El Mal Querer Tour

Even though Rosalía's professional music debut was made in late 2016, her international success came in mid-2018 after she released her platinum-certified single "Malamente" in May 2018 through Sony Music.[1] The single became an instant smash and caught the eyes of the media and critics, who praised the Barcelona-born new flamenco singer for her "soft liquid velvet voice". British newspaper The Guardian even called her "the most exciting thing that is going to happen to music this 2018".[2] Her second studio album, El Mal Querer, was released in November 2018. The singer performed at Los40 Music Awards as well as the 2018 MTV Europe Music Awards, which expanded her popularity outside of Spain.

In November 2018, after a lot of expectations about the singer's musical future, Lollapalooza announced that the festival would feature Rosalia's participation at the Argentine and Chilean editions, in March 2019.[3] A couple weeks after the singer's Latin Grammy Award performance, she announced that she would be performing in more music festivals through 2019 such as the Ceremonia Festival in Mexico, the American alternative music festival Something in the Water and even Coachella in spring.[4][5]

As of performances in Spain, Rosalía brought her world tour to her hometown, Barcelona, on the first of June as a headliner of the 2019 Primavera Sound edition.[6] She also performed in Bilbao (as part of the BBK Live festival), Córdoba, Santiago de Compostela and Lleida.[7] This European leg also included performances in Portugal, Poland, France, The Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdom, among others.[8]

On March 19, 2019, the singer announced her first solo North American tour dates, set to begin in April. The solo leg includes concerts in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto and New York City.[9] On March 22, 2019, tickets for these shows were opened to the general public. Due to popular demand, a second show was added in New York City for April 29, 2019.[10] On March 20, it was announced that Rosalía would be performing at Lollapalooza Chicago on August 1.[11] On April 16, 2019, the singer announced that the North American leg solo concerts would be opened by American musician serpentwithfeet.

On September 16, 2019, the singer announced two arena encore shows. Those tickets will be available on Ticketmaster on September 20. Those concerts will be held on December 7 at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona and on December 10 in Madrid. A theatre concert in London and another one in Paris were announced the same day. On November 21 the singer announced that the opening act for this concerts will be Antonio Moreno "Polito".[12] On November 26 it was announced that the Megaland Music Festival (which was set to take place in Bogotá, Colombia on November 30) was postponed due to the ongoing Latin American Spring civil protest movement.[13]

The tour received positive reviews by critics. Christopher Weingarten wrote this for Stereogum after the tour's stop in Los Angeles in April 2019: Rosalía focus on her wildly untraditional take on a centuries-old form, she’s much more than a star of “new flamenco.” She’s an Jodorowsky-evoking avant-gardist, an ambassador for mutant techno, an R&B hook-crooner and quite possibly a pop star in the making. (...) Part pop show, part interpretive dance performance, part folk tradition showcase, part folk tradition detonator, part avant-techno show where she plays producer El Guincho’s sampler; Rosalía’s tour bravely charts what may be America’s next musical step.[14] On December 4, 2019, Billboard named Rosalía's Webster Hall shows in New York City the second-best concert of 2019 in the United States. Tatiana Cirisano wrote: "Thankfully for all, the hype was --and is-- real. Rosalía electrified the venue with her presence, conjuring up a new mini world onstage with each song".[15]

As for the European festival tour leg, Spanish newspaper ABC said that Rosalía's Primavera Sound show in Barcelona "was a triumphal comeback home that has made history by reuniting over 63,000 people The scenic design, with a minimalist and sober play of lights and a central cube from which the singer and six dancers responded with gymnastic movements to the dialogue of electronic bases and flamenco palms, only reinforced the impact of an exciting hand in hand between tradition and modernity, between deep respect for its formation".[16]

When Rosalía performed a sold-out solo concert at London's Somerset House, NME gave the show five out of five stars and said: "In 2019, Rosalía is everything you could want from a pop star. She’s professional and dedicated to her craft. Her setlist is tight and she warrants the deep cuts. The dance routines are flawless, and she’s by turns humble and terrifying: being able to flit between those two is important. [...] It’s a military-tight operation, but not a vapid one: the nature of Rosalía’s music demands that the artist herself takes it seriously so the desired effect takes hold…If Ariana Grande is pop’s vocal acrobat, Rosalía is its contortionist: she reaches the corners others can’t".[17]

The solo tour stops were attended by many celebrities from Dua Lipa and Gigi Hadid in New York City, Kylie Jenner twice in Los Angeles and once in Houston, Billie Eilish, James Charles and Jennifer Lopez in Indio, Lele Pons, Lauren Jauregui and Bad Bunny in Los Angeles, Naomi Campbell, Riccardo Tisci and Jon Kortajarena in London to the Spanish Minister of Culture and Belén Esteban in Madrid to Amaia, Nathy Peluso, María Rodés, Catalan vicepresident Pere Aragonès, many FC Barcelona players and the mayor of Barcelona herself, Ada Colau in Barcelona.[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]

The tickets for the North American solo concert tour leg came out on March 22, 2019. The three solo shows in the United States sold out in less than an hour.[27] A second show was added in New York City which tickets' blew up in less than half-an-hour. As for the European festival tour leg, the most attended concert was in Barcelona on the first of June. Over 63,000 saw Rosalía live at the Primavera Sound festival.[28] During the Mad Cool festival performance in Madrid, 44,000 people were seeing the Catalan singer live.[29]

On September 18, 2019 the presale for Rosalía's arena shows in Madrid and Barcelona sold 1,000 tickets in a couple minutes, collapsing the Live Nation website.[30] The general sale of the tickets opened on September 20. The dates in Paris, Madrid and Barcelona sold out in less than two hours.[31] A controverse including ticket resale websites like StubHub[32] pushed Rosalía to add a second date in Barcelona for December 8, 2019 that same day.[33] Tickets for the second date in Barcelona came out on September 23, 2019. The concert sold out in half an hour. The concert at the O2 Academy Brixton in London sold-out in a couple days. In the night of December 5, 2019, 500 additional tickets for the December 8 and 10 shows were released without previous announcement due to the phenomenal demand.[34]

The stage consists of a large flat black pallet with a smaller one on top of the principal one and a huge screen in the back which is used for visual support and interludes.[35] For the December shows, the top pallet was removed and a runway was added to the stage design. Rosalía and her backup dancers perform in the middle of the stage while the background singers are positioned on the left side of the stage meanwhile producer and friend Pablo Díaz Reixa aka "El Guincho" plays the drums and creates musical effects live on the right side of the stage.[36] The concert starts with a video introduction showing Rosalía's name in different fonts which increases its velocity to the point that it collapses and shows a white image. Then Rosalía emerges from the stage to dance with her backup dancers popularly known as "Las 8 Rosas" (Spanish for "The 8 Roses") for over a minute and a half. After this, the singer is left alone on stage to shout the name of the city she is performing in and to sing the first notes of "Pienso en tu Mirá". After half-a-minute, the dancers come on stage again and they all dance together to the song, Rosalía included. After this song, Rosalía is left on stage alone for a second time to perform "A Palé". The setlist transits to "De Madrugá", the first unreleased song of the concert. Rosalía performs for another time with Las 8 Rosas before leaving her alone again to perform James Blake's "Barefoot in the Park". During this song, the singer asks the crowd to turn on their phones' lantern.

Rosalía performing a sold-out arena show in Barcelona.

The next act starts with Rosalía singing the fan-favorite track "Que No Salga La Luna". She performs it without her dance crew. Her four background singers (2 men and 2 women) support Rosalía during the part where the song consists of a dialogue. "Que No Salga La Luna" is followed by "Maldición" where, instead of a falling diamonds background video, a solid light pink image is shown to the public. After the song, Rosalía introduces her 2016 track "Catalina", which she wrote alongside Catalan guitarist Raül Refree. She sings it "a capella" before transitioning to "Aunque es de noche". The act ends with a video interlude that consists of Rosalía writing a text to contact ">3" on iMessage. The message consists of the lyrics of the 1974 track "Te Estoy Amando Locamente" originally sung by Las Grecas. The video ends right after the singer sends the second text message which says "t estoy amando lokamente" followed by 232 red broken heart emojis.[37] The track is sung by the background singers and is supported by a pre-taped version sung by Rosalía. The next act starts with Rosalía's first-ever number one single "Di Mi Nombre" which smoothly transits to "De Aquí No Sales". In both of the songs, the singer is joined by her dancers. Another interlude is shown to the public. This one consists of Rosalía singing an unreleased rap song with sunglasses on and without her long acrylic nails.[38]

Right after the interlude, Rosalía performs her by now only track in Catalan "Milionària". The song is followed by its B-side "Dios Nos Libre del Dinero". The next song is "Bagdad" where she performs alongside "Las 8 Rosas", who "wrap" Rosalía in fuchsia strings while she sings. In some parts of the song, the singer changes her microphone to one that has an electronic effect that allows her to sing higher notes that may seem as autotune. She proceeds to perform J Balvin's "Brillo" where she puts on sunglasses and plays around with her hair alone. The unreleased track "Como Ali" is the following song. Her dancing crew accompanies her during this song. The act ends with a remix by El Guincho of Rodolfo Parrita's 2012 track "Cositas del Ayer" (also known as "No Me Llames Más Que Ya No Voy") which is choreographed by "Las 8 Rosas" and the singer herself.[39] During the shows in festivals, the song was followed by "Santería" which was sung by the background singers.

Rosalía dancing to "Parrita (Remix)"

The final act opens with the dancers entering a light blue hologram triangle to dance to Plan B's 2010 track "Es Un Secreto". The song transitions right after Rosalía appears on stage to another unreleased track "Lo Presiento", which is rumored to be a discard of her 2018 album "El Mal Querer". After it, Rosalía interacts with the public and performs her collaboration with Ozuna "Yo x Ti, Tu x Mi". The choreography, created by Charm La'Donna, is the same one used for the music video and for the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards performance.[40] The 2019 hit single "Con Altura" follows "Yo x Ti, Tu x Mi". In some concerts, Rosalía throws signed merchandising of her collection to the public after singing "Con Altura". Another fan-favorite "A Ningún Hombre" is performed right after the hit single. After this intimate and emotional song Rosalía proceeds to dance an almost-one-minute choreography before transitioning into another fan-favorite song: "Aute Cuture".

For the encore, Rosalía and her backup dancers dance to a march before transitioning to the singer's 2018 hit single "Malamente". A remix of the song created by El Guincho starts playing while Rosalía introduces her on-stage collaborators to the public and thanks the audience before leaving shortly after.[41]

The concert lasts for 45–55 minutes for festivals and for 75–90 minutes for theatre and arena shows.[42]