Podcast Summary: All Songs Considered – Alt.Latino: Rosalía in Her Own Words

Date: November 12, 2025
Hosts: Felix Contreras & Ana Maria Sayer
Guest: Rosalía

Episode Overview

This episode of NPR’s All Songs Considered (Alt.Latino) dives into Rosalía’s ambitious new album, Lux, exploring the artist’s intentions, inspirations, and creative process in her own words. Hosts Felix Contreras and Ana Maria Sayer discuss their deep impressions of the record, analyze its structure and themes, and air a candid, illuminating interview Ana Maria conducted with Rosalía in Mexico City. The conversation delves into topics of feminine mysticism, language, global identity, musical experimentation, and self-discovery — revealing why Lux is being hailed as Rosalía’s most expansive and personal work yet.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. First Impressions of 'Lux'

• Ana Maria (01:22): “She told me she wanted to fit the entire world into a record. She gets pretty close to successfully doing that. It’s beautiful. It’s innovative. It incorporates sounds…from around the world…”
  • Praises the album’s global scope and thoughtful incorporation of many global rhythms and sounds.
  • Notes the strong foundation in classical music and emotionally evocative lyricism.
• Felix (02:32): “It was so overwhelming…eventually, I did go back, listened critically, listened for a lot of different things…languages, the rhythms, the orchestrations, all of that…”
  • Describes his own gradual appreciation after an initial sense of being overwhelmed.
  • Notes thematic similarities to John Coltrane's A Love Supreme—both are divided into four movements and seek to express spiritual longing and existential themes.

2. Album Structure & Thematic Evolution

• Ana Maria (04:00): Breaks down her sense of the album’s narrative:
  • First movement: Rosalía as a godlike figure, exploring womanhood and femininity.
  • Middle: Reaches a stage of “enlightenment.”
  • Later: The sound becomes softer and more tender, culminating in an “Ascension” where “God meets me in the middle.”
• Felix (05:26): Connects this spiritual journey directly to the notion of a “Love Supreme,” seeking the deepest truths through music.

3. Interview Clips: Feminine Mysticism & Global Voices

Rosalía (06:06):

• “I can say that [the album] has a lot of inspiration in la mystica femenina, in feminine mysticism. And there’s…different stories of saints, women who are saints…each saint is from a different place, then there’s a different language used in different songs…13 languages in total.”
• Uses stories of women saints from across the globe as vehicles to explore the diversity and complexity of womanhood.
• The interplay of giving and receiving energy is a through-line.

Ana Maria’s Reflection (07:27):

• “Her using these saints or these stories as vehicles to explore…the diverse elements of what being a woman has meant throughout time allowed her to explore the complexity of…the feminine experience that live within her.”

Notable Track: A song sung in Ukrainian with a strong Arabic feel, featuring the lyric:

• “At dawn I don’t want revenge, revenge wants me.”
  Ana Maria reads this moment as Rosalía channeling the multifaceted power and pain of women.

4. On Musical Innovation and Orchestration

• Ana Maria (09:49): Consulted classical music critic Tom Huizenga, who confirmed the authenticity and technical mastery of the album’s classical elements.
  • Rosalía’s voice is harmonized with the symphony, not simply layered on top: “Her voice is part of the symphony. I think that’s exceptional.”
• Felix (10:33): Emphasizes that it’s not “Rosalía with strings,” but a true integration of vocals and orchestral sound.

5. The Search for Roots & Self-Discovery in Music

Rosalía (11:43):

• “The most you understand yourself, the more you can see the other…appreciating your roots…by understanding where you come from, who you are, the more you can appreciate and understand more what’s around you and have more…your mind can expand, can see more.”
• Felix & Ana Maria (12:31–15:20): Place this in the context of a broader movement:
  • Young Latin music artists are diving into their roots.
  • Greater specificity in origin and sound is now “king,” aiding both global appreciation and genuine artistic expression.
  • This urge for reconnection may be tied to both the artists’ personal journeys and a collective “coming of age” in the Spanish-language world.

6. The Making of 'La Yugular' & Connecting Humanity

Rosalía (15:22 & 20:15):

• On ‘La Yugular’: “I really believe…hopefully my love is plural and it’s infinite…everything being connected.”
• On using Arabic: “How can I explain this in a song? …I was struggling with recording in Arabic because I’m not used to using my throat like this…that was my love letter to Arabic.”
• Breath and air as primal, connecting elements—album opens with a human breath as a symbolic foundation.

7. Favorite Tracks & Artistic Challenges

• Felix (22:20): Highlights “Mio Cristo Piangi Diamante” as encapsulating Rosalía’s artistry at this moment.
• Ana Maria (24:21):
  • Rosalía trained for a year just to sing this song; incorporates advanced operatic techniques such as “mezzavoce” (soft yet resonant singing) and “recitative.”
  • Recalls that it was Rosalía’s grandmother’s dream that she’d “sing Pavarotti one day”—and with Lux, she achieves that standard.
• Rosalía (25:47):
  • Shares a voicemail from her grandmother in Catalan. The grandmother’s joy and surprise at Rosalía’s innovation, and her pride in her granddaughter’s classical technique, underscore the album’s personal resonance.

8. Humor and Playfulness in Songwriting

• Ana Maria (27:48): Cites “La Perla” (with Yaritza from Yaritza y Su Esencia) as a hilariously scathing track, filled with zinger lines about an unreliable man:
  • Lyric highlight: “The local disappointment. National heartbreaker. An emotional terrorist. The greatest disaster in the world. He’s a pearl, no one trusts him…”
  • Notes Rosalía’s ability to “take down men” with witty, sharp lyricism.

9. Artistic Legacy and Flexibility

Rosalía (31:39):

• “My favorite artists, they are vessels…they can embody different things depending on the moment…that’s how I understand being a musician and being an artist.”
• Ana Maria & Felix (30:09–31:39):
  • Regard Lux as both intensely personal and universally resonant—the culmination (so far) of Rosalía’s lifelong musical exploration.
  • Note her redefinition of what a pop musician can be, moving beyond the need for singles to create a complete, art-focused album.

Memorable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• Ana Maria Sayer (01:22):
  “She told me that she wanted to fit the entire world into a record. She gets pretty close to successfully doing that.”

• Felix Contreras (03:03):
  “She said it’s divided into four parts…there’s so much mysticism. She’s chasing the divine…It reminds me of John Coltrane’s Love Supreme album…”

• Rosalía (06:06):
  “There’s a lot of inspiration in la mystica femenina, in feminine mysticism…through trying to understand those stories and those other women, I think that it helps me understand myself better.”

• Ana Maria Sayer (09:49):
  “Her voice is part of the symphony…I think that’s exceptional.”

• Rosalía (11:43):
  “The more you understand yourself, the more you can see the other…by understanding where you come from, who you are, the more you can appreciate and understand what’s around you.”

• Rosalía (20:15):
  “I was struggling with recording in Arabic because I’m not used to using my throat like this…the breath, that’s where all starts…that was my love letter to Arabic.”

• Ana Maria Sayer (24:21):
  “She trained an entire year just to sing this song, and I think that’s representative of all the ways she’s trying to really, like, properly embody some of these things.”

• Rosalía (25:47):
  “When I was a kid…my grandma would always be like…singing a little bit or whistling…and she would say, ‘okay, you’re studying flamenco, that’s amazing…But when you’re ready…the real deal was classical music.’ So it stuck with me.”

• Ana Maria Sayer (28:37):
  “Every line on this song is just, like, a complete takedown…She reaches that moment in the record where she’s just like, let me just take down men. They’re worth nothing, obviously.”

• Rosalía (31:39):
  “My favorite artists, they are vessels…they can embody different things…that’s how I understand being a musician and being an artist.”

Key Timestamps

• 01:22 – Ana Maria’s first impressions of Lux
• 03:03 – Felix connects Lux to John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme
• 04:00 – Ana Maria on the album’s narrative and spiritual/thematic structure
• 06:06 – Rosalía on feminine mysticism and global saints (13 languages)
• 09:49 – Ana Maria on orchestration and classical music authenticity
• 11:43 – Rosalía on self-knowledge and cultural roots
• 15:22 – Rosalía on making “La Yugular” and inter-connectedness
• 20:15 – Rosalía on incorporating Arabic music/breath and learning the technique
• 24:21 – Ana Maria on the vocal challenge of “Mio Cristo Piangi Diamante”
• 25:47 – Rosalía on fulfilling her grandmother’s dream; Catalan voicemail
• 27:48 – Discussion of “La Perla” and its humor
• 31:39 – Rosalía on artistic flexibility and legacy

Concluding Thoughts

The episode captures Lux as an ambitious, wide-ranging artistic statement—one that draws from years of travel, study, and self-inquiry. Rosalía’s approach is not simply to blend genres and languages for effect, but to use them as tools to explore the depths of female identity, spirituality, and interconnected humanity. The hosts and Rosalía herself frame Lux as less an album for chasing “hits,” and more a full-bodied work of art—firmly placing Rosalía among the most innovative and flexible artists of her generation.

For further reading:
Extended interview highlights available at NPRmusic.org.