Rosalía‘s third album, Motomami, proved to be one of this year’s most acclaimed projects. But a particular track on the record stirred up quite a bit of buzz. On the track, “Hentai,” Rosalía puts her fantasies on display. Some of the cleaner lyrics include “Te quiero ride / Como a mi bike / Hazme un tape / Modo Spike,” which translates to “I want to ride you like a bike, and make me a tape, like Spike,” presumably referring to director Spike Lee.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Rosalía said she tapped into her own mystique and power to write the song.
“I think there’s too much taboo with certain subjects, and that taboos restrict your freedom,” she said. “Feminine energy, there’s an erotic superiority in femininity. Why not write from there? Why not make a song from that place, where you’re owning your desires?”
Elsewhere in the interview, Rosalía admitted that she doesn’t pay much attention to streaming numbers or charts. She also cited artists like Lil Kim and Tego Calderon as influences, noting she prefers to listen to music when she can tell the artists “don’t give a f*ck.”
“My favorite artists, you feel that need to communicate coming from them,” she said. “There’s that need for freedom first, like even if nobody was listening they would still have that need to create. You can tell that for some people that’s not their biggest goal; maybe their focus is more on money or fame. When those priorities aren’t there, there’s a surrender in that.”
