J: This album could have ended very badly. R: I know right. J: A melody with sixths and fifths, right? R: Yes, because I was thinking
of large intervals. [Rosalía singing] R: I thought: "I don't want to have more than 16 songs". I said: "Not more than 16".
J: Ok, why? J: I'm going to transcribe them. R: You are good at transcribing.
I know that. J: Not your lyrics. Your chords, yes. R: "Not your lyrics"? J: Your chords yes, but your lyrics... R: "Los Angeles", "El Mal Querer" were a
completely different way of approaching a project. There are things that make me say: "Damn,
I wish I hadn't seen this." I want to cover my eyes.
You know? How do I explain to him what I'm seeing? How can I explain?
Since he's not here and I'm not there. In 2018 I published a video analyzing
"El Mal Querer" by Rosalía. [Counting the Clapping] I didn't expect that video to go so viral,
but it went viral. She saw it and answered it by analyzing
the album with me. R: The use of Ad Libs,
as Jaime is commenting, is very present in urban music in general
and I would even say in flamenco too. Very interesting things came out of that, because analyzing a work
with its author is incredible. But that was at a distance. Now that she's released her new album
"Motomami", we've met in person to discuss it. But "Motomami" has a problem. "Motomami" is an extreme collage with crazy mixes of things
that have nothing to do with each other. It has minimalist reggaeton, SIGN: (Eliminates low and high frequencies) "Disney" ballads with
hyper-sexual lyrics, LYRICS: "In love with your gun, a red poppy." including flamenco, SIGN 1: (filtered clapping)
SIGN 2: (Rosalía + Choir) highly distorted experimental sambas and others that I don't even know how to categorize. And of course, the problem is that you listen to
that and say: "What makes this 16 songs become an album and not 16 individual songs?
What is the point of this? Has Rosalía lost her grip?
What is happening? Let's figure out what elements Rosalía has used to stitch this together as an album with
coherence. Elements that you may not detect on a first listen, which
explains why it has generated so much love, SIGN: (#1 GLOBAL) / SIGN: (ROSALÍA IS A VISIONARY)
SIGN: (WORLD POP ICON) and so much hate. I think the album sucks What we wanted from Rosalía is gone. Let's unravel "Motomami". Understand
Rosalía's transformation. And why
in some dimensions this is not her third album, but
actually her first. Let’s go. LYRICS: I’m very much me, I transform myself. A butterfly, I transform myself. Drag Queen makeup, I transform myself. “Lluvia de Estrellas”, I transform myself. Let's start by talking about Hentai. A controversial song
with a brilliant melody. J: I'm so excited that you're here. R: Same. R: We have a chord wheel. SING: (In some rounds they have
extensions other than 7th and 9th) These chords are repeated throughout
the song , but over them the melody works in four
completely different ways. J: This first melody uses stepwise motion. SIGN 1: (Melody 1: stepwise motion)
SIGN 2: (Small intervals, almost no skips) It is a melody without skips. SIGN 1: (Melody 1: stepwise motion)
SIGN 2: (Small intervals, almost no skips) J: Then the next one is
by sixths and by fifths. R: Yes, because I was thinking of large intervals. SIGN: (Melody 2: skips) This is full of skips. SIGN: (Melody 2: skips) R: Flamenco melodies are my base, it is very different. It all has to do
with half steps, whole steps... There aren’t usually large skips
J: Ok. R: As a composer I thought: "How can I push myself
to make a different composition?" I remember I told Pharrell that
I wanted to do a song slightly inspired by
Frank Sinatra, that tend to have these skips and large intervals.
J: Like My Way by Frank Sinatra, J: How does it go "My Way"? R: That's what I'm saying. J: How is it
R: Yes, yes, yes. [Rosalia sings] J: That’s it. [Rosalia sings] R: Exactly. That’s what I mean.
J: Yes, yes, yes. R: That’s the vibe, you know?
J: Along that vibe. The reason it has that Frank Sinatra vibe, is because she uses a
lot of extensions. You are in F key and the melody goes: F C
And you may think: "below that there will be an F chord." No.
There is a Bb chord. Then
you the melody goes: D B Is there a
Bb or Gm chord below? Neither. There's an Am chord. And so on. J: And then
R: "Disney, a little Disney." J: The "So, so, so good" is
R: That's Pharrel’s: Rising, it surprises you,
It refreshes you. SIGN: (Melody 3: rising arpeggio) R: Very arpeggiated.
J: Yes. J: And the 4th melody which goes… SIGN: (Melody 4) J: Did you make that melody?
Because it sounds like you. R: Yes, because of the melismas.
J: Yes, that’s it. J: A melisma is when
the note changes, keeping the same syllable. SIGN: (Melisma: one syllable, many notes) It is repeating the same figure all the time, but as the chords
underneath change, It generates
a lot of different tensions. LEFT SIGN: (Different chords)
RIGHT SIGN: (Same melody) Maybe the lyrics shock you and you're
like, "Call the bishop, someone stop her!" But even if you're in that mood, you have to admit
that musically it's very good. J: People are confused by the lyrics. Yeah, yeah. I already want do hentai with you, I already want to do hentai with you. Hmm, hentai. J: It has received very little hate though. R: Very little hate? J: For what I expected. R: Really? R: Nice, nice. J: It's a song where you have a humorous tone, but not because you're not
taking the song seriously. It's a song that's honest and committed
to what it's saying. R: One hundred percent! That’s the point. Simply speaking
of a sexual theme like any other theme, but at
the same time with a sense of humor. Because damn, a bit of irony in some sentences. Some phrases are there
to make you smile. LYRICS: I beat it Till it got whipped. Second thing is f*** you, First thing is God. R: I think it might make sense
for there to be a contrast between the lyrics and the arrangement. That way
the lyrics are even more radical. But not everything is piano and voice. Rosalía adds
one more thing in Hentai one thing that will help us understand the
album: The machine guns. R: They’re reggaeton drums,
but deconstructed. J: Like this, right? R: How can I use classic reggeaton drums,
but in a pattern that doesn't have anything to do with how they are
normally used in reggaeton? J: It's a very strange mix, isn't it?
Piano, voice and machine guns. These drums are
aggressive because of how she uses them. But also because of the sound itself. It's a sound that sounds
as if the neighbor upstair is doing construction work. It's a dry and very hard sound,
it's a classic reggeton sound. Rosalía has six reggaeton songs on the album, but the funny thing is that she also uses those
reggaeton beats in her ballads, as we have already seen, or in her bulerías
over the heel tapping and flamenco clapping. SIGN: (Aggressive drums in: bulerías) Even in a samba. SIGN: (Aggressive drums on: sambas) But we'll get into that later. In this little notebook we are going to point out the production techniques used
repeatedly by Rosalía in "Motomami". There’s one that’s key.
And we are going to see it in the next song. "Candy" For Rosalía, the most important instrumental part
of the mix is –surprise– her voice. And for your voice to be heard,
your best friend is the filter. A filter is used to remove the high frequencies, remove the low ones, or remove
whatever you want. Filtering stuff is done all
the time in music today. What is striking about this
is that Rosalía systematically removes all the
high frequencies from her instrumentals. Candy starts with a synth that is
being filtered, making it sound distant LEFT SIGN: (Filtered synth)
RIGHT SIGN : (no high frequencies) and then she sings on top of it. LEFT SIGN: (Voice Rosalía)(Synth filtered)
RIGHT SIGN: (No high frequencies) Then she takes the classic aggressive reggaeton beat,
and also filters it, She removes the high frequencies, she also takes away the bass ones, and sings By the way, I’m isolating the stems
from the songs by the AI that I spoke about in this video. In this album she filters excessively, She even filters the
heel tapping and clapping of the bulerías. RIGHT SIGN: (Filtered heel tapping and clapping) I'm going to modify the base so you can hear
what it would have sounded like without the filter. SIGN: (I add frequencies) SIGN: (Heel tapping and clap filtered) It's as if she blurres her instrumentals, It's as if she blurres the background of the photo so
that she looks crisp. For example, in "Candy",
if I remove the frequencies below one thousand hertz, Rosalía sings
"a cappella" The instrumental disappears. SIGN: (Full song: voice + base) It is not only about Rosalía filtering, but she also mixes her voice
Very dry without reverb and without vocal choirs. I'll give you an example of what
she could have done. SIGN: (I add choirs and reverb) But she does it like this. SIGN: (Original voice) J: In Candy, for example,
It’s just the filtered percussion and you. R: Yes, that’s it. J: No Ad Libs, nothing. R: Right. She uses very few instruments It's a minimalist reggaeton. Her voice is naked all the time. She is naked, with almost nothing behind. It's the album cover.
It is the point. Rosalía has one of the best voices
on the Spanish scene and putting her voice naked and using so many filters are things
that complement each other to accentuate that. And you can tell the difference with
instrumentals that she hasn't done. Let's talk now about "Delirio de Grandeza",
which is a cover of Justo Betancourt. [Rosalía singing] Rosalía removes the voice from the
original recording of Justo Betancourt, speeds it up, raises the pitch to whatever she
prefers for her voice. J: And sings
SIGN 1: (Rosalía's voice) SIGN 2: (Instrumental base) Look at the brass instruments,
how much they invade her preferred frequencies of her voice. But at the end of the song
she can't help it, she samples a rap, (this is the original base) Speeds it up, tones it down, filters it, and sings. (the Justo Betancourt base has disappeared) And as we said before, in the mix the voice has no
reverb and no choirs. It doesn't sound like this: It sounds dry: Actually, Rosalía to modifies her voice the most when she chops it. Chops are the base of "La Fama",
which is a bachata. It has the classic bachata rhythm She puts her voice on top of that, which sounds like always, very dry,
SIGN: (bare vocals (no reverb or vocal harmonies)) occasionally filtering the instrumental a lot to let the voice stand out a lot
SIGN: (filters) SIGN 1: (Rosalía Voice/Nude Voice) SIGN 2: (Instrumental base/filtering) Finally adding chops of her
voice that function as an instrument:
(chops) We interrupt the broadcast
to explain the chops In order to 'chop' a voice we take a syllable
of Rosalía's voice that we have recorded somewhere and then we 'pitch' it to the rest
of the keyboard and play whatever we want. SING: (Rosalia's voice chops)
SIGN: (Voice) With Rosalia's voice
I can play whatever I want. Back to the usual programming. It's a technique that she uses in "La Fama"
and in other songs Lyrics: Together at night, set for the splurge,
your jet black hair, the Versace combo R: "La Combi Versace" has chops of Tokischa Aha R: Her verse was much longer but I asked her permission.
"Hey, is it okay if this part of the verse is more like a feeling?"
Because it gives a lot of urgency I mean, her chops. SIGN1: (Tokischa and Rosalía's chops)
SIGN2: (Base) Let's see. Let's see, let's see, let's see, let's see. In addition to the chops, there's a theme throughout the album that consists of collage.
SIGN (Collage) Combining unrelated elements in
the same song. On purpose. Intensely. We've seen in "Hentai" hypersexual lyrics
with a balade with machine guns. We’ve seen the instrumental of
Justo Betancourt become a Soulja Boy rap suddenly
SIGN: (collage) and now we're going to see "CUUUUuuuuuuute" which is this super aggressive samba,
a collage of various things. It starts with someone counting numbers. R: This guy who sings numbers, whatever comes into his mind he sings it. He creates incredible melodies
J: Who is he? Ok, look him up, his name is Soytiet I sampled an Instagram video J: I've seen you make a Tiktok with him R: Yes because he has already done a Tiktok saying "Motomami" R: he has a lot of feeling, man, when he sings
J: the "one" by Soytiet continues chopped on the back. "one" "one" and suddenly
the samba starts and the "one" doesn't stop. And when you least expect it,
all of a sudden… Lyrics: that here the best artist is God. Butterflies loose on the street.
J: Collage R: What was the question? I got distracted, sorry R: I have attention deficit. J: It’s there in the album. R: I love that you say that, J: Yeah, yeah, it's an album, kind of… “I just got tired of doing a samba”. “I'm going to start singing a ballad: butterflies…”. R: Man you're absolutely right, you know what? R: My friend who is a musician, I played the record for him and he said, "It's a bit psycho"
J: It's a bit psycho, yes J: It reminds me of "Bound 2" by Kanye West, R: Man, Kanye is an inspiration
J: On the Tiktok live, you made a shot J: in which you were on a motorcycle
R: It's a reference, 100% referencing him J : Your album is a collage of things you like.
R: Yes, 100% R: My favorite albums "Yeezus", "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" When I heard it for
the first time I didn't like it. And now it's a classic I
can't live without. I can't imagine having made this album without having
heard those Masterpieces first. There's one thing that I don't know if you've noticed
about the songs we've seen "CUUUUuuuuuute" although at the beginning it may seem very full to you because of how aggressive the instruments are, but it essentially
just has three elements the bass, a samba loop
SIGN: (There are only 3 elements/Bass: 1 looped note) and the vocals.
SIGN: (Drums: samba loop/Vocals) And "Hentai" was a piano, vocals and machine guns. And that's it there are 4 bars with some strings
in the background but nothing else. Candy, the chorus was some reggaeton drums filtered and voice without chords, without a thing.
SIGN1: (Rosalía Voice) SIGN2: (Beat) As a music producer, the first thing I noticed is how
minimalist the entire production was. It caught my attention
SIGN: (Minimalist production) that the songs work with so few
elements and in fact when I talked to her I discovered that she had indeed
had it in mind since the beginning. J: What I feel with this album
R: Let's see, let's see, let's see J : the word that defines it for me is “minimalism” R: Constantly.
(*minimalist in terms of music production) R: I made moodboard on the wall
and one of the words was minimalism. J: Okay, that makes sense to me. R: Yes, because I thought I needed to peel back layers,
go to the essence, find the key element that would stitch it together
so the song holds Because when you start
removing things, the song falls apart There are basic things that a song
needs, you know that well The songs in their initial version had many
layers and there was a lot of time of just working through R: the production and stripping the songs
J: removing… J: An example of minimalist production is
"Bizcochito", which by the way, the name is a response to
LYRICS: Who are you? Your bizcochito (cupcake) LYRICS: I am not and won’t be your bizcochito
but I have everything that is sinful Rosalía projects
childish innocence She starts by sampling the sound
of an arcade the reggaeton beat enters , sometimes she makes her voice sound
like a little girl's by raising the pitch and formants Here’s what her original voice sounded like. SIGN: Original voice The song usually has no more than two or three
elements at a time SIGN: (Sound / Beat / Voice) No bass, no chords, It has nothing, and she even starts doing
"tarara tarara tatá" like: “I'm in a good mood, I'm having a good time.
And humming. Just deal with it” R: I feel like singing, so I sing J: We have this thing at the office
R: Let’s see J: Every time someone does something like...
R: ...Unexpected? J: I do it because I want it and haters
be damned and I don’t care. J: We go like "tara tara tatá" R: really? That’s the spirit! J: Without worrying about trying to send a message
about these profound issues. R: Right? My other projects always had a very solemn tone,
J: Yeah, true "Los Angeles (2017), Rosalía's first work,
is a conceptual album about death” R: You know, it had a very solemn tone.
They were about dense topics. Like “let me sit down to hear this please” "El Mal Querer" (2018), Rosalía's second work,
is a conceptual album about abuse. (*It's the one I analyzed in my other video) "Los Angeles",
"El Mal Querer" there was no room for a sense of humor,
because it wasn't inviting it either. Coming from there. R: Now "Motomami" which is a
lighter energy, more celebratory, more fun, like more playful,
More like “I don't care” I only do it because I feel like it, like
an impulse Analyzing half of the album we have seen
the elements that give cohesion to "Motomami" Here you have a table in which you see in which song is each one used.
Stylistically they combine a bachata with a reggaeton, with bulerías,
with ballads, with a samba. It's all unified
by music production. Now, with this map we are going to analyze the rest of the songs,
among which are some of my favorites . And we're going to talk a little more
about the hate that Rosalía has received. LYRICS: what happened, won't happen anymore J: That's how "Diablo" begins. LYRICS: If God gives it to you, He will take it from you. And suddenly a voice begins to sing like that of a demonic child, who at first
praises her a lot and tells her: "There is none like you, you shine like the Moon" LYRICS: There is none like you, you shine like the Moon But he ends up saying: "The one I see
on the TV nowadays isn’t the one I knew." LYRICS: The one I see on the TV nowadays isn’t
the one I knew. You drive Lamborghinis. “You've changed.
I don't know who you are anymore.” In my head, the lyrics are giving voice
to a part of her fandom, which is kind of possessive, and at the same time
that they tell her: "You have an incredible voice, you're amazing like no other". They want to lock her up in a box. And when she explores other genres
of music, like these reggaeton songs, they reprimand her: "You've changed, you're not like you were before,
you're a devil" (the song’s title means “devil”) LYRICS: You haven't been careful, and your purity is gone.
I don't know who you are anymore, you devil. I don't even know who you are, devil, devil. I love this song because it's
a fusion of reggaeton with flamenco. The chords are almost
an Andalusian cadence. And to what the demon child sings to
her, she responds by singing the 7th of the chord, with a style very
flamenco and talking about her change. LYRICS: Overnight, I didn’t change. LYRICS: Overnight, my life has gone. There is a riser, an ascent. With whispers,
whispering like this: I isolate them as best I can. SIGN: full song SIGN: just whispers SIGN: exaggerated whispers (fake) I see them as voices
talking behind her back. And they sound right before
the demon kid comes back LYRICS: The one on TV is not the one I knew. And she replies to him again, on top of the whispers from before, with
a very distorted synth: LYRICS: I never lose my loyalty, not even for money. And then suddenly... A radical change. A collage! J: I don't know how you deal with hate... J: I really like... [plays "Devil"] this. J: It's like Twitter haters talking to you. J: It's like the lady that called you "Witch" J: It’s the same to me. [Sounds "Witch", "Devil", "Witch", "Devil"]
J: For me it's like... J: You know? I interpret it the same way. R: It makes sense! What you're saying makes sense. By
writing lyrics for this album, lyrics like "Bulerías",
I reasserted myself, you know? LYRICS: I didn't have to do anything that I regret or regret now,
to stay on my feet We have already seen that in "Bulerías"
the clapping and heel tapping are very filtered, and that she includes aggressive drums ,
and has a super minimalist production. Now let's look at the lyrics. R: There is a point of saying: I know who I am, I carry it forward, I
carry it forward with pride, and... I manage my own social accounts. So it's inevitable
that I’ll run into things. A lot of times, you inevitably read. TWEET: Can we pretend that Rosalía died in a tragic accident after "El Mal Querer", and ignore any sh*t she brings up now? TWEET: After hearing Rosalía's latest sh*t I can't help but feel sorry for her. It has no feeling. TWEET: That this woman has succeeded worldwide shows how screwed up the music scene and the world in general is. [more hate tweets for Rosalía] LYRICS: I'm just as much a cantaora (flamenco singer) Just as much a cantaora in a Versace tracksuit as
when I dress as a bailaora (flamenco dancer) [more hate tweets for Rosalía] LYRICS: And even if they place a curse on me talking on my back Out of every little knife stab I get my rage [2018 hate comments on "El Mal Querer"
saying they hate she changed] [2017 hate comments on "Los Angeles"
saying they hate she changed flamenco] R: And there are things that I say: "damn, I wish I hadn't seen this."
You want to cover your eyes, you know? But hey. Being exposed,
working in an industry like this, it's like an environment,
a very aggressive context, very hostile. It can be.
And that's why it sounds the way it sounds. Everything very dry. J: very aggressive. R: Yes, like very aggressive. To transfer to musical values the hostility. How aggressive
this environment can often be in which I all of a sudden have been involved
these past few years. But not all songs
have an aggressive sound. G3 N15 is dedicated to a close family member, after two years in different countries,
without being able to see him. LYRICS: Will you forgive me, for what I've missed? It’s been two years already, You are already ten, and eleven’s on it’s way R: I thought: "if I go back to Barcelona, I have no guarantee that I'll be able to return to the United States to continue with the project. It will probably get stopped.
It will last instead of three years, five. Or who knows how much", you know? There is also a point that when my team grows my responsibility grows with it. It uses a filtered electric organ sound. I isolate her voice
and play it underneath. My favorite part is the chorus, she sings it twice,
but each time in a different way. The first one, as it is more personal and has a more intimate lyric,
it does "piano subito" all the time. Which is when the intensity is very
high and then it suddenly drops. Piano subito. LYRICS: there’s an angel
burning in your chest But in the second
chorus it's the other way around. The note that you expect to
be the strongest is the strongest because she is talking about what she is experiencing The marks on the arms, (the substance abuse) of the world
of fame in Los Angeles. LYRICS: Marks on the arms
of the stars R: I thought: "How do I explain what I'm seeing?
How do I explain it to him? If he’s not here,
and I'm not there What makes it sound
a little pungent is the F Lydian the melody goes to a B note
but below there’s an F major chord. And this augmented 4th,
with the appoggiatura It’s like... it makes you feel things And then... a collage. This melody starts playing.
You may be familiar with it. And on top of that, a voice note from her grandmother, Which she sent when due to the pandemic
they hadn't seen each other for years Grandmother: "I think: How complicated is the world
Rosalía has gotten into” “But hey, if you’re happy I'm happy too” Sidenote: the melody that comes
from a Händel symphony, from there it went to British bell towers, from there to Spanish bell towers and
old clocks, colloquially known as: Your grandmother’s house clock.
Or your town bell tower. R: It's a classic. My grandmother sent me this voice note, and I said: "How do
I harmonize this?" And I thought, "Sure,
the clock melody." And there’s another ballad in “Motomami” "Como un G." It is an expression that means
"like a gangster". When she says to you: "I swear it, like a G" it's like: "for sure". She takes this piano loop, filters it, and sings on top LYRICS: If you can't have it, you'll have to let it go. LYRICS: I'm not by your side,
but I wish you peace and freedom. It talks about bonds that you leave
behind when you change and life moves on. LYRICS: I owe you nothing, and you owe me nothing. And then she sings with a lot of autotune to make the voice sound torn,
and distorted. LYRICS: Sworn like a G.
Singing ballads for you at dawn. How could I have known? J: You use autotune as
to make the voice sound torn R: Totally, because look: The voice is very clean until you get here, with a
more aggressive intent, so it wouldn't sound cheesy. And how it jumps from one note to another.
For me it is an instrument like any other. LYRICS: I’ll always love you even if I don’t have you LYRICS: You’ll always have me even if you don’t love me. This is the first album in which if Rosalía sings these lyrics to you,
she truly means them. On her previous two albums, she was playing a character, telling
a story that wasn't her personal story. This is the first album in which the lyrics that she sings
tell her story. J: In "El Mal Querer" and in "Los Ángeles" no one knew who you were.
R: You didn't know the person that well. R: I felt more like a vessel
channeling stories. That's why I also thought: "What can be most honest for me
in this project is to speak from my here and now of these three years, and if anyone wants
to look through a peephole to see what was happening right now for me, they can. The issue is that since this is the first album in which her lyrics talk about her,
sometimes only she knows what she means! I've tried to transcribe some of them
and this has been the result R: You know how to transcribe very well, I know it J: Not your lyrics
R: "Not your lyrics!!!" J: Your chords maybe, but your lyrics ???
R: Whaaaaat! J: Some of them are…
R: It’s been quite the chore, huh? R: The lyrics are like a personal diary That's why you can find "Uzi and Albinoni" all at once. R: And maybe people say "what does this mean?" J: Wait, is there somewhere in the album
where you mention Albinoni?? Because if listened to all of them
very carefully and I haven't heard that. R: Look, look. "La Combi Versace" "Rusi season coming, Uzi and Albinoni" J: I don't want to show you what we have...
R: "it’s passive" (??????) J: This is what we came up with. These are the syllables that you said! R: "pussy every noni”! No, no, no, no, no, no, J: You affirm that what you say is... what? My hypothesis:
“Rosi made a conin”, “Pussy every noni” R: Uzi...
J: oh, Uzi... okay. R: and... Albinoni.
J: yes yes, of course... J: said like that, of course, but... R: the first sentence was... "Rosi season coming".
J: "Rosi"? Like, what "Rosi"? R: "Rosi" like what my family calls me! J: ok, "Rosi season coming"
R: uh, "Rosi season coming", like... J: And what does the "ad lib" say? J: "Expensive" you say? no?
R: Expensive J: Sure.
R: like in spanglish R: For me, the point of always prioritizing the vocal tone and timbre before
the lyrics... because if someone wants to understand the lyrics they can always be found in Genius. J: Your voice works as a rhythmic instrument
all the time, and that's because of the delivery. R: And I prioritize delivery 100%
J: Don't keep reading because it's going to give you a... Let's talk about some lyrics that have caused quite a stir. "Chicken Teriyaki" LYRICS: Pa ti naki, chicken teriyaki "Chicken Teriyaki" has the beat, and this sound. And that's it!
This is the instrumental. It's a particularly minimalist production. It doesn't go like this: It goes like this: Where in other reggaeton songs use more ornate percussion... Rosalía gives you this: Where there would be many layers of instruments..: Rosalía just goes: "hm, hm" Where there would be a voice with tons of effects and ad libs... Rosalía mixes her voice bare and makes very percussive consonants. Pa ti naki, chicken teriyaki. That allows her to remove the beat, and sing the chorus "a cappella"
and keep it danceable. Then it has a touch of flamenco tapping
made with reggaeton percussion... And that's it. You don't have to think about it too much
I mean. Just like bachata, sambas,
boleros, ballads and everything that’s on the record represents music
that she listens to, she also goes out to parties and dances reggaeton,
and she’s made a reggaeton to dance to. It's not that this song is simple, it's
that this song is aggressively simple. There are people who say: "reggaeton only has
four chords", this doesn't have chords, this only has one note,
This one: [wrong sound]. This one: “hmm” It’s a G, 1/4 detuned
towards F sharp. It's the easiest song
to play ever. In fact, it might be the simplest reggaeton I’ve ever listened to in my life even the chorus is a cappella,
and at the musical production level that's not easy. It's not easy that with "hmm” “hmm” and a
reggaeton bass drum - snare - bass drum the song works. It is because of the delivery of the voice that
she does, that the song is sustained and danceable. It's funny, there are people who are a bit puzzled
about the lyrics saying: "These lyrics don't make me reflect on my own
mortality and the future of civilization". But come on, we shouldn't
overanalyze it or reject it either. It's a dance song. It's just that there are people who are getting a little angry about that.
TWEET: "Chicken Teriyaki or how to dig your own artistic grave." Most of the album is not for dancing. If you don't like that music you can continue
enjoying the rest of the album, the majority of the tracks In any case, being a collage,
the album is very inviting to split it up and send each song to different playlists
you have depending on the mood. And yet, there is a song that is
the flagship of the album, that uses all the techniques that we have seen and in which her composition process culminates. And you'll say, do you mean the one called
"Motomami", just like the album? No, I don't mean that one,
I mean "Saoko", but let's see "Motomami"
first and we’ll talk later about "Saoko". "Motomami" is one minute long, it has a hip hop touch with mouth percussions SIGN: Voice - Instruments And then she makes a collage with some jazz chords that appear, that are something like this The vibe is very cool. And then she sings the name of the album It's a very curious song,
I'm sad it doesn't last longer. But now it's time to talk about the song that most represents the album,
the one that uses all the techniques, the last one he composed and the first one,
that sounds on the album: "Saoko" Which is a reference to: LYRICS: "Saoco, papi, Saoco". It starts with a jazz drum ride that keeps playing when
the reggaeton beat comes in. The base is a piano, then she
distorts it, and then she filters it. The harmony is almost like Phrygian dominant SIGN: C dominant Phrygian The Phrygian mode
is often used by Rosalía, is related to her flamenco roots without being an explicit reference either.
SIGN: (Phrygian is used in "Bulerías" and in "Diablo") And then, in the middle of the song, the jazz collage. SIGN: Tanreb Transcriptions (link in description) And she ends the song with chops Interestingly, it has no structure, no chorus. No part of the song is repeated. It was the last one she wrote when she’d already finished the album and it unifies
all the production techniques. It has aggressive drums, aggressive
filters, dry and bare vocals, chops, collage,
very minimalist production. It’s the only one that has it all. "Saoko" is the flagship that represents the album and Rosalía's new way of composing. Experimenting without prejudice, speaking from her perspective and for the first time really doing what she wants. You needed to understand "Motomami" to
understand the meaning of "Saoko". In fact, the butterfly in the "Motomami" logo
and "Saoko" are essentially the same thing. The visual and musical emblem of her
transformation. LYRICS: I am very mine,
I transform myself, LYRICS: a butterfly,
I transform myself LYRICS: I contradict myself,
I transform myself LYRICS: I am all things,
I transform myself. The time has come. Let's understand the meaning of the song that closes the album and I'll give you
my honest opinion of the album . But first, two things: 1) I have piano courses, just in case you are interested Would you like to learn to play "Hentai", "Like a G" or "Candy" at the piano? In my piano course you learn to accompany, not just those, but any pop,
rock or reggaeton song, starting from scratch, there’s no need to even know the names
of the notes to take it. You can learn more on musihacks.com 2) I've also uploaded to YouTube the complete interview with Rosalía It lasts more than an hour and we talk
about many other topics. We explore the "Motomami" album more
and get to know Rosalía better. Let’s continue "Sakura" is the ballad that closes
the album and the melody is amazing. Just look at how it jumps around. These are very big leaps. It's not easy to sing that in tune. The chorus goes: "Like a sakura flower,
being a popstar never lasts, It doesn’t make me sad, just tender” Sakura flowers are very pretty,
but they last one week. It talks about how fame doesn't last
forever and life doesn’t either. Coming to terms with loss.
Knowing that one day you will grow old, but that you can look back and be
satisfied with how you have lived your life. The song and therefore the
entire album closes with these lines: LYRICS: The flames are beautiful
because they don’t follow any order LYRICS: and fire is beautiful
because it breaks everything My opinion of the album: What Rosalía has achieved is very special. She has managed to have her own style that you distinguish regardless of what
musical genre you are listening her do. It's like a writer who writes so that when you read something of them, you know that they
wrote it, even whether they wrote a crime novel, a newspaper article
or a kitchen mixer manual. Rosalía uses the same tools to make a reggaeton,
a ballad and some bulerías. This album is a songwriting and music production masterclass. It is what it is! Rosalía has a tremendous musical baggage and
her playlists mix Daddy Yankee, with Justo Betancourt, with Kanye West,
with Lil' Kim, with La Paquera de Jerez. And she sees how to reconcile all of that
with a minimalist production. With two strokes she draws the song...
and it works. On a personal level, as a music producer and as a composer I have learned a lot from Rosalía by analyzing "Motomami" in detail Also there’s one thing I like.
Rosalía had found a formula
with "El Mal Querer", that worked and she could
have continued to squeeze. And yet, she has risked doing this plot twist to explore her identity. And it's a risk.
Those who dance reggaeton might say “I don't want to dance reggaeton
with weird experiments” And those who like
weird experiments say “yes, but experiment
with everything except reggaeton, please” That leads me to the fact that I've seen people arguing
that "Saoko" is a commercial song. But a song where the reggeaton beat
plays for 40 seconds, Is in phrygian mode, has
jazz percussion and doesn't have a chorus… I wouldn't say that’s “commercial”,
it's not the definition of commerce! People use “commercial” to refer to when an artist compromises
their artistic vision for money. But if there is one thing
I see on this album, it is that there is nothing made by compromise,
nothing is imposed. In "Motomami" she introduces herself, more
directly than she ever has. Saying "These are all
my references and what I like and the lyrics for the first time speak
from my perspective, I am this, take it or leave it." That to me is the essence of the album And that she managed to make that
work is incredible to me. J: I've loved doing this and talking about all this. R: Me too, me too.
J: I have had a great time, it’s been exciting. R: It's really cool talking to a musician, man. It's really cool to talk
musician to musician. I wish it was always like this. I wish I could talk so much about music
because most of the time in interviews people
talk about other things J: Congratulations on your new album,
I hope it's very successful. R: Thank you very much, Jaime. May God hear you. J: Let's do thumbnails! Shall I get rid of this to
do the thumbnail? Sketch inspired by Charles Cornell
