Rosalía is gearing up for the release of her fourth studio album, Lux, which sees the native Spanish speaker sing in 13 languages.
In a new conversation with The New York Times podcast, Popcast, the singer discussed how she took over two years crafting the project, and learning to write and sing in other languages, including Catalan, English, Latin, Sicilian, Ukrainian, Arabic and German.
"It’s a lot of trying to understand how other languages work. It’s a lot of intuition also, and trying to be like, 'Okay, I’m going to just write and let’s see how this will sound in another language. Google Translate — and let’s see how this word is said," she explained around the 24:10 minute mark in the video below.
"Okay, let me check with somebody who actually is a translator," she added. "If I rhyme this with this, will it make sense? No, it actually doesn’t make sense. Let me rephrase it. Constant back and forth for entire years just dedicated on lyrics."
Rosalía emphasized that Lux was made without the use of AI. "It’s all human — very much human," describing the songs as a "puzzle" and "labyrinth."
Elsewhere in the episode, the 33-year-old shared her experience as an actor on Euphoria. In February, reports emerged that she was joining the cast for Season 3 of the popular drama series.
"You might think, 'Oh, that's a pop moment or whatever.' To me, it's like, 'Oh, this is a new environment. This is a new thing. How can I do this and still be a good performer?'" she said (around the 58:25 minute mark). "Because being a performer on stage is very different than being a performer acting in something like that, and putting myself in service of Sam [Levinson’s] vision."
"I love being the director. I'm the director in my own projects. I'm the director, always in everything. So I'm like, 'This is different,'" she continued. "I love the people. I don't do so many things, but what I do I do because I really want to do it and I really admire that person's vision."
In addition to announcing her new album, Rosalía also released the album’s lead single, "Berghain," on October 27. Lux is slated to release on November 7.