arranged in four movements and sung in thirteen languages.
Pitchfork's Gio Santiago reviewed Lux as avant-garde classical pop arranged in four movements, and press coverage framed its songs of heartbreak and recovery around the end of Rosalía's engagement to the singer Rauw Alejandro in 2023. At the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards, LUX (Complete Works) is nominated in Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Alternative Music Album, among other categories.
Artistry and advocacy
Critics describe Rosalía's music as a genre-bending project rather than a fixed style. She writes and co-produces her records and works with a long-term creative team that includes her sister, Pili Vila, as stylist and creative director. On Motomami, The Guardian highlighted her refusal to compromise; Pitchfork has tracked her path from new flamenco reinterpreter to experimental auteur.
Accepting Billboard's Rising Star award in 2019, Rosalía recalled that the engineers and producers she met as a student were men, and she promised to keep working until women and men appear in studios in equal numbers. The statement sits beside a wider public profile that includes the management firm Motomami, which her mother runs.
Selected moments
Career highlights
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Los Ángeles debut released
Her debut album with producer Raül Refree was released on 10 February 2017 through Universal Music, reworking flamenco standards and anchoring her graduation from the Catalonia College of Music.
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Malamente breaks through
The opening single of El mal querer, issued in May 2018, introduced Rosalía's fusion of flamenco, pop and urban music to an international audience and went on to win two Latin Grammy Awards.
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Latin Grammy Album of the Year win
El mal querer won Album of the Year at the 2019 Latin Grammy Awards, one of five wins for Rosalía that night, and Con altura took Best Urban Song with J Balvin.
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Billboard Rising Star
Billboard presented Rosalía with its Rising Star award at the 2019 Women in Music event, honoring a year in which her flamenco-influenced pop reached a widening global audience.
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MTV Video Music Award for Con altura
Con altura, with J Balvin and El Guincho, won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Latin Video in 2019; El País reported that Rosalía became the first female Spanish artist to take a VMA.
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Grammy Award for El mal querer
El mal querer won Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album at the 62nd Grammy Awards, and Rosalía was also a nominee for Best New Artist that night.
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Motomami released
Released on 18 March 2022 through Columbia, the sixteen-track album moved from bachata and dembow to salsa homage and flamenco, with features including the Weeknd, Pharrell and Tokischa.
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Second Latin Grammy Album of the Year
Motomami won Album of the Year at the 2022 Latin Grammy Awards, where Rosalía took home four awards; the Los Angeles Times reported she became the first woman to win the category twice.
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Grammy Award for MOTOMAMI
MOTOMAMI won Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album at the 65th Grammy Awards, Rosalía's second Grammy, while a TikTok live performance of the project was also nominated.
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Lux released
Her fourth album arrived through Columbia, arranged in four movements and sung in thirteen languages, with the London Symphony Orchestra and collaborators including Björk and Estrella Morente.
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Latin Grammy nominations for LUX
LUX (Complete Works) entered the 2026 Latin Grammy cycle with nominations including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Alternative Music Album.
Recognition
Awards and nominations: Grammys, Latin Grammys and more
Rosalía's award record is anchored by the Recording Academy and the Latin Recording Academy. Her official Grammy artist page lists two wins from four nominations, and her Latin Grammy artist page lists eleven wins from thirty-one nominations, including Album of the Year for El Mal Querer in 2019 and for Motomami in 2022.
Billboard honored her with the Rising Star award at its 2019 Women in Music event, and Con altura shared the MTV Video Music Award for Best Latin Video in 2019. Nominations at the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards for LUX work remain pending.
- Grammy Awards won
- 2
- Grammy nominations
- 4
- Latin Grammy Awards won
- 11
- Latin Grammy nominations
- 31
| Year | Award | Category | Work |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Latin Grammy Awards | Best New ArtistNominee | |
| 2018 | Latin Grammy Awards | Best Urban Fusion/PerformanceWinner | Malamente |
| 2018 | Latin Grammy Awards | Best Alternative SongWinner | Malamente |
| 2019 | Latin Grammy Awards | Album of the YearWinner | El Mal Querer |
| 2019 | Latin Grammy Awards | Best Urban SongWinner | Con Altura |
| 2019 | Billboard Women in Music | Rising StarWinner | |
| 2019 | MTV Video Music Awards | Best Latin VideoWinner | Con Altura |
| 2020 | Grammy Awards | Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative AlbumWinner | El Mal Querer |
| 2020 | Grammy Awards | Best New ArtistNominee | |
| 2022 | Latin Grammy Awards | Album of the YearWinner | Motomami (Digital Album) |
| 2022 | Latin Grammy Awards | Record of the YearNominee | La Fama |
| 2023 | Grammy Awards | Best Latin Rock or Alternative AlbumWinner | MOTOMAMI |
| 2023 | Grammy Awards | Best Music FilmNominee | Motomami (Rosalía Tiktok Live Performance) |
| 2026 | Latin Grammy Awards | Album of the YearNominee | LUX (Complete Works) |