Pearls, rosaries, and communion dresses: this is how Rosalía's devotees are

Barcelona"It seems like everyone is going to a communion," observed Laia gracefully, from the queue for Rosalía's concert in Barcelona. It could also be an Ibiza party. White, long skirts, rosaries, and pearls prevail in the queues to enter the Palau Sant Jordi. The first concert being on a Monday makes everything calmer. There have been no camped fans, nor much stress: here the youngest are university students. The first in line is Ingrid, 28, who arrived at 7 in the morning from Zaragoza with three friends and in no way expected to have the number 1 painted with a marker in her hand. "Everything Rosalía does is art. She puts a lot of passion into it. She's my favorite artist. It's just that, even if you don't like her style, the music is really worth it," she defends.

In the front positions to access the front stage there are two girls who have come from Galicia and who have meticulously prepared their white looks, even copying the singer's styles. "She's a unique artist, very recognizable and at the same time with very different songs. She does whatever she wants," says Yvette, 28. "And she doesn't have a single answer. Her music is full of references, it's like when you look at a painting: you have to interpret beyond what you see," adds Lucía, 22. They are so dedicated to the cause that they even buy into the religious turn: "Even if I don't think the same, I understand that she reflects it, I think it has to do with the family she grew up in, with her grandmother," Yvette points out, recalling the lyrics of Hentai or the introduction of the song G3 N15. "I feel very connected to the spiritual and to God. I don't practice voluntary celibacy now, but there have been times in my life when I have," adds Lucía, who Rosalía has explained practiced during the creation of the album.

totally", says Jaume, who comes with a group of Valencians who admire how Rosalía is capable of being "always evolving, always innovating". Héctor and Álvaro, who have followed her since devibra totally", says Jaume, who comes with a gang of Valencians who admire how Rosalía is capable of being "always evolving, always innovating". Héctor and Álvaro, who have followed her since El mal querer, are sure that she is "the greatest artist we have, she has a great capacity for innovation and for being a pioneer of things that will happen, she is always on everyone's lips and manages to make a concert an event", they say.

Marquina admits that "whatever she did, I would come, even if it was a reggaetón album with two chords, because everything she does, she does it very well and sells it very well", she says. Her gang hopes that today she will bring out the artillery, that is, the Montserrat Boys' Choir, and that the songs will be dubbed in Catalan. "It's in Barcelona, her homeland", says Marquina. "She's Catalan!", says Álvaro when we ask him why he likes Rosalía on the way to the front stage. Ve with Claudia from the Costa Brava and they know the whole album by heart. They are attracted to Rosalía being "a different artist and one who is not mainstream".

Is the first one God?

Fans feel devotion for the artist, to the point that they even accept the religious drift of the Lux Era, even though very few here are practicing. An exception would be Anouk: "Last year I started believing a lot in God, because I was very afraid of death, and the album has connected with what was happening to me," she says, next to Laia, who is an even bigger fan of Rosalía, and who has brought her biotechnology notes to the front row because on Tuesday at 8 in the morning she has an exam. "I am in conflict. I love religious aesthetics, a chapel seems crazy to me, but I am atheist," admits Marquina. "Everyone interprets it in their own way," says Álvaro. "I don't feel represented by the religious discourse, but it's a beautiful way to express faith," opines Íngrid. "She knows how to take advantage of a part of Christianity and make it her own, and that, this aesthetic, the folklore, I like it, although in her day-to-day life I don't know if she is a practicing person," points out Héctor. Among the fans, there are also critics: "She is the best artist there has been in many years in Spain. But I have to say, since she believes that the artist can be separated from the work: I miss a bit more political positioning, I would appreciate it if she were more in touch with the sociopolitical reality," opines Alfonso, 27 years old. "But today we are not here for that," says Alejandro next to him, eager to make peace.