Fashion Neurosis with Rosalía

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1:25Hi, come in.

1:32Welcome to Fashion Neurosis, Rosalia. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Can you tell me what you're wearing today and why you chose these particular clothes? Today I'm wearing a black cardigan that I've had for years. And I'm wearing this black skirt and these Alexander McQueen shoes. They have this cross, como si fueran un rosario en ellas. And I've decided to wear this because I think I wanted today my energy and expression to be on the forefront. And some days I think that I want my clothes to speak for me. and today I wanted to find the words myself and I feel like clothes can be like a spell.

2:43They have that power. I feel like, you know, sometimes clothes, they have that power that they can change the way your day is going to be. they can dictate how your day is going to be and I think that when you make the decision of wearing a certain thing that can change the way your day is and I think that today I just wanted to make myself available for this conversation and for words to be more important than what I wear and I think that this cardigan helps me think and it helps me speak if that makes sense. Yeah, it does make real sense. I think a good outfit can kind of facilitate your intelligence because it doesn't distract you from your thoughts.

3:39Right. And so what you've described is such a perfect way of anticipating how you want what you want to enhance yeah it's yeah because clothes sometimes depending the outfit it can make something happen or not happen it can take you somewhere it can stop you for from getting going somewhere like there are shoes that I've worn that literally they've took me back home right away or and maybe subconsciously I just didn't want it to go in first place so yeah I try to be conscious of what I what I choose to wear every morning that's so interesting yeah and you're a multi-award winning musician and you have created this new genre of music which Did I?

4:38Yeah, I mean, it's devoured by your fans all over the world. And you described that when you're writing, you sometimes feel so sick you have to lie down. I wondered, is that to do with the intensity of your expectation? Definitely. I'm sure it does. And actually, I think the best result that I get is writing. it's laying just as I am right now. And I was wondering, it's pretty funny that we're doing it like this because I wonder if we will get good results in a conversation like this as much as I get when I write like this. Because usually I write with a pillow. Really? Yes. With a pillow on my head, resting my head in a pillow.

5:30Then I have my computer in my belly. Then I basically just write like this. And it helps me relax because otherwise I think that I find it pretty hard to just be on a table and a chair trying to create. It's too formal. It's too, there's too much maybe anticipation there, you know? While when I'm just laying, it's like, okay, nothing needs to happen. And then maybe something happens. It's interesting how certain positions kind of free your system to kind of explore a little bit. And then you just note them down when those things come up. Yes, yes. Yes, and it helps me kind of shut down a little bit, which is necessary if you want something to come to you.

6:39If you want to be a vessel, I think that you need to kind of erase yourself a little bit. And I love that state of about to fall asleep. The state of about to fall asleep, it's the most relaxed one. Sometimes when I'm about to fall asleep at night, it's when ideas come so I try to find that during the day as much as I can yeah that's so interesting and I feel tired also when I write I feel really tired I feel it's there's exhaustion and I think that laying helps me be less exhausted if that makes any sense I think it's so interesting this thing of letting a part of yourself switch off in order of or even suppressing something in order to allow something else to come up.

7:38And I was reading that you took part in a talent contest when you were 15, which I was such a kind of courageous thing to do. And I wondered where you go to to draw on that kind of, you know, that courage, you know, the courage to dare to try something like that. I mean, it was a huge success, but... I think that I always wanted to be a performer since I was very young. I've always had the desire, I think, to share and love and be loved and see and be seen. and I think that I, when I was young, I wanted to do that, just being on stage and I had no idea how that could happen. How could I do it in a big dimension also because I really enjoy when extreme situations and extreme, yeah, the extremes.

8:57So I find beauty in singing for five people, but I also find so much beauty in singing for thousands. And I think that I wanted to open that door. And I didn't know how that door, how can you do it? I basically just found that there was this program and I was like, I'm just going to go. I'm going to do this casting and I'm going to sing this song that I've been hearing. And I'm just going to do this and fuck it. And I did it and it helped me realize that I needed to study so much. Study music and study the classics and read. And, you know, like I wanted to actually write what I sing and explain stories and be a channel to explain stories and choose what stories I was going to explain.

9:56and so basically it was just a journey yeah a huge journey of understanding what it means to be a performer and a musician and a writer and how much this has been changing through years the more I change the more I grow the more that idea changes with me and I'm I'm grateful for that because the writing seems such a key part of your work and the the way you use language is so complex and so so kind of remarkable you know you throw out these contradictions which are really thrilling you know to listen to especially you know on your with your new album and the languages you use but the the words you choose and I I found that very um touching because I'm interested in language and I've been obsessed with language as a kind of tool of power when you're a young girl especially and you have no physical power but you have the power of your words and there was something that really um that was so affecting reading all the all the lyrics thank you for saying that because i'm i'm fascinated by music and sounds but i also have lots of love lots of love for words and i think that a lot of times when i've made albums I think that albums were the excuse to use words but I think that in this case it's the opposite and I think that I decided to make an album from the love of for words and I dedicated just one year of reading and writing just reading and writing and isolation lots of isolation and just ¿cómo se diría?

12:11Ponerme al servicio putting myself in service of that of just the writing and there are maybe things that I've said in this album that I I didn't allow myself to say before and I think I find something so ¿cómo se dice? I find pleasure in contrast yeah yeah and I think that there's some of that in in the project too yeah it really comes through it's very exciting thank you I'm glad that you like it I love it makes me happy and were you obsessed with certain clothes as a child oh yes I loved the crazy colors colorful outfits um como se dice pelos um like like anything that had she like puffiness and volume and anything that occupied space i think i've always liked that a lot i definitely was obsessed with my mom's coat at this green coat she had this long green coat that it was not that it wasn't that uh agradable to touch it was not so agradable but the color that was like such a vibrant green like olive kind of and i remember her my mom wearing this super long, blonde, curly hair with her coat, and it would look so amazing.

14:00And I remember I would get obsessed with things that other people would wear, like the women in my life, I think. And I remember so much my sister wearing this short, super short miniskirt, the cuadros como escoceses and these boxer boots and she was the coolest wow she was the coolest there was nobody else in our little town that would wear things like that and she was the coolest and then my grandma she would wear scarves and and you know pañuelos de seda and gold rings and long nails gosh yeah so like the women in my life they always put me in fashion yeah into fashion you know like the love I have for fashion it probably is thank to them a lot it has to do with them if I wasn't a musician if I wasn't a woman who who grew up with these women too maybe I think that I would do such a different thing and I probably wouldn't have developed the love that I have for fashion.

15:12It's great to have those role models who show you how to wear things, especially going off, you know, out of convention. Yeah, absolutely. Being able to kind of go beyond people's judgment of you. Yes. They show you that there's possibilities. Like I love when somebody, an artist, a person, and whoever just shows you that there's alternatives or ways or possibilities different than what we are used to. Yeah. I admire always that. And how did you manage your transition from girl to woman? That's such a great question. Nobody has ever asked me that. I think it was, I don't know if I can mark it on a specific moment, but I definitely remember when I was 28 something started to shift.

16:17I remember starting to care less about male attention and starting to care less about what I was actually wearing or what other person would think if that makes sense. so I would start expressing myself more through what it actually gives me satisfaction. And I thought that that was such a different way of being in the world and I started feeling more of a woman than a girl, if that makes sense. Yeah. When I started caring more about how do I feel instead of how am I perceived. Yeah. I feel like those journeys are so connected to one's mother as well. And I found that transition quite stilted because my mother didn't guide me really.

17:27And I think it sounds like you have a great relationship with your mother and it's an important sort of... Figura. Yeah, and also these very small... I think being noticed, really, as you grow into your womanhood is the kind of reassurance to then, like, explode into it and enjoy it. Like, you mean being seen or being guided. Yeah. Is there any way to be guided really to that? Because the way somebody becomes an adult, fully an adult, it's such an internal thing that I don't know if somebody can really guide you through it. It's interesting. I'm interested if you think that that's possible. I wonder if it is, I would love to know because one day if I'm a mother, which I really hope so, I would love to know how to do that.

18:43I definitely remember that I would rebel a little bit against how much my mom was always so poised, so ready for the day in a way where it was like almost annoying how good she always looked, how amazing her makeup was always so on point and the hair and the this and the that and the heel and everything and I was like wait but you still are you still have so much value and you still are so amazing if you don't do that you know so be a little bit like fuck it i can be amazing even if i don't straight my hair put my hair straight every day or i don't do this and that like my value it's beyond it and yeah I think that I had a phase of that also when I was about to become 30 I think yeah it's a real turning point 30 it feels yes I always remember thinking I'll be so old when I'm 30 but it was only realized that when I turned 30 how young I was And I suddenly thought, oh, my God, this is great, this 30.

20:02Yeah, yeah, yeah. 20 is so loaded with kind of these awful kind of achievements that you're supposed to have made. Yes, yes. In your case, you actually have made them, so it's pretty incredible. But in the end, though, at the end of the 20s, like I feel like if we value it as, you know, what people consider a success or whatever, I feel like, yeah, some came on the end of my 20s, but I think that my confidence and how I exist in the world, it's much better now in my 30s. Yeah, yeah. It's relaxing. And it is so young. And it's wonderful because you have this experience of life. And I feel like it's possible to enjoy it more.

20:58Yeah, 100%. And I like a lot that you talk about 30s as a moment of youth. because nowadays I think it's so usual to see how much value people put in teenage years or the 20s as if that's like the best moment and the youth, the real youth. What is youth, no? And I like that you extend it to 30s or maybe even more. It goes on. Yeah, yeah. Support for fashion neurosis comes from Neiman Marcus. The holidays are approaching and you can let the special people in your life know just how special they are with a gift from Neiman Marcus. Even if you have someone who's particularly hard to shop for, Neiman Marcus has lots of categories to help fulfil the perfect gift.

21:56like gourmet goodies, covetable it bags, elegant timepieces, stunning jewellery, a legendary list of fantasy gifts full of unique whimsical items and much much more. And when you gift someone a new wardrobe piece you're letting them know that you see them, that you understand what they cherish and feel truly great wearing. If you need a bit of help you don't need to worry because Neiman Marcus has style advisors who can guide you and make the search for the perfect gift at every price point feel effortless. This holiday season you can explore a wide range of unique unforgettable gifts from Neiman Marcus and find something special for each person on your gift list.

22:42And do you think hang-ups and insecurities about our bodies can be catalysts for coming up with a new with a new look like a different look insecurity is nobody i think that actually anything can be an excuse anything can be a catalyst for expression that's why i think that either something that you consider a strength or something that you consider a weakness, both can catalizar, both can be the starting, not the starting point, but maybe the excuse that you use to do something, to build something or to destroy something. Yeah, I think that in my case, through years I've been going to the gym a lot and sometimes more than I needed, sometimes less than I needed.

23:54And I think it's been because I find that my body is an instrument to communicate. It's an instrument and instrumentista. So instrumento instrumentista a la vez. Right, you're the... And the violinist who plays the violin. Yes, I'm the violinist. And that has taken me to different places and I think that I'm grateful that it's the case because I learned through years how to push less my instrument and use it with more love and learn how my instrument can be

24:42in a better place. Refined. Yes. Yeah. I love that word. Yes. Yeah. Because you often refer to how someone moves and it's as though you're attuned to think with your body and is there a garment someone wears that draws your attention to this? I think that what draws my attention since I was young, it's the rock star look. Because at home... It's so good. I love that. Yes, because in my family, they would play a lot of rock music, right? So I would know that it's the weekend because they would play music. during the week there would be no music at home but then i knew it's saturday sunday because of it and they would there would always be like cds of jenny joplin and prince and freddie mercury you know and like all this amazing or or mike mick jagger like my mom was obsessed with him and his mouth and his outfits his pants tight pants and these volumes here and i just found it or lenny kravitz god yeah i love the way he dances that's the best i know that's the best like this man i found so much courage in the way he he styles himself and i love the way he does it and there's something irreverent in the rock star look and that occupies the space and that can be like flamboyant and fun and I really like that it draws my attention a lot and sometimes when I don't feel like I don't feel strong enough a look like that can make me feel strong again so definitely I find there's power in it.

26:49Because you trained in flamenco, which is a very serious discipline, and it has also the air of being the most sexual dance, and I wondered if it influences your romantic love, the whole restraint and the intensity of it. Oh, wow. I mean, I think that there's so much passion in flamenco and in that culture, in that way also. Like some flamenco artists, they say that flamenco, it's a way of living. It's culture, right? Yeah. So there's passion in that way of dancing, in como taconearing, like just stamp, you call it? Stamp the floor? Yeah. In stamping the floor, there's a rage in it. there's a lot of a lot of rage there's a lot of cuál es la palabra quejarse queja and complain there's a lot of complain and there's a lot of like like uh there's then también and playfulness and tragedy and uh fragility and strength at the same time there's all of it like it feels to me like flamenco is the most complete human expression that could exist that's a very personal opinion of course but because it has it all yeah like the whole human experience is condensed in that music and in that dance and in that that culture and that's why it's so beautiful it's so rich because so many cultures they came together they found each other then it exploded into this and it's a music and it's a culture that shows that that merge that that mix and I think that in my life, in my romantic life, I definitely think that I always lo abordo con with that passion.

29:00It's a lot of intensity, a lot of wanting to give to the other and wanting to receive. But I'm also always very scared, I think, of the human interaction. In terms of love and fully showing yourself and fully receiving the other. So even if I'm so excited about it, I also found it extremely scary. Yeah. It seems the kind of ultimate revealing of yourself to be engaged in that dance, wherever it is, whether it's in a relationship or on a stage. it's so raw and so sort of ecstatic. I remember going to see Paco de Lucia when I was a teenager or something, doing Carmen here at the Sadler's Wells. I was kind of slightly obsessed when I was young.

30:10Yes, I don't blame you. It's so good. Yeah, I wish I would have seen Camarón. Camarón, it's my obsession. He's my favorite artist of all time. Right. And they would play together. And whoever has seen these two play together, I think they are the luckiest people in the world. Wow. I would have loved to. I read that you said you have an appetite for risk, and I wondered what risk means to you. What risk means? maybe risk is when you don't know what the outcome is going to be when you stop controlling risk is surrender also I think that risk is so so connected to surrender I think that the times that I've risked the most is the times that I've abandoned myself to the situation or the experience and I find also like risk as something that has to do with fun and something I don't always allow myself to experience and because I think that I'm a control freak and and I think that that's why I think that I like also to take risks because it takes me to the opposite place where I naturally would live in.

31:42I would naturally live in the control where I know I know what the outcome is. And I think that I, as a human, I learn much more and I push much more when I'm in the other side and I chose this work I've chose to be a musician and an artist I think because that's what makes me always have to take risk I don't know how to make music in another way like I wish that I I would be content with just making songs and not I don't know making a song over and over the same song. There's like musicians that they do that and they are, it seems that they are satisfied with that. And I can't find satisfaction in that at all.

32:36And that would be actually my biggest nightmare to make the same song over and over. But maybe I'm lying and maybe I'm always doing the same song over and over just with different quotes in different ways. but I'm actually repeating the same shit over and over because some people say that artists have obsessions, people have obsessions. No, we do have obsessions. We all do. And maybe those are the late motifs that, you know, that we are always, our life siempre como gira alrededor, nuestra vida gira alrededor de los mismos temas, the same themes and the same questions. And maybe we never find the answer.

33:20that's okay well you seem to be pushing the boundaries in a in a way that everyone's responding to with a lot of excitement and delight and i think it's good to have the secure the the sort of things that we know we love because they spark off the new ideas so sometimes when i i I think if I strand myself trying to find something new and go too far from what's like the two wires going together that spark something, now I'm older, I have more confidence in my methods, but you're definitely not repeating yourself, whereas Elia, to me anyway. Okay, so there's hope. There's hope. well I hardly think that needs to be your worry at this moment with this amazing piece of work you've just made and in your photographs you have this kind of ravishing old master's piety about your poses and do you look at paintings for ideas because in the pictures I've looked at you there's quite a lot of light catching like in Vermeer or in Caravaggio where there's these this beautiful kind of attention to like your, the element of purity and also very sensuous.

34:52I think, I mean, the only thing that I can actually put on the table when I'm being photographed, if that's what you're referring to, like the pictures, I think that the only thing that I can really put on the table is the poses and the energy. So I think, though, that I'm passionate about movies and fotografia a lot. And I try to collaborate with people that they seem to have a point of view. They seem to have stories to explain. They seem to be excited to explain things and not just capture something, which is nice also. but if there's something pictorical in pictures that you've seen, maybe it's because I've been lucky to be shot by amazing, amazing artists.

35:54And I love la pintura, and definitely there's a lot of poses that I might have done that are from a painting that I have seen or sculpture that I have seen. but maybe it's also from studying Naomi and studying Kate and studying the greatest, you know? How do they do it when they are in front of the camera and they do it so effortless and gracefully? And I love how Naomi walks, for example. I can wait for one day to see her again and be like, Naomi, can you please? Because I know her from just a couple of times that we've seen each other quickly. And I just can't wait to ask her to teach me. Like, I really would love to just learn how to walk in the way that she does it.

36:50And I think that everything, it's like, there's abecedarios, abecedari, alphabets? There's abecedarios, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, everything. Oh, yeah, an alphabet, yes, yes. And I would love to learn that one. Yeah. I would love to, I feel like I want to be a student of everything. And that's one of the things that through years I feel like I've been able to experiment with it, but not study it all the way. And I would love to study it. I know that some people think they kind of like, they kind of like,

37:31they underestimate models' job. Yeah, I agree. You know? And I think that that's so dumb because there's such an art in mastering your energy and tus corporalidades. There's so much magic in that. And I love how Chloe Sevigny explains stories with her face and body and with her styling too. And, you know, like I think that there's so much beauty to be done in that field. And some people think that models, they just, you know, stand there and leave. And it's so difficult probably to be a model and be always cold or, you know, always feel like freezing. and, you know, like go through all the shit that they have to go through.

38:33They are great artists, those. I mean, Kate and Naomi are, they're just phenomenons. And that walk you describe of Naomi's, it's just electrifying. It's just everyone goes still and is completely transfixed. and Kate you know when she she talked about her body being a vehicle for people's ideas to project on it was such an interesting this similar thing to the that you said it's such an interesting notion that that is how you enact your your sort of genius by being it I suppose it's a form of performance isn't it it's yeah and you become a mirror yeah you become a mirror i think that the the greatest thing that can happen as an artist is that you erase yourself and that you disappear and that you become the mirror or the vessel or whatever whatever you have to become in order for people to find in your expression or in you whatever you're sharing whatever they needed to find.

39:49I don't like when people ask you, oh, what did you want to say with this in specifics? Or what do you expect people to feel? Like what? As if you could prepare a specific thing for them to feel. or you could control, have any decision in what is going to happen. You know what I mean? Like you're supposed to maybe just follow an urgency. That's great. And then share that, materialize that, and then have the courage to share it. And then what else? It's there to be done. I don't think that there's much more to be done than that. Yeah, well, that's everything. Like when you described letting go of the outcome, that's when the kind of chemistry takes place.

40:51You made an interesting observation. You said, in a cubist painting, which part do you choose? Like, was that to illustrate the absurdity of reducing so much into one thing? And I was thinking, which Spanish artist do you find has the most duende? Oh, that question, that question is difficult. It depends on the field, right? But even if we're just speaking about painters, I think that Picasso has as much duende as Dalí or Gala Dalí. so it's hard to choose but I think that Picasso had something something something different yeah yeah like it was very it was very raw I like that and I admire also the commitment in the different phases right in las diferentes etapas I like when somebody decides that they are going through a phase and that's what they're doing and they get obsessed with it and they with a color with whatever whatever it is and then they just let themselves get lost in that and but dali i also love you know how spiritual some dali paintings they can be or how bizarre also they could be and yeah, it's hard for me to choose.

42:41I really like Lorca too. I really like Lorca. Yeah, Picasso just never stops shocking you with his brilliance and his surprises and how moving everything is. I just love seeing more and more of his work. How amazing. Oh, sorry. No, he just seems to be like everything about Spain that has so much imagination and scope and integrity. Support for Fashion Neurosis comes from Neiman Marcus. Gourmet treats, coveted it bags, elegant timepieces, stunning jewellery and much much more. That's just the beginning of the incredible gifts you can find at Newman Marcus this holiday season. Browse their legendary annual list of fantasy gifts full of one-of-a-kind items that surpass expectations.

43:45You know I love when a gift has a little fantasy stitched into it. The holidays are the time to lean into that. For my loved ones, I like to choose something beautifully made that feels a touch surreal, but utterly them. I'm drawn to pieces that tell a story the moment you open the box, a sculptural evening bag, a hand-finished knit you'll wear for years, or luminous object for the home that changes the room's mood. I look for texture, silhouette, and one small surprise, a whimsical clasp, a luxurious lining, so each time they use it they feel delighted and think of you. One of my most loved gifts was a pair of cool sunglasses from my best friend.

44:28I love wearing them because it reminds me of them. This holiday season you can explore a wide range of unique and splendid gifts from Neiman Marcus for a truly unforgettable holiday. and you're able to create these huge artistic concepts for your work and your music and when I was listening to your new album and how enormous it is and how much there is and I was thinking about generals and you know in like novels like about war like Les Miserables and these generals who have this huge military plan in their heads and it's vast and they haven't even seen all the land it's all on maps and it's like it almost like you're holding this huge thing in your head and I wondered if you had a heroic figure in art or literature who you refer to sometimes when you're thinking that big