Rosalía launches 'Despecha': anatomy of an unusual summer hit

Rosalía launches 'Despecha': anatomy of an unusual summer hit

It hasn't been published for 24 hours and many have designated it as the new "song of the summer". The Vice President of the Government, Yolanda Díaz, has tweeted her, Netflix has been inspired by it to create its own memes and as soon as it came out it has topped the list of global trending topics. Despecha is not another Rosalía single or a simple catchy rhythm to dance on vacation. The Catalan has torn the instruction manual of the perfect hit into pieces and has glued them her way. She has made a success without having edited it and that had the approval of the public without even existing.

"Launching a song before editing it is not new, other artists have done it all their lives, although with the idea of ​​testing it. The innovative thing is that Rosalía had made it a success before releasing it thanks to the networks", concedes Josep Manuel Silva, lawyer and representative of artists with a long career in record companies. On July 12, the singer uploaded a 35-second clip to TikTok with a part of the verse and the chorus of Despecha. She did not put text. The next day there were already loop versions on YouTube, the lyrics had been leaked on Twitter and all her fans were wondering what that independent artifact of the Motomami album was.

Víctor Cendra, music supervisor at Atresmedia and former music programmer at M80 and MTV, acknowledges that it is an unusual strategy, but very much in line with what Rosalía has always done. "She has managed to create a giant snowball completely contrary to the way the industry has always worked," he says. Both experts agree that improvisation is conspicuous by its absence around the launch of Despechá, even if the opposite image is to be conveyed.

"Every step he takes is so thoughtful, but he's still amazing," says Cendra. "It makes it look like she's randomly using TikTok, but she's not, as seen with Motomami's showcase concert." On her side, Silva does believe that she herself manages her networks, although she does so knowing "where each target is". She sows the ground to generate desire and expectation and, once achieved, she presents it live and turns the song into a supposedly collaborative product. But everything, even the most spontaneous, is part of a calibrated plan.

Not even a perfectly oiled machinery like the one headed by Rosalía has all the certainties. That's why Despicá, before on TikTok and Instagram, she rang at the Almería Fairgrounds, where she started the Motomami Tour. to the first caught them by surprise, but after that concert, and thanks to the videos uploaded to social networks, more and more attendees joined the choirs of Rosalía's unreleased song. The phenomenon had been tested and the result was a growing success.

Before singing it, the Catalan told that it was a song that was still unedited and had no name. It was in Madrid where he baptized her definitively. "What do you prefer, Despicá or De lao a lao, as they like it in the record company?" She asked, making a face at the second title. There is a high probability that the decision was made, but with that little interaction the artist made her audience a part of it. "Music becomes something collaborative, you allow people to choose what it's called (although I had more than thought about it) and you give them an exclusive listen. It's very intelligent," acknowledges Josep Manuel Silva.

In this case, the result has been round from the recording point of view. But there are times when it can fail. "On the tour of El Mal Querer, there were a couple of songs that he sang exclusively and they were never even published. It didn't work," recalls Víctor Cendra. Despechá's modus operandi is reminiscent of I feel it, released on the 2018 tour, with the difference that it did not go beyond the stages nor was it released. "Also the concept of his career was different then," understands the musical supervisor. "Success is based on trial and error," shares Silva.

On the other hand, Rosalía has been sprinkling her discography with independent singles in such a way that they tangentially complete her albums, but without interceding in them. Examples of the latter would be With height, Millonària or TKN, along with Travis Scott. "The album is her work of art, but she puts out pills to keep you from breathing," explains Silva. The representative knows that in most cases he can stomach the audience, although "it is a risk that Rosalía has not taken at the moment." Even so, Despechá continues to respect the concept of Motomami although, as Cendra says, "with a much more summery touch". And precisely therein lies the crux of the matter.

Despechá is, in the words of the artist, a theme made "from madness and freedom, without reservations or regret". "This is the place from which I make music, from where I did it when I started and where I will continue until God says", has written on Instagram. To underpin the Latin, danceable and summery origin of the song, Rosalía acknowledges that she has been inspired by artists from the Dominican Republic such as Fefita La Grande, Juan Luis Guerra or Omega. "Without them, this song would not exist."

If we consider Despecha as the hit of the summer, the strategy hasn't followed that of these big hits destined to sound relentlessly in beach bars and nightclubs during the summer months. "The song of the summer was a strategy that started by chance from the 60s to the 90s, but that ended up being fundamental for the record companies, it was what sold the most," says Cendra. Not only was it a marked date on the calendar for many artists, but others only focused on this form of creation, such as Georgie Dann.

"As of the 90s, the paradigm of musical consumption changed and it diversified a lot. The concept of a summer song that children and grandparents listen to was lost. We would say that there are summer songs by sectors," explains the expert, giving as an example Despacito, the hit of Daddy Yankee and Luis Fonsi. Despecha would belong to the latter group, but here too the rules of the game have changed.

"The song of the summer comes out in spring, June at the latest, so that it begins to travel the radios and explodes in July and August. She has released it at the end of July," compares Silva, who acknowledges himself puzzled as well as fascinated. for everything that surrounds Rosalía. His presence is absorbing, but there is a talent behind it that allows so much effusiveness of creation", he acknowledges. Has the Catalan changed the way of producing summer songs, then?

"Everyone in the record companies is waiting to see what he does to copy it," says the representative. However, both he and Cendra believe that few can afford this idiosyncratic formula. "Surely other people behind it will try, but Rosalía is a very special figure, with a global following and very dedicated fans that only K-Pop groups, Harry Styles and her have," summarizes the musical advisor. Maybe it will work on a large scale, but "as well as she did the first time, it's very complicated."



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