Rosalía & C Tangana: Spanish Artists On the Rise

Spanish artist Rosalía doesn’t stop getting recognition worldwide. She has now become the first Spanish-speaking female artist to be on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and the female singer with the highest number of nominations at the Latin Grammys 2022. C Tangana, who is also Spanish, is touring in Latin America and has left more than one critic surprised thanks to the quality of his show.

ROSALÍA AND C TANGANA’S RELATIONSHIP

The two Spaniards have taken the music world by storm, mixing their own personal style with an unexpected fusion of rhythms while defying pre-established genres, but always leaning towards urban music. Both have also pursued higher education: Rosalía at the Faculty of Music of Catalonia, and C Tangana began the career of Philosophy at the University of Madrid.

In addition, they had dated for two years, between 2016 and 2018, and performed two songs together, “Llámame más tarde” and “Antes de morirme.” C Tangana is the author of 8 of the eleven songs on Rosalia’s album, “El mal querer.” In 2020, they both met their current partners. Rosalía is dating Puerto Rican musician Rauw Alejandro and C Tangana is in a relationship with Rocío Aguirre, a Chilean photographer.

While both have found success, they have been side-eyed for being Spanish– and white– for venturing into Latin American genres with African roots, such as reggaeton. In fact, Rosalia has been accused of cultural appropriation by Spanish Romas and the Andalusians (inhabitants from southern Spain), who believe that a Catalan artist shouldn’t sing flamenco music, and by Latinos, who have spoken out against a Spanish woman being nominated in Latin music categories.

ROSALÍA AND C TANGANA’S HERITAGE

We already addressed that there is a lot of hesitation on whether Spaniards are considered Latino or not, and what the differences between Hispanics and Latinos are. Some definitions focus on the language and state that a Latino is a native or inhabitant of a country whose language came from Latin. In this case, both Latin Americans and Spaniards could be considered Latinos (but also Italians, French, and Portuguese, which is confusing). 

At the same time, the word Latino is also used to refer to Latin America, which would include not only Spanish-speaking countries, but Brazil too. Some have pointed out that every song in Spanish is considered Latin music, whether the artist is Latin American or Spanish. The funny thing is that both C Tangana and Rosalía have made this mixture the essence of their music, so criticizing them for singing reggaeton or trap seems a little off.

THEIR 2022 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Rosalía has expressed her discomfort surrounding this, since she has studied music and considers that she’s had the privilege of being able to learn about different genres and mix or reinterpret them. Meanwhile, she received eight nominations for the Latin Grammys 2022, won four awards– Best Album of the Year for “Motomami,” Best Alternative Music Album, Best Packaging Design, and Best Engineering and Recording– and was one of the artists who performed live at the gala.

And on top of all the criticism that Rosalia has received, she also experienced censorship; during the transmission of the Latin Grammy 2022 gala, a beep replaced some explicit words in her songs, such as “Hentai.”

Meanwhile, C Tangana, with his “Sin cantar y sin afinar” tour, has been selling out venues and seducing critics and entertainment journalists throughout Latin America. Some have come forward to say that he has redefined a live show experience, since it combines music and dance with cinema and theater, creating an interesting performance that surprises the audience.

At the beginning of last year, the artist released his album “El Madrileño,” which featured the participation of Uruguayan singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler, Argentine rock star Andrés Calamaro, Mexican singer Ed Maverick, Spanish musician Kiko Veneno, the band Gipsy Kings and Elíades Ochoa, a former member of the Cuban group Buena Vista Social Club, among other artists. As expected by the diversity of guests, the songs mix genres such as rock, trap, cumbia, and salsa.

In a 2021 interview for Vogue magazine, C Tangana said: “I have always hated and repudiated elitism. It is in literature, in the plastic arts, in all cultures, also in music. But instead of opposing it or ignoring it, I have set out to seduce: to do something that leaves no choice but to recognize that it has weight despite using simple language and not having a complicated technique, characteristic of popular culture.”

Undoubtedly, Antón Álvarez Alfaro (C Tangana) and Rosalía Vila Tobella (Rosalía) have come to revolutionize the music scene, push limits and to prioritize freedom over conventions when creating. Plus, little seems to matter to their fans in which category of the awards they are included (Latin or Spanish), as long as they are recognized for the space they have managed to earn.