No filters

Strategy or leak? This question, which has almost been more talked about than Rosalía's new album, which is supposedly what was leaked ahead of time, seems like a brilliant idea for a board game: Strategy or leak? Of course, beyond the question, I can't think of the rules of the game. In any case, the rules, if there are any, were broken a long time ago, and now is the time to doubt everything and everyone, if that hasn't always been the case. But if the strategy is a leak, then no question is relevant. In other words, the board game isn't such a good idea. It ends too quickly. That's probably why I don't dedicate myself to creating it. The good news is that, in Rosalía's case, it doesn't matter if it was a strategy or a leak, because no one doubts her stratospheric musical gifts and because it doesn't affect us negatively in any way. Not at all. I also don't understand the strategy, if it wasn't a leak, because I doubt the album needs more publicity than it already has, but who am I to argue with an artist who, from Catalonia, has seduced the whole world? If anything, I can only tip my hat. And clip her nails, which is the only thing I can do. but that I find.

Rosalía, whether intentionally or not (yes, right?), has brought up a topic that isn't new but is very interesting. If we take it out of the media context, and without a marketing team involved, the people who are part of our daily lives, the people closest to us, also leak information or deploy a strategy with a specific objective. More or less consciously—there's a bit of everything—these people often make us wonder if they did it deliberately and with what intention. And perhaps from then on, our relationship changes, in any direction. Things don't always have to get worse. But I say this more to encourage myself than out of conviction. When life is public, the maneuvers are the same, although they take on a different dimension, even if it has nothing to do with leaking a hard drive or leaking emails from the Prosecutor's Office, to give recent examples that, indeed, have nothing to do with it. But it's clear that there's always a strategy behind a leak, even if it's on the part of adversaries. And it's certainly curious that in this era of maximum security, alarm announcements, airport bans, and nuclear rearmament, there are still so many leaks that it seems the foundations are made of cracks.

And forgive me, but now let me slip in—or rather, leak—something else: Collboni's decision to compete to make Barcelona the European Capital of Christmas 2026. It's a strategy, even if it sounds like a joke. And even if it's not funny. It wasn't leaked. It was made public. A strategy that, as a Barcelonan, I don't see as necessary, and I also don't think the Christmas season is our main attraction, nor should it be. And let it be known that I like Christmas very much. But this is all we need in Barcelona. A competition that's much closer to the one between the mayors of Vigo and Badalona to see who has the biggest tree than to the objectives that a capital city like ours should have. And if the intention is to encourage the Christmas spirit, surely the mayor and his team can come up with much better strategies than turning the city into a winter theme park. And if not, I suppose a strategy could also be requested in a letter to the Three Kings. Of course, perhaps Santa Claus will filter it.