Tag: Reggaetón

The first time Rosalía was publicly called out for appropriating and capitalizing on cultures that are not of her Spanish origins came in 2018 with the success of her multiple Latin Grammy Award-winning album “El Mal Querer." Because music, even music created fully with the intention to entertain, is inherently political. It would be hard to argue when listening to the lyrics of “Con Altura," the title meaning with height in Spanish, that there is a political dimension to the song, but the politics of performance are at play. Why is Rosalía, and not a female artist who specializes in reggaeton, granted a feature on a J. Balvins song that was more or less projected to become an international hit? According to writer Angela Membrado, it is hard to find the line between appropriation and inspiration in Rosalía's work. In the case of “Con Altura”, the popularity of the song cross-culturally might introduce listeners unfamiliar with reggaeton to underrepresented reggaeton artists and give them an international spotlight. If that doesn’t happen, “Con Altura” will be another case where an artist capitalized off of an art form by a marginalized group — even though this is more often than not completely unintentional. Though Rosalía has a deep passion and respect for flamenco as an art form, flamenco and other flamenco artists have not received much further attention or acclaim on an international stage since the success of this album. Though reggaeton has wider international acceptance than flamenco, it is uncertain if the success of “Con Altura” will leverage underrepresented reggaeton artists. As George Orwell said, “The very notion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political position.” Politics are an intrinsic part of music and music-making, but it is up to the listener to decide just how much politics matter in their listening habits.