El Mal Querer: An Album Revisit
By Vani Kumar
El Mal Querer, translating as ‘The Bad Loving’, conceptualises the protagonist’s journey of their toxic relationship through Rosalía’s lyrical and visual experimentation. Her second studio album, she explores an amalgamation of traditional ‘flamenco’ and contemporary urban elements from pop and reggaeton, enticing us in an auditorily and visually enthralling journey. Track after track we reminisce the flicking of the pages of the 13th century Occitan romance Flamenca, with each track named after chapters in the novel.
Malamente welcomes us with sultry, hypnotising chords overlaid with the ever so familiar flamenco handclapping style, Palmas, the lyrics depict some sort of omen the character just can’t put their finger on it yet. This reminds me of those times where we are tempted by desire, despite knowing the negative consequences of our actions, we still carry through hoping our self-awareness is enough to save us if we fall.
A standout for me is Chapter 3: Celos, translating literally as ‘Jealousy’, which unpacks the drive to insanity felt by the protagonist’s partner, mistaking their controlling and violent tendencies for protection. With the repetition of ‘una bala en el pecho’, translating to ‘a bullet pinned to the chest’, the poetic and romantic tone of the song is replaced with graphic imagery of violence. The protagonist equates the jealous gaze (mira) of their partner, with a chest full of bullets. Despite the fluency level of any typical listener, the storytelling style of Rosalía may be lost, but the catchy repetition and her melodic vocals, paired with simplistic guitar strums make for an impactful track.
Reniego, from Chapter 5 serves as a dramatic interlude, sampling the orchestral arrangement of Remedio No Encuentro by La Paquera De Jerez. In the intense string arrangement paired with the pain of her voice; I feel the protagonist’s struggle with the imprisonment she feels in the marriage she should feel freedom in. The character is masking their emotions using the pretence of love. But this is not love anymore.
After deep diving through a few of my standouts of the album, each respective song can still be seen as a ‘stand-alone’, portraying their own story. Nevertheless when accumulated, the tracklist paints a piece of torment the heart endures from the naivety of young marriage, metamorphosing into aggression, violence, and manipulation. Rosalía does not fear from provoking a conversation surrounding gender violence and cultural identity. El Mal Querer served as my gateway album into her impressive discography, and by far this remains my favourite. The visuals in her music videos act complementary to her narration, blurring the language barrier one faces when faced just with her lyricism. For me, this album showed an artist with a clear visual direction alongside a musical fable, displaying a well-produced conceptual and experimental album.