Rosal a Vila Tobella (born 25 September 1993), known mononymously as Rosal a (Spanish: [rosa’lia] or [roza’lia];Catalan: [ruz ‘li ]; stylised in all caps), is a Catalan singer-songwriter from Barcelona. After discovering Spanish folkloric music at an early age, Rosal a graduated Catalonia College of Music with honors by virtue of her collaborative cover record with Ra l Refree, Los ngeles (2017) and the baccalaureate project El Mal Querer (Sony, 2018), which was co-produced by El Guincho on a low budget and contained modern interpretations of flamenco mixed with pop and urban. The album, which would later win the Latin Grammy Award for Album of the Year and be listed in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2020, was released to critical acclaim and started the ascent of Rosal a into the international music scene.
Her first hit single came in 2019, when she collaborated with J Balvin on “Con Altura”, a reggaeton-inspired track that marked Rosal a’s journey to urban music. Selling over seven million copies, it was named as of the best songs of the year by Billboard and Pitchfork and Best Urban Song by the Latin Recording Academy. It also spawned her signature lyric and nickname “La Rosal a”. She later continued collaborating with other musicians such as Billie Eilish, Bad Bunny, Ozuna, Arca and Travis Scott, achieving multiple accolades and breaking many records.
Throughout her career, Rosal a has won a Grammy Award, eight Latin Grammy Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards, an MTV Europe Music Award, two UK Music Video Awards and two consecutive Premio Ruido for both of her studio albums, among others. In 2019, Billboard gave her the Rising Star Award for “changing the sound of today’s mainstream music with her fresh flamenco-influenced pop” and became the first Spanish-singing act in history to ever be nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys.