Rosalía has cleared up whether her new song ‘Berghain’ was inspired by the iconic Berlin club of the same name.
The track appears on the Spanish singer-songwriter’s fourth studio album, ‘Lux’, which was released last Friday (November 7).
During a new interview with The Guardian, Rosalía opened up about how lead single ‘Berghain’ – featuring Björk and Yves Tumor – is about dissolving to accommodate a lover’s fear and anger.
The publication noted how many fans have suggested that the song is named after Berlin’s famed techno club. ‘Berghain’ is a made-up word, and a portmanteau of the neighbourhoods Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain in the German capital.
However, Rosalía – who sings in 13 different languages on ‘Lux’ – revealed that she had drawn on the literal meaning, “mountain grove”.
“We all have this forest of thoughts inside us where you could get lost,” she explained. “I’m not glorifying evil, but darkness is present in life.”
She continued: “It makes me think of a quote I really like: ‘The artist who walks beside the devil, putting a hand on his shoulder, can expand our understanding of wickedness’. I agree so much. Sometimes, when you put opposites beside each other, you can understand both better. There had to be passages that were darker in order for the light to be even brighter.”
‘Lux’ is Latin for “light”, while the track ‘Berghain’ contains lyrics in German, Spanish and English, with heavy classical influences.
Rosalía’s new album recently became the most-streamed LP in a day on Spotify by a Spanish-speaking female artist. The follow-up to 2022’s ‘Motomami’ features a song co-written by Daft Punk‘s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, ‘Reliquia’.
In a glowing five-star review of ‘Lux’, NME hailed the collection as “an arresting album of astonishing scope and ambition”, adding: “Dim the lights, put your phone on Do Not Disturb, turn up the volume and settle in for a truly one-of-a-kind experience.”
Meanwhile, Rosalía has spoken out after saying she is the “opposite” of Bad Bunny, claiming that her comments had been taken “out of context”. She had previously commented on the Puerto Rican artist’s decision to perform only in Spanish, despite him having many fans who don’t understand the language.
The star also discussed her multi-lingual approach to ‘Lux’, telling the New York Times: “It’s a lot of trying to understand how other languages work… it’s a lot of intuition and trying to be like, ‘I’m going to just write and let’s see how these will sound in another language’.”
Rosalía told the outlet that she had spent a lot of time on Google Translate, as well as speaking with professional translators. She also worked with teachers who coached her phonetically on how to pronounce words and phrases.
Opening up about her desire to understand new cultures through her language learning on the LP, she explained: “I love travelling, I love learning from other humans. Why would I not try to learn another language and try to sing in another language and expand the way I can be a singer or a musician or an artist? The world is so connected.”
