Rosalía has truly arrived as a global phenomenon. Last night at the 2020 Grammy Awards, she took away the award for Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album for El mal querer. The Catalan artist's second recording project was chosen for the prize ahead of X 100pre by Bad Bunny; Oasis by Bad Bunny and J Balvin; Indestructible from Flor de Toloache; and Almadura, the album by iLe. But it wasn't just that Rosalía won, it was how she won.
In a speech which was something of a creative work in itself, she mixed Catalan, Spanish and English while giving thanks for the award and expressing her admiration for all the other nominees. "It is an honour to have been in the same category as you," she said. "Thank you for embracing my project." And then she added, with an enthusiasm that rang true, that what really excited her was not so much the prize as being able to perform live at the Los Angeles ceremony with a "flamenco-inspired" work. Her speech jumped from English to Spanish and back to English again, sometimes all within the same sentence, but gracefully. And it was when she came to thanking her family that the heartfelt words in Catalan came bubbling out. She is as natural a user of language as of song.
Rosalía was also nominated for the new artist award, competing with names like Black Pumas, Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, Lizzo, Maggie Rogers, Tank and The Bangas and Yola.
The 62nd Awards gala was presented by Alicia Keys. Lizzo was the artist who started the night with most nominations: eight. But the big winner in the end was Billie Eilish, who took home five golden gramophones, including best new artist, album of the year and song of the year. Eilish also performed at the gala, along with Ariana Grande, Camila Cabello, Demi Lovato, Aerosmith - and the ebullient Catalan star.
Next step after the Latin Grammys
El mal querer, the second album by the singer from Sant Esteve Sesrovires, won five of the seven awards that it was up for at last year's Latin Grammys: album of the year, contemporary pop vocal album, best packaging design and best recording engineering, for her engineer El Guincho, who also helped Rosalía to the best urban song prize for the single "Con altura", shared with J Balvin.