"Bagdad" (stylised in

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, officially "Bagdad – Cap 7: Liturgia") is a song by

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

singer and songwriter

Rosalía Rosalia Vila Tobella (born 25 September 1992), known mononymously as Rosalía (, ), is a Spanish singer. Born and raised in the outskirts of Barcelona, she has been described as an "atypical pop star" due to her genre-bending musical styles. ...

. A fan favourite, it is the seventh track on the singer's second studio album ''

El Mal Querer ''El Mal Querer'' () is the second studio album by Spanish singer-songwriter Rosalía, released on 2 November 2018 through Columbia Records. The album was written by Rosalía and co-produced with El Guincho on an initial low budget as an indep ...

'' (2018), released on 2 November 2018, through

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. It was sent for a radio release on 4 December 2018 as the album's fourth single. Inspired by the Barcelonian erotic club of the same name, lyrically "Bagdad" talks about a woman's loneliness. It was written by Antón Álvarez, Leticia Sala, Luís Troquel and Rosalía, with production handled by

El Guincho Pablo Díaz-Reixa (born November 17, 1983), professionally known as el Guincho, is a Spanish musician, singer, and record producer. Díaz-Reixa rose to prominence with his 2008 album, ''Alegranza''. His musical style relies heavily on the use ...

and co-produced by Rosalía herself. It contains an

interpolation In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points. In engineering and science, one often has a n ...

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 88 million records. Timberlake is the recipient of numerous awards and ac ...

's " Cry Me a River" and a choral participation by the Orfeó Català as well as arrangements by

Joan Albert Amargós Joan Albert Amargós is a Spanish composer and conductor born in Barcelona in 1950. Amargós is an instrumentalist on piano and clarinet, and has composed a number of chamber and symphonic works. He is also a great connoisseur of Flamenco, which ha ...

Background

In an interview with

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, Rosalía said she was inspired by an erotic club in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

called Bagdad and by Timberlake's " Cry Me a River": "He heard the song and said, "Yes, you can use the melody"; I was so excited because he never approves anything." In this song, Rosalía represents a woman drowned by her anguish and grief due to a bad love. The woman does nothing to prevent it, but flooded by her own tears she finds salvation. The liturgy, a worship ceremony, ends with a rebirth. The song's lyrics, part of a

narrative arc A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, vide ...

that spans the whole album, revolve around the main character of the story being seen alone crying in the streets at night, clapping her hands in sorrow "like she's praying to the rhythm of

bulerías ''Bulería'' (; interchangeable with the plural, ''bulerías'') is a fast flamenco rhythm made up of a 12 beat cycle with emphasis in two general forms as follows: This may be thought of as a measure of followed by a measure of (known ...

", and then being rescued by a "fallen angel".

Music video

The music video for "Bagdad", directed by Helmi, was filmed in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and released on 4 December 2018 on YouTube. It features Rosalía as a strip-club dancer, dancing in a pole wearing a blonde wig and a red latex mono similar to the one

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

used in the music video for " Oops!... I Did It Again" in 2000. She goes to the place's bathroom after having a heated up phone conversation, where she starts crying to the point that the water from her tears fills up the whole room, drowning her. The singer tweeted that the music video is "For all those who were heartbroken and drowned in their sorrow." A portion of an unreleased track " Lo Presiento", initially intended for ''El Mal Querer'', can be spotted at the beginning of the video.

Charts

Certifications

References

2018 singles 2018 songs Music videos shot in France Rosalía songs Spanish-language songs Song recordings produced by el Guincho Songs written by Justin Timberlake Songs written by Scott Storch Songs written by Timbaland Songs written by Rosalía Songs written by el Guincho {{2018-single-stub