The dense and unexplored world of MOTOMAMI.
I think it’s time for us to speak about MOTOMAMI by Rosalía.
There have been various analysis about the sound of MOTOMAMI, there has been discourse around Rosalía becoming a “sellout” for doing reggaetón or her appropriating latin culture because she’s borrowed instrumentation, slang and composition elements from it but have we sat down to talk about the narrative and common elements lyrically that makes the concept of this album more complex than just “a bunch of songs from different genres put together”?
MOTOMAMI has 3 different themes throughout the entire album: love, fame and self discovery. Sometimes these songs have more than a singular theme but we’ll explore it through these three lenses.
Let’s start with love. In all its shapes and sizes, love is essential on MOTOMAMI. Whoever she’s singing about: her nephew, music, her partner or material things her lyricism is very indicative of how invested she is on them emotionally. Her heart is open for us to explore it through each of these tracks.
“CANDY” is the first song where we get to see Rosalía’s approach to love. She describes the exact scene of when she met this person that hasn’t got over her:
“Dressed in F for Fendi,
Dancing to Candy by Plan B.
That’s how you fell in love with me,
The day I met you”
During the second verse she explains they’re not compatible and she’s now moved on. She cannot recall how this person looks, the shape of their body or face. It’s clear that they are yet to move on and during the chorus she asserts there is nothing left of that relationship.
“CHICKEN TERIYAKI” is as simple as a reggaetón song can be. Does that make it bad? not at all! It’s a fun hit for the club, to dance with your friends and sing along to. The lyrical content is centered around her showing off and having her “material girl” moment. It’s witty, playful and minimalistic in all of its approaches. It's defiant of the stereotypes reggaetón is often judged as.
“HENTAI” is essential to the portrayal of this theme on the album. It’s unapologetic, straightforward and almost majestic in its fierceness. Rosalía decided to make a sexual ballad and she took it by heart. Its controversy was absurd but it was necessary. People had to pay attention to what was a confusing snippet to be able to process the full song.
These lyrics are nearly satiric in how explicit they are:
“Expensive like the diamond on your tip, you always put me above of this puta”
The outro with the aggressive reggaetón drums symbolize a yearning for this person. It’s no longer something she desires, it’s become essential for her to exist. She’s infatuated by this relationship in ways that she doesn’t even understands.
“G3 N15” is probably Rosalía’s most personal song. During her career, she’s been able to speak through different voices, as we can see on her last two conceptual projects. Her debut is an album with a striking and dark concept: death.
Also El Mal Querer’s narrative and concept can be explained through this entire thread.
This is the first time we see Rosalía speak about herself. G3 N15 is a letter for her nephew ‘Genís’ while she was away during quarantine. The title is the combination of his name with the exact date quarantine started in Spain: 3/15. The entirety of the first verse we see her apologizing for the stages of his growth she’s been missing out thanks to being away.
“If you live peacefully or at constant war
if you’re falling in love or still fighting
if you feel warmth inside of you
it’s because there’s angel burning in your chest.
if in the heart, you’re no longer cold
it’s because you have an angel, the one that i sent you”.
After the first chorus she explains him her current state, surrounded by fame and glory. “No one’s at peace here between stars and needles”. She explicitly says she doesn’t wants him to experience anything like that. She’ll protect him by not bringing him to that world.
After this, there’s a voicenote that Rosalía’s grandma sent her during quarantine:
“Good morning, my love
I like... to think that in difficult times
It's always very helpful to have a reference of God
Family goes always in the first place, and
No, in the first place, I would say that God is always in the first place
And then family
Family is so important, dear, family's always important
You bear a path that's a bit... difficult
When I look at it I think “What a complicated world is the one Rosalía has gotten into”
But well, if you’re happy, I’m happy as well "
The last song about love in this record is “COMO UN G”. This might be my favorite song lyrically from the album next to BULERÍAS and SAKURA. It revolves around a past relationship she still have strong feelings for. This person means to Rosalía what Morticia means to Gomez. They´re willing to kill and die for them.
“That i´ll always love you even though i cannot have you,
that you´ll always have me even if you don´t want me”
She´s willing to pay the price of loving but that feeling is being unrequited. The last two lines of the chorus are almost a description of a ghost that´s trying to finish their last task on earth. “Where does the love that is not given lies? if i find yours it´ll be a settled debt”
The second main theme of MOTOMAMI is fame. Out of the gate, the amount of hate Rosalía received was humungous. The number of people camping on her Youtube comments and social media to call her untalented and not good enough was something that only a few artists could testify about. She did not only come out even stronger every era, she decided to address it formally on this album.
An elemental thing about the way she perceives fame is through two concepts: Humility and resilience. She respects fame, because she knows it´s a dangerous path and an isolated dawn with no mercy. We saw that on G3 N15. That´s why she drags herself to the ground, she knows it´s better to fight with her ego than dealing with the consequences of stardom. Through different moments during the album, we see how god and religion play a fundamental part to humble herself. We also see her undeniable ability to transform all of those horrible words into art. Resilience is what makes Rosalía the pop star she is right now.
“LA FAMA” is a bachata. Yes, Rosalía released a bachata as her lead single. Putting aside any comment on its instrumentation and production-which are brilliant- the lyrics are the front and center of this song. Before we dive in i must say The Weeknd’s vocals fitted this song in ways only a few male artist could have!
The first verse of this song starts with Rosalía’s storytelling. She sets up every detail of how she felt, what this person meant to her and how she got obsessed with something that harmed them. They warned her about this situation but she ignored it completely. Then we get to know what they´re talking about on the chorus:
“oh! what a bad mistress is fame,
its love will never be genuine.
It’ll betray you and leave you.
It’s known she’s possessive and i won’t trust her.
If u want to, fuck her but never put a ring on it”
Then The Weeknd expands about the consequences of choosing to stay with her. “Her blood boils with greediness, little stabs of her ambition cut through your chest. There’s nothing worse”. The music video showcases more of this personification and it’s just a perfect narration of what the song is about-while Rosalía is looking like a goddess-. Definitely check it out.
“BULERÍAS” is basically in response to the criticism she’s met ever since she debuted. There was a new narrative that began when she released El Mal Querer though. She had been doing traditional folk and flamenco during all of her career up until that point. The day she released MALAMENTE, a lot of people started accusing her of not being a “cantora” -a woman who sings flamenco- because she was blending flamenco with hip hop and latin influences. Also, experimenting with it. They labeled it as disrespectful and offensive towards their traditions and they´re saying she didn’t appreciate her roots.
Throughout the song she’s rightfully answering to all of those comments:
"I’m just as much of a cantaora in a versace tracksuit or dressed like bailaora -Traditional hispanic flamenco dancer-” .
She fights for her self expression and on this video you can see how many of her influences are incorporated on this track. From Perla de Cádiz, Camarón, La Paquera and Caracol, who she referenced directly by calling herself “the girl on fire” -La niña de fuego- which is a classic on his repertoire.
The whole track is a statement. She’s here to stay.
“BIZCOCHITO” is the song of the moment. Thanks to some footage a fan posted of Rosalía’s performance on the MOTOMAMI Tour, several performances and memes have been going viral over the internet which’s gave the song more exposure.
It’s definitely a joyous and hypnotic track that’s filled with energy and confidence. The title of the song is a reference to Saoco by Wisin and Daddy Yankee, song she sampled on “SAOKO”, the first song of the album. Although this allusion subverts what the original song intended. She doesn’t wants to be a “bizcochito”. She states very clearly she´s strong and capable of handling her own shit. “Either you are the pimp or being pimped. I chose my side ever since i was born”.
On the second verse, she speaks to her audience:
“I didn’t base my career on making hits, i have hits because i built the ground where i stand”. She’s authentic, singular and the most dedicated person in every room she’s been a part of. And it’s not because she inherently knew who she was, what she’s capable of and who she wanted to be. It’s something she relentlessly worked for and obtained up until this point of her career.
“DELIRIO DE GRANDEZA” is a cover of a bolero released in 1968 by Justo Betancourt. The song´s theme was originally focused on a heartbreak but as Rosalía usually does, she worked the whole cover centered around two lines: “Ambition, delusions of grandeur”.
On an interview with Rolling Stone she said:
“In ´DELIRIO DE GRANDEZA´ i sing “Ambition, delusions of grandeur”. Justo Betancourt said that, and i thought it was a great idea to write a song about that, about fame, because i do want everything that surrounds me to impact my music, my sound. And then, let it be whatever God wants”.
On the chorus she sings: “And you’ll come back to me, i expect so. I do, heartless woman”. Then, as expected, the whole song takes a complete left turn: A Soulja Boy sample starts playing during the final leg of the track. Some people have theorized about this representing the “Delusions of grandeur” she wants to avoid and how this kind of fame is what she does not want to obtain… if you ask for my opinion, i believe she was having fun at the studio and found a way for the cover to sound modern and cohesive within the album. Considering experimentation is a common theme here.
“CUUUUuuuuuute” is a deconstructed samba with some of the most jarring production Rosalía has ever had on one of her songs. It samples a video from viral star on Instagram “Soytiet” singing while counting to 21. Then, the beat drops. As i said earlier, humility is fundamental to Rosalía in the way she perceives recognition and being a celebrity. On this song, she’s speaking about that life:
“They think they’re special
as a year with snow in Miami,
like a highway
without arrows,
like a utopia
without breaches”.
She judges those who dive into that lifestyle with no precaution or remorse. It feels like she’s using the chorus as a mantra to humble herself: “Keep it cute, the best artist here is god”. If you thought the song couldn´t get even weirder, an acapella break comes in. It´s a very sweet moment, it really feels like god is whispering all of that to her ear. “Look at them, don’t lose details. There will be those who fail you but i´m always there”.
The beat comes back with more layers and the tone of the song turns even darker than before. “A for alpha, B for bravo, C for Charlie, angelic. Crashed, Lady Di. Take me far away from here”. It’s an action scene! Pretty much like her bodyguards are surrounding her and she’s trying to escape from this suffocating crowd. It’s not a secret how dehumanizing the press’ treatment was towards Lady Di, even her own death involved people who were irresponsibly following her and constantly violating her privacy. Rosalía is seeking for help in figures like her, wondering if she’ll ever get used to that amount of attention and having eyes always on her waiting to judge everything she does.
Her biggest relief is in religion and faith. She focuses on remaining humble and reminding herself there’s someone looking out for her all the time.
“SAKURA” is the closing track of the album. Thematically, it culminates her path of exploring fame, stardom and ambition. A cherry blossom or Sakura is a common flower that grows in Asia, specially Japan. Its blooming period -according to SFGATE- can last around two weeks. Rosalía uses this as a metaphor to describe the life of a pop star.
She begins describing how flowers do not smell and women are plastic on this town. She wonders why. Then on the chorus we see the culmination of the road she began when Con Altura was released. “Sakura flower, being a popstar never lasts. Sakura flower, i don´t feel ashamed it´s rather tender”.
Part of this path reached its end when she understood this is temporary. Instead of focusing on what people are saying, on whether this will break her or not, she knows there´s nothing left to lose. Then she finishes the album with my favorite lyric she´s probably ever written:
"Flames are beautiful because they have no order
and fire is beautiful because it breaks everything”
She embraces that fire. She´s not afraid anymore. Change will come and she´s prepared to accept it.
The last and most important theme of this album is self discovery. Everything we’ve talked about is essential to understand the rebrand Rosalía went through on the studio sessions of this album. We really didn’t get to know so much about her through the last projects outside of what she believed, her immense talent and passion for music. Getting deep into MOTOMAMI is getting to know her fears, her emotions, the people that she loves the most, her realizations and she just gives us a hint of how she perceives the world. Throughout this collection of tracks there’s growth and although she doesn’t explicitly gives us a timeline on her personal journey, there are a few tracks where we can analyze what makes this particular theme so important to the album’s narrative.
“SAOKO” is the opening track of the album. Nothing better to set the tone than an experimental reggaetón track with a jazz breakdown! Ever since it came out, thousands of people have been complaining because the lyrics are silly sometimes and i´m here to say, i love them. Rosalía’s approach to find creative ways to talk about transformation is outstanding in every way.
On her Genius Verified interview she explains:
“I thought “How can i find a way to express transformation and to find the greatest number of images to signify change?”
That´s why we get so many references to metamorphosis, to being reborn and finding confidence in those changes.
“When the night paints the sky and suddenly it’s bright again, everything’s changed. When the horse gets in Troy, you trust it and then it burns, uh, no”
This is the last song she composed for the album. It represents exactly what MOTOMAMI is: Unbound, extravagant, exuberant, confident and a tale of her path towards fulfillment as an artist and human.
“I know who i am wherever i go, i never forget it. I drive, God is my guide”
“MOTOMAMI” is the title track and an extremely audacious song. There are not too many layers lyrically to it but i still think the world was not ready for a full length song of this. There are a lot of references to asian culture on this project, this particular song contains quite a bit on the chorus. There is one in particular that´s worth picking out: “Weight my tatami”. A tatami is a mat used as flooring material in traditional Japanese homes. This metaphor represents her stage, which´s weight is measured by her success.
On the only verse of the song she declares:
” Give your blessing at every copycat you see.
I don´t want to compete because there´s simply no comparison”
“DIABLO” is without a doubt one of the most experimental cuts of the album. There´s certain accessibility to it because of the reggaetón beat but from its core message, the synths used on the second verse and the day to night transition that leads into James Blake finishing the song… it’s a lot.
The childish demonic voice we hear during the chorus is supposed to represent her “fans”. That voice praises her at the beginning -And like you there´s no one else, you shine like the moon- then it confronts her: “The one on TV isn´t who i met”. Even on the outro it expands with “You didn’t look out and lost your purity. I don’t know who you are anymore, devil”.
Not only random people on the internet who hated her were very critical of who she was, her own fans partook on the constant disapproval of whichever she was doing at different stages of her career. 2019, 2020 and part of 2021 were years where she released buzz singles with artists she wanted to collaborate with, fun songs that didn’t make the album or drafts she wanted to finish and put out. During this time, the new fresh discourse was Rosalía becoming “a sellout” for the industry. “She’s doing reggaetón now, where is the girl who made El Mal Querer?”, “Her creativity expired”, “We want the old Rosalía back”.
Even when we talk about the amount of criticism the singles of this album received, it was just as pointless. I must say, i was on the same wavelength because i didn’t know where these songs would lead up regarding to this project. I did not distrust her nevertheless. I knew she had something prepared with this particular record and that’s where i couldn’t doubt the artist i’ve been following since late 2018… but a great bunch of her followers did. That´s what that manipulated and childish voice is canalizing. Every comment, reply and mention of her by those people who were “supporting” her. Those who praised her for her talent, her beauty but then again, were unfairly critical of her choices and art.
During the verses, she answered to all of those people who doubted her:
“I didn’t change overnight. Overnight, i lost my life” “I do not give up on my loyalty, not even for money”
Then we get into a new stage of the song where James Blake sings: “This must be the other side of me. You are running to the light. It’s night and day” in some form of closure to the transformation she was going through on SAOKO. It’s a very specific response to the lyric previously mentioned of said track: “When the night paints the sky and suddenly it’s bright again, everything’s changed”.
In some way, she’s giving up on everyone’s expectations and just embracing who she is.
“LA COMBI VERSACE” is the consummation of everything Rosalía had been working on a personal level concerning to her confidence and who she’s transforming into. It might seem like just another reggaetón song but there are two factors to it that make it stand out:
Tokischa. A star, what else can i say? Stream their best collaboration!
The lyrics and amount of references to every artist she’s inspired by.
From Donatella and Giani Versace, Jerry Masucci (Who co-founded Fania Records, label who signed artists like La Lupe, Héctor Lavoe and Willie Colón), Tito Puente to Kanye West, Lil Uzi and Tomaso Albinoni -Famous classical composer from Italy-. She’s not only embracing all of these influences, she’s honoring them through this track.
Tokischa’s verse contrasts this theme perfectly by bringing in places and traditions from her culture that she cherishes. “We model custom Dior at the Colmadón -A sort of mall or small store that throws street parties every weekend in the Dominican Republic-”. Even if they are at the very pinnacle of fame, home still has a major significance in their life.
This song serves the purpose of admiring those who have paved the road for Rosalía to find her own voice and style. It’s very down to earth and it’s a reflection of how much she loves art. Because of this, she studies these people and push herself to be better with each track and album she puts out.
From details like the abcdefg interlude, the vocal chops Rosalía did with Tokischa’s voice on La Combi Versace-On her interview with Jaime Altozano she explained they represent an urgency, an energy that the record required- to her singing “I am who i am” with full autotune on BULERÍAS, you can tell she was enjoying every step on the making of the album.
MOTOMAMI is a flamboyant eulogy to self expression. This is proof of Rosalía’s versatility, talent and capacity to continue her flawless strike of excellent projects. A testament of her large artistry and endless dedication.
This is my favorite album by her but putting my opinion aside, what are your thoughts on it? i want to know which songs are your favorites or even if you have a different interpretation of any of the tracks! I’ll be reading your comments. Share and subscribe if you liked it and if you have any recommendation on what should i talk about next i’m open to hear it.
i already love this album and have played it enough to annoy every person in my life but this gave me such a deeper understanding of motomami and all of rosaliá’s influences. thank you for this piece and praise be motomami 🙏