Currently, with the exception of Childish Gambino, Rosalia is the freshest, most creative pop musician I know. She’s a rival to Kate Bush. I don’t know how famous she is in the UK. But in the Spanish speaking world she is massive. And understandably so. She currently resides in New York. Her music has Spanish, Latin, Japanese and American influences. Her videos are extraordinary. And her shows are understandably massive.
Nathy Peluso seems to share something with Rosalia, even if her style is more aggressive and realist. Both artists are determined to create a new type of identity and being, a pop sentimentality that breaks out of the stereotypical feminine seductress. I actually came across Nathy Peluso through looking up an old writer at Vanguard Online, Paul Simon-Geddis, who went on to become Head of Content at the Sonar Festival in Spain.
A third artist, Rigoberta Bandini is as much on the front foot as Nathy. Whilst Nathy has an immediate physical presence, Rigoberta’s assertiveness comes more in the quavering and sternness of her voice, in her lyrics, contents and ideas. She’s also capable of making her songs burst into an electronic euphoria. One of her songs is about ‘Christ going down’, another is about being a female dog, and how it would be much better being one than a female human.
And its probably worth adding Las Bistecs to the mix. They’ve not done much in the last five/six years, but they produced a stinging parody of the Spanish Franco loving right wing wealthy classes, who live in the kind of gated communities that Gareth Bale and Ronaldo opted to join when they played for Real.