"Rosalía asks very well": who does what on the album 'Lux'

BarcelonaRosalía has not been alone in LuxIn fact, to bring such an ambitious album to fruition, it was necessary to lead a project that could only be a collective effort. "He knows exactly what he wants, and he asks for it very well," says David Soler, one of the singers in the Palau de la Música Chamber Choir, a group that plays a significant role in LuxLeading is also about trusting, and Rosalía has brought the album to fruition with the support of a production team that already worked with her on Motomami (2022) and has understood the magnitude of the challenge posed by the artist from Sant Esteve Sesrovires. Below, we explain who does what on the album.

Noah Goldstein

The Philadelphia producer is Rosalía's right-hand man. When he worked on MotomamiHe had already amassed a remarkable resume working on albums for Kanye West, Frank Ocean, Bon Iver, Christina Aguilera, and FKA Twigs, a testament to a versatility that expanded even further when he produced an album for Yves Tumor in 2023, the rapper Rosalía is involved with. BerghainDylan Wiggins, another Californian who had worked on Yves Tumor's album, also contributed to that record. Motomami and that is once again fundamental in LuxRosalía, Goldstein, and Wiggins are the only ones credited as producers on every song on the album. The production team also includes contributions from Elliott Kozel, David Rodríguez, and Jake Miller, among others.

Caroline Shaw

One of the most surprising presences of Motomami It was the American composer, violinist, and singer Caroline Shaw, winner of the Pulitzer Prize with Partita for 8 voices (2013), a magnificent baroque reinterpretation a cappellaIn fact, it was logical that Rosalía would want to work with her given the importance she places on vocal treatment. Shaw repeats in Lux as a producer and especially as an arranger on songs like Magnolias, Relic and DivinizeThree years ago, shortly after the publication of MotomamiShaw was a guest composer at the Palau de la Música, along with Ferran Cruixent. Even then, she praised the creativity of the author ofThe ill willAnd he predicted that in five years it would be amazing if Rosalía could rid herself of the distractions inherent to being a pop star. Three years have passed.

London Symphony Orchestra

Orchestral sound, whether more natural or more electronically processed, has a structural character in LuxIt is one of Britain's great symphony orchestras, founded at the beginning of the 20th century and based at the Barbican Centre since 1982. Its principal conductors have included Edward Elgar, Thomas Beecham, André Previn, Claudio Abbado, Colin Davis, and, since 2017, Simon Rattle. On Rosalía's album, the conductor of the Symphony Orchestra is the Icelandic composer Daníel Bjarnason, who has arranged music for groups such as Sigur Rós and singer-songwriter Ólöf Arnalds. The London Symphony Orchestra, in this case conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, performed in May at the Palau de la Música as part of the BCN Clàssics season.

Palau de la Música Chamber Choir

It is the choral group with the greatest presence in LuxTen songs. The Palau de la Música Chamber Choir recorded their parts at L'Auditori in 2024. "It's a huge honor. The singers were very excited, especially those who are fans of Rosalía," explained Xavier Puig, director of the Cor de Cambra and the Orfeó Català. The details of the collaboration remain confidential, but some impressions from the singers have emerged, confirming that Rosalía conducted the recording at L'Auditori. On the album, she contributes harmonies to all kinds of songs, some with the Escolania de Montserrat choir, and in Berghain with the heart If in Bird, from Germany. The Cor de Cambra had already collaborated with Rosalía at the 2019 Goya Awards gala, when they performed a version of I'm staying with you, by Los Chunguitos, with arrangements by Bernat Vivancos.

The Montserrat Choir School

The heartfelt voices of the Montserrat Choir School can be heard in seven songs of LuxThey provide a very suitable choral sound in particularly delicate segments of songs from the first movement of the album, such as Divinize and Porcelainand also in the last three pieces: The rumba of forgiveness, Memory and MagnoliasGenerally, and as is the case in most of the choral parts on the album, they create harmonies without lyrics, choral cushions that accompany Rosalía's voice. Only in Magnolias –where the Palau Chamber Choir and the Flamenco Ladies Choir also participate, sing two verses in Spanish, "God descends and I ascend / We meet in the middle", in the most moving part of the song. Rosalía's relationship with the Montserrat Choir is documented in a 2024 video in which the artist from Sant Esteve Sesrovires He continues with excitement a performance of Virolai.

Silvia Pérez Cruz and Estrella Morente

These are the voices that join in at the end of The rumba of forgivenessAnd both are related to the legacies Rosalía carries on. One is that of Silvia Pérez Cruz, whose vocal technique was a benchmark for Rosalía. "In fact, Silvia Pérez Cruz has created a school of vocal technique that many Catalan artists draw upon," she explained. the musicologist Daniel Gómez Sánchez, author of the doctoral thesis Rosalía: cultural exchange between the singer-songwriter and her creative environment. The legacy that Estrella Morente embodies is the one passed down to her by her father, Enrique Morente, a guiding light for any musician who follows their intuition and seeks the best paths to artistic expression.

Björk, Yves Tumor, Carminho and Yahritza y su Esencia

These are the other four special collaborations on the album. Björk and Yves Tumor represent heaven and hell, or love and desire, in the second part of BerghainBjörk is the great guiding light of Rosalía de Castro. LuxIn the sense that the Icelandic artist has been a great advocate for the possibility of another kind of pop connected to experimentation and the avant-garde. The electronically raw American Yves Tumor has much in common with both. The Portuguese Carminho, an impressive innovator of fado, shines in Memory and confirms Rosalía's fondness for clear voices that communicate the deepest emotions. The American group Yahritza y su Esencia participates more modestly than prominently in The pearlThe great heartbreak song from the album. By the way, the guitars you hear in The rumba of forgiveness They are played by Joselito Acedo – who had accompanied Rosalía in flamenco recitals – and Oscar Lago.

A Daft Punk, a One Republic and... Charlotte Gainsbourg

The credits of Lux They report things that might go unnoticed while listening to the album. For example, that two of the seven composers of Relic They are Frenchman Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (one half of the duo Daft Punk) and American Ryan Tedder (the lead singer of OneRepublic). In the credits of JeanneOne of the album's most dramatic songs, "La Lara," is credited as a composer by singer and actress Charlotte Gainsbourg—daughter of Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg. Among the curiosities of Lux There is also the inclusion of Early morning, a composition shared with El Guincho and Pharrell Williams that Rosalía had played live a few times since 2019.