Comment: RosalĂa: raising reggaetĂłnâs âglobal cachetâ? Published on: 8 April 2022 Writing for The Conversation, Ellen Rebecca Bishell discusses whether Spanish singer RosalĂaâs success is raising reggaetĂłnâs âglobal cachetâ or robbing it of its roots. , Spanish singer RosalĂaâs new album, , has received a lot of media attention for its melding of ââ. Grounded in her flamenco background, the album sways from pop to jazz, is inflected with hip-hop and reggaetĂłn beats and even features elements of bachata and salsa. RosalĂa rose to mainstream visibility in 2018 when her studio album El mal querer (The Bad Loving) . But the recent comparison by academics of RosalĂaâs rise to fame with the ââ speaks to the silencing of the musicâs rich socio-cultural history. RosalĂa is not alone, however. Throughout the 2010s and into the 2020s, thereâs been a slew of popular songs by white and European Spanish artists that borrow heavily from aLatin and Caribbean music while erasing its Black roots. ReggaetĂłn and the âDespacito effectâ ReggaetĂłn is an Afro-Caribbean music genre with a complex history of musical encounters between Panama, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and New York. Influenced by and built upon styles as diverse as dancehall, hip-hop, merengue, reggae and rap, reggaetĂłnâs roots are in the African rhythms that were carried over during the colonisation of the Americas. In the 1990s in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, reggaetĂłn became a vehicle for Black resistance against . But as the global popularity of the music has risen, reggaetĂłn has become increasingly â. An obvious example of this was when Canadian artist Justin Bieber featured in a remix of Puerto Rican artistsâ Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankeeâs reggaetĂłn hit in 2017. Despite the original versionâs enormous popularity, Bieber has often been . Despacito ft. Justin Bieber official music video, YouTube. This so-called ââ echoes broader patterns of appropriation and consumption of Caribbean music genres by Euro-American markets â and the resulting exclusion and marginalisation of their founding figures. One of the most famous examples of this in Latin music is Enrique Iglesiasâs collaboration with Cuban duo Gente de Zona and singer/producer Descemer Bueno in the 2014 remix of . The track is the . As American Studies scholar Petra Rivera-Rideau has , Bailando allowed Enrique Iglesias to reinvent himself as a hip Latin urban singer by relying on Afro-Latino cultural markers â in this case, reggaetĂłn â while simultaneously embodying Latino whitenessâ. El mal querer: robbing reggaetĂłnâs roots The creative and commercial construction of a white Latino image by European artists who produce reggaetĂłn is more than simply whitewashing. The shared language might impart a sense of authority and authenticity to these Spaniards. But we must remember that this language is shared precisely because of Spanish colonisation. Bailando official music video, YouTube. RosalĂaâs success in the âLatinâ music market as a Spaniard has been met with accusations of cultural appropriation â a term used to describe the thoughtless adoption of elements of a culture or cultural identity by someone who does not belong to it. Such accusations were particularly loud after the release of the distinctively reggaetĂłn track in 2019. The song was also made in collaboration with Colombian singer J Balvin â- a white artist who recently unabashedly accepted an award for ââ. The issue deepened after her subsequent appearance on the cover of as a âLatina artistâ (Latino/a refers to someone of Latin American heritage living in the US). The criticism gave rise to important debates about race, class and privilege in Latin and Spanish music. Talking about RosalĂaâs hit Malamente, the Spanish rapper C. Tangana : â[ReggaetĂłn is] very valuable to urban culture and Spanish culture. Itâs helped people think different, look for a different soundâ. Thanks to RosalĂaâs whiteness and Europeanness she has received credit for bestowing Latin culture with an âoriginalityâ and âvalueâ. However, that comes from harnessing and combining music rooted in cultural and ethnic backgrounds to which she does not belong. These colonial legacies of inequality and white privilege can be seen very clearly in RosalĂaâs collaboration with Dominican rapper on the hit song . Here, explicit references to RosalĂaâs Spanish heritage are made in an Afro-Dominican space upon which she can capitalise and over which, as the lyrics go, she is ârulingâ. Linda official music video, YouTube. RosalĂaâs 2020 Grammys win in the âbest Latin rock, urban, or alternative albumâ category adds more fuel to the fire. RosalĂa is not Latina. Also, the since-renamed âurbanâ award is a racially marked category into which Black artists â be it of reggaetĂłn or other genres â have been pigeonholed. Competition in the Latin Grammysâ âBig Fourâ (album, record and song of the Year and best new artist), on the other hand, has been , who have also been able to win in âurbanâ categories. Practices of exploitation and discrimination embedded in the music industry are irrefutable. White artists have beaten Black artists on an incredibly uneven playing field. When we recognise reggaetĂłnâs rich and complex cultural history, it becomes obvious that RosalĂa is not raising its âglobal cachetâ. And as reggaetĂłn continues to gain visibility on the global stage without its history, we cannot overlook the injustices that have been imposed upon its creators throughout its international boom. ReggaetĂłn historian (aka ) is one important figure who deserves our attention. As Eccleston makes clear in her recent article on J Balvinâs participation in the reggaetĂłn scene, ââ. It is down to musicians and industries, scholars and audiences alike to elevate, celebrate, and preserve its roots. So, when weâre performing, analysing, or dancing along to the next hottest reggaetĂłn hit, let us remember where it came from and be critical of who is performing it. , PhD Researcher and Associate Lecturer in Modern Languages, This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the . 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