{"id":266,"date":"2022-10-28T17:10:39","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T21:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/eng118st-fa22\/?p=266"},"modified":"2022-10-28T17:30:48","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T21:30:48","slug":"motomami-music-meant-to-be-felt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/eng118st-fa22\/motomami-music-meant-to-be-felt\/","title":{"rendered":"MOTOMAMI: Music Meant to Be Felt"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cChica, \u00bfqu\u00e9 dices?\u201d are the starting lyrics of Rosalia\u2019s debut song \u201cSaoko” in her recent album <\/span>MOTOMAMI<\/span><\/i>. For many, the album’s inconsistent form and playfulness have raised doubt about the professionalism of her music. The listeners question Rosalia, \u201cChica, \u00bfqu\u00e9 dices?\u201d doubting the meaning behind her lyrics and the overall purpose of creating an album with no superficial structure, an album that to some makes no sense at all. The singer named her album <\/span>MOTOMAMI<\/span><\/i> in honor of her mother and grandmother, who have been an influence on her character and fanaticism towards motorcycles. However, the meaning of <\/span>MOTOMAMI<\/span><\/i> is a bit more complex, as it is made up of two words that come from two different languages. The word Moto comes from Japanese origin meaning hard or strong, and the word Mami originated from the Spanish language, which means mother or the woman with dominance. La Rosal\u00eda has become one of the most famous Spanish-speaking artists in recent years worldwide due to her eccentric style and creative approach to the composition of her lyrics and music. As Susan Sontag insinuates in her essay \u201cAgainst Interpretation,\u201d the understanding and appreciation of art should be focused on form rather than its content. With her third studio album <\/span>MOTOMAMI<\/span><\/i>, La Rosal\u00eda exemplifies Sontag\u2019s statement by creating a purpose through production, creatively using tools to produce her music, and playfulness to give meaning to her songs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In her album <\/span>MOTOMAMI<\/span><\/i>, La Rosalia goes beyond music and lyrics, focusing primarily on the production and creative process of her album. By concentrating on the visual elements, La Rosalia creates a brand name that differentiates herself from other pop culture artists. The album <\/span>MOTOMAMI <\/span><\/i>has several visual elements, such as the naming, logo, and color red, that aid to form her music. In her interview with Apple Music, La Rosalia states: \u201cWhile I was working I tried to focus primarily on the visuals, I believe it is essential to produce the necessary elements that help people perceive my music better; it does make a difference\u201d (Apple Music). One of the main elements Rosalia focused on was her album\u2019s graphic design. Viktor Hammarberg, an artist based in Sweden, designed the album’s logo inspired by nostalgia, brutalism, and minimalism. He chose to use the color red and converted the letter \u201cM\u201d in the title into butterflies\u2013an element constantly mentioned throughout as seen in her album, fashion style, and teeth jewelry. Hammarberg also created the pen-like doodles that accompany her songs on Spotify, the vinyl, and merch. In the psychological theory of color, red is known for being a striking and notable color. Following this guideline, the sale of vinyl included the logo created by Hammarberg in a red-colored graffiti kit. Through this production technique, La Rosalia managed to get her logo to spread in diverse cities while involving her fans to be part of the creation of <\/span>MOTOMAMI<\/span><\/i>, thus gaining recognition and popularity. As Susan Sontag mentions in her essay, \u201cit doesn\u2019t matter whether artists intend, or don\u2019t intend, for their works to be interpreted . . . But the merit of these works certainly lies elsewhere than in their meanings\u201d (Sontag 6). The production of Rosalia\u2019s work and her emphasis on visual elements are the basis of the experience of her album. By focusing on how she is displaying the album and how the album engages with the audience, the merit of Rosalia\u2019s work goes beyond its analytical meaning. The creation of a personalized brand that reflects Rosalia\u2019s current interests creates a visual experience for her audience not only to delve into individually but also to interact with the artist at a collective level. By utilizing visual elements such as the naming technique, she differentiates herself in the music industry and creates a brand to which fans can relate. Media users are referring to themselves as \u201cMotomamis,\u201d graffitis of her logo are covering the streets in diverse cities around the world, and her name has gained recognition in countries that are not Spanish speaking. In contrast to other artists, La Rosalia has overcome the translation barrier through her visual production, managing to expand her brand and create an image as an empowered female artist.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, La Rosalia focuses on the sensorial and experimental experience of her album through minimalist production, artistic influence, and collage. As Sontag mentions in her text, individuals don’t have to interpret and find meaning in everything they see. Because La Rosalia focuses on aesthetics and how the work makes individuals feel, listeners can have a more visceral and meaningful experience focused on the sensorial rather than the intellectual. An example of this is Rosalia\u2019s song \u201cCUUUUuuuuuute,\u201d an aggressive samba that collages with the voice of Soytiet, a TikTok influencer who sings cover songs and posts dance videos. She used a sample of him counting to 21 and chopped his voice saying \u201cone.\u201d Then, she added the samba while continuing to add the \u201cone\u201d in the background. As the song moves onward, she unexpectedly switches the aggressive samba into a slow piano immersed in her voice. The process of joining diverse elements to compose a musical piece exemplifies Rosalia\u2019s approach to experimenting with music. La Rosalia has mentioned in previous interviews that she is highly influenced by Kanye\u2019s albums \u201cYeezus\u201d and \u201cMy Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy\u201d The collage techniques he applied in his songs inspired La Rosalia to approach her music in a new form. Another example of this technique is \u201cBIZCOCHITO.\u201d \u201cBIZCOCHITO\u201d is inspired by Wisin and Daddy Yankee\u2019s song \u201cSaoco,\u201d in which the chorus of the song asks \u201cQuien tu eres\u201d and a group of girls answer \u201ctu bizcochito.\u201d However, Rosalia responds to this song by saying \u201cYo no soy ni voy a ser tu Bizcochito.\u201d By creating a song as a response to a popular reggaeton lyric, La Rosalia demonstrates an innovative approach to the meaning of music. Not only does she utilize previous artists in her genre as an inspiration, but she also gives her music a distinctive combination of beats and genres.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In her songs the high level of pitch and energy seem to be overflowing, however, she utilizes the simplest approach to music throughout the album. Her song \u201cCUUUUuuuuuute\u201d has three elements: a bass loop, a samba loop, and her voice. In her song \u201cBIZCOCHITO,\u201d Rosalia utilizes arcade-like intro music, adds a reggaeton beat, and then a high pitch to her voice to resemble that of a child. This song only has three elements: beat, voice, and arcade music. Besides this, she adds her voice by singing \u201ctarataratara.\u201d In one of her interviews, La Rosalia states: \u201cMy inspiration for this album was minimalism. I needed to peel back layers and find the essence, the key element that could structure the album to potentialize every song\u201d (Altozano). The minimalist usage of elements demonstrates Rosalia’s artistic capacity to take advantage of the tools provided to her. With the few instruments she had in hand she created a pattern throughout her songs giving each one of them a particular singularity that diversified them from the other. For some, the repetitive drums, altered voices, and constant changes in the music genre felt uncomfortable and misfitted. In the opinion of Susan Sontag, what is essential in the modern concept of art is to recover our sense by learning, seeing, and feeling more (Sontag 10). Rosalia emphasizes this in the creativity of her music production. The simplistic usage of instruments and her alteration of sounds, mixing, and remixing add to Sontag’s idea that art’s aim should be to show how the work of art is made rather than what it means.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Art that avoids interpretation becomes a parody or is labeled as non-art by a group of people who consider its unseriousness an offense for the orthodoxy of making music. La Rosalia is an example of how music can create discomfort in an audience. By creating a humorous album that cannot be interpreted at all, La Rosalia forces her viewers to simply perceive <\/span>MOTOMAMI<\/span><\/i> by its form rather than its content. For instance, the lyrics of \u201cCHICKEN TERIYAKI\u201d at first glance seem out of the ordinary: \u201cPa’ ti naki, chicken teriyaki. Tu gata quiere maki, mi gata en Kawasaki.\u201d The words cannot be translated into the English language. What does Rosalia imply by singing chicken teriyaki? Does it have a meaning to her, or is she just entertaining herself? Humor played a vital role in the creation of her album, and naming the song after a Japanese dish without adding any layers of meaning exemplifies her aim to leave listeners in a state of void where the sensorial approach is inevitable to experience. Another example of her usage of playfulness is her song \u201cAbcdefg,\u201d a childish song that sings the ABC while adding a personal meaning to each letter: \u201cA for alpha, apex \/ alien B for bandit \/ C for coquette \/ D for dynamite\u201d (Apple Music). None of the items mentioned seem to correlate with each other, leaving the audience doubtful. La Rosalia mentioned in her interview, \u201cIn my albums <\/span>Los Angeles<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>El Mal Querer<\/span><\/i> I had no space to show my sense of humor. Now with <\/span>MOTOMAMI<\/span><\/i>, there is lighter energy, more celebratory, fun, playful music, and an \u2018I don’t care I will do it just because I feel like it\u2019 energy\u201d (Altozano). Rosalia’s careless attitude is seen throughout her songs. In present times, interpretation refuses to leave the work of art alone. Susan Sontag argues that real art can make us nervous (Sontag 5). In Rosalia\u2019s album debut, the songs \u201cCHICKEN TERIYAKI\u201d and \u201cAbcdefg\u201d were widely criticized through social media platforms. The praise she had once gained from her voice now seemed to be diminished by the discomfort she provoked in her listeners; she made them feel nervous, an emotion they may not have experienced in music before. The usage of humor is the basis of the formation of her album, and not being able to interpret the collage of sounds and the playful lyrics epitomizes her point. By reducing the work of art to its content and then interpreting that, one tames the work of art and reduces what Sontag criticizes as interpreting art to make it manageable and conformable. La Rosalia refuses to make her art manageable by creating a meaningful listening experience through a humoristic approach to music.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Feel it yourself and listen to “CHICKEN TERIYAKI<\/a>“<\/p>\n

MOTOMAMI<\/span><\/i> presents a completely diversified universe in the 21st-century music industry. People are not accustomed to listening to music that makes them feel uncomfortable, and La Rosal\u00eda in this sense has radically changed the creation of music. The incorporation of minimalistic and collage experimentation, humor, and production design emphasized the aesthetics of her music, empowering La Rosal\u00eda to be a controversial and engaging artist. In her essay, Sontag mentions that some mediums are more influenced to be interpreted than others. She believes music, in comparison to literature and painting, has not yet been bombarded with interpretation and constant analysis (Sontag 5). However, albums like Rosalia raise questions about the purpose of creating music. To what extent should we translate an artist’s lyrics? Should we understand what we are singing to feel it more or enjoy it fully? If individuals put too much effort into understanding what the artist meant in their work and not on the feelings the work seeks to evoke, they will not be able to focus on the sensorial and experimental experience music can offer. Music, like the <\/span>MOTOMAMI <\/span><\/i>album, should be part of Sontag\u2019s new kind of interpretation, one which prefers form over content. The choice of instruments, graphic elements, and inspirations should be the main focus of this art medium in which \u201cdescriptive, rather than prescriptive vocabulary\u201d describes the art (Sontag 8). Rather than attaching a theme or meaning to music, the work should be felt at a sensorial level and after all, enjoyed. Instead of asking \u201cChica, \u00bfqu\u00e9 dices?\u201d we should just sing along to \u201cS\u00e9 qui\u00e9n soy, y a donde voy ya nunca se me olvida\u201d and enjoy the mastery of musical artists like La Rosalia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Works Cited\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Altozano, Jaime, director. Rosal\u00eda & Motomami: The Full Interview. YouTube, YouTube, 9 Apr. 2022, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=JSGlJ00w8Zw. Accessed 18 Oct. 2022.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Officialbeatsmusictv, Apple Music, director. ROSAL\u00cdA: ‘MOTOMAMI,’ Creative\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Songwriting and Finding Musical Freedom with Frank Ocean | Apple Music. YouTube, YouTube, 16 Mar. 2022, https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pYy3awwIJs4. Accessed 18 Oct. 2022. http:\/\/https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/lUSC_gQ_Aos\/maxresdefault.jpg<\/a><\/span>Sontag, Susan. \u201cAgainst Interpretation.\u201d Against Interpretation, Picador, 1966, pp. 1-10.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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