Today, Grammy Award winning recording artist, producer and songwriter Rosalía announces that her much sought-after album MOTOMAMI will be released globally on March 18th. Rosalía’s MOTOMAMI has been declared as “One of the Most Anticipated Albums of 2022” by multiple global press outlets including but not limited to BBC, El País, NME, NYLON, Pitchfork, TIME and Wall Street Journal amongst others.
Rolling Stone en Español, from her cover story which can be read here, effusively notes, “It’s a brave record… Genres are a thing of the past; there’s room for everything here… what modern music should be: art and flavor, dembow, champeta, flamenco, bachata, hip-hop, piano melodies… …MOTOMAMI feels like a freight train from the future, hurtling right at us at full speed and no brakes. Rosalía is the power source behind it all.”
Rosalía revealed the cover art for MOTOMAMI on her personal Instagram; click here to view. Fans can pre-order and pre-save MOTOMAMI in advance of the March 18th release date here.
In celebration, Rosalía has also blessed fans with “SAOKO,” a new track and video from MOTOMAMI. “SAOKO” is a shining example of the spirit of MOTOMAMI—grit and grace, strength and vulnerability, fierce femininity, and an unapologetic, brave attitude. Watch the Valentin Petit directed colorful video, complete with an all-women motorbike gang, here.
Says Rosalía, “Nombrar mi siguiente single “SAOKO” y samplear a Yankee y Wisin para mí es el homenaje más directo que puedo hacer al reggaeton clásico, un género que amo y que es una constante y gran inspiración a lo largo de todo el proyecto de MOTOMAMI.
El beat de “SAOKO” lo empecé tocando el piano de pared del estudio B de Eléctric Lady en NY, me acuerdo como si fuera ayer. Era de noche y hacer este beat me pareció tan divertido como conducir un Lambo. Este piano luego lo distorsioné y añadí baterías clásicas de reggaetón de una librería que NaisGai me había mandado hacía tiempo, que por cierto es algo muy especial para mí porque esta librería lleva tiempo pasando entre productores de unas generaciones a otras.
Antes de empezar este tema no dejaba de pensar que quería ver toques de jazz en un tema de reggaetón y samplear el icónico tema de Wisin y Yankee me pareció la mejor manera de que abriera la canción. Agradezco también a Noah, David, Dylan y Uzi por compartir este proceso creativo conmigo.
Si te fijas, la letra gira entorno un mismo concepto: la transformación. Todas y cada una de las frases son imágenes de transformación. Celebrando la transformación, celebrando el cambio. Celebrando que tú siempre eres tú mismo aunque estés en constante transformación o incluso que eres tú más que nunca en el preciso momento en que estás cambiando.”
Translation: “Naming my next track “SAOKO” and sampling Yankee and Wisin for me is the most direct homage I can make to classic reggaeton, a genre that I love and that has been a constant and great inspiration throughout the MOTOMAMI project.
I started “SAOKO’s” beat playing the upright piano at Electric Lady’s Studio B in NY, I remember it like it was yesterday. It was at night and making this beat seemed as fun as driving a Lambo. I then distorted this piano and added some classic reggaeton drums from a library that NaisGai had sent me some time ago, which by the way is something very special to me because this library has been passed from one generation of producers to another for a long time.
Before starting this track I kept thinking that I wanted to see some jazz touches in a reggaeton track and sampling Wisin and Yankee’s iconic track seemed like the best way for me to open the song. I also thank Noah, David, Dylan and Uzi for sharing this creative process with me.
If you notice, the lyrics revolve around the same concept: transformation. Each and every phrase is an image of transformation. Celebrating transformation, celebrating change. Celebrating that you are always yourself even though you are in constant transformation or even that you are you more than ever at the very moment you are changing.”
Previously Rosalía released “LA FAMA” ft. The Weeknd, a bachata with a cautionary story around ambition and fame. Listen to “LA FAMA” here and find original lyrics and translation here. Watch the video, directed by Director X and featuring Danny Trejo here. “LA FAMA” serves as the first offering from MOTOMAMI. The track, which quickly garnered rave reviews from press and support from fans immediately upon release, currently has over 123M worldwide streams to date and nearly 70M views on the official video. It also peaked at #2 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart and has surpassed 100million streams on Spotify, making it Rosalía’s 11th song to do so.
