"A Palé" is a song by Spanish singer

Rosalía Rosalia Vila Tobella (born 25 September 1992), known mononymously as Rosalía (, ), is a Spanish Pop music, pop and flamenco singer. She has been described as an "atypical pop star" due to her genre-bending musical styles. After being enthral ...

. It was released by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

on 7 November 2019.

Background

Rosalía posted a preview of the video on 6 November 2019 on her social media with the caption "A Palé mañanaaaaaa". A press release explained the song title, saying that it "takes its name from the nearly ubiquitous wooden shipping pallets Rosalía was surrounded by for years growing up in an area outside Barcelona dominated by trucking industry but the spirit of the song centers around 'doing it big' – our ability to be strong and carry a lot of weight". Song and video are a reference to the area Rosalía grew up in.

Critical reception

Suzette Fernandez of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' pointed out the difference in sound compared to Rosalía's previous releases, saying that she "fusions her

flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...

with contemporary global rhythms, stepping aside from the

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular music, popular and electronic music that originated in Panamanian reggaetón, Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puert ...

beat from some of her other recent releases". Tom Breihan of ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

'' saw the song as Rosalía's return to getting "weird again" and described the singer's appearance as "snarling hard over a head-spinning, rippling beat". Jordan Darville of ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' is a magazine established in 1999 as an outlet for Cornerstone Agency, a marketing and public relations firm established by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. History and work It is owned by T ...

'' concluded that "the song itself chops samples, handclaps, and fat kick drums that easily puts it in banger territory".

Promotion

As of live performances, Rosalía performed the song live for the first time at the Latin Grammy 2019, where she also performed " Con Altura". The song was added to the El Mal Querer Tour set list and was performed beginning with the 3 December 2019 show in Paris. "A Palé" served as the trailer track for the 2020 Netflix series " Warrior Nun". The track was also included in the TV commercial for the

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine giv ...

" Air Max 2090". A remix by

Gesaffelstein Mike Lévy (; born 24 June 1985), known professionally as Gesaffelstein (), is a French music programmer, DJ, songwriter and producer from Lyon. He has worked alongside artists such as Lady Gaga, The Weeknd, Daft Punk, Kanye West, ASAP Rocky, A$ ...

was released in January 2020 and another one by Overmono in April.

Music video

The music video was released on 7 November 2019 and was directed by Jora Frantzis. The video takes place in an industrial park with the singer sitting in a dark shipping container. She is then seen jumping over several containers before sliding down a conveyor. Rosalía is seen wearing a unibrow in the video which critics compared to Mexican painter

Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by Culture of Mexico, the country' ...

. It was filmed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in September 2019. It received several comparisons to American singer Billie Eilish, with whom she collaborated in late 2018. Rosalía and younger sister, Pilar Vila, were the creative directors of the song's music video which was named the darkest but yet one of the best of the artist's repertoire. The music video was nominated for Best Editing at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards.

Meaning

The music video starts with Rosalía at an industrial park surrounded by

container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...

s while singing "since I was born, I knew I had a star in me, which I owe to nobody and that only protects me". ("Palé" means hidden in caló and

pallet A pallet (also called a skid) is a flat transport structure, which supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, a pallet jack, a Loader (equipment), front loader, a Jack (mechanical), jacking device, or an erect cra ...

Castilian Spanish In English, Castilian Spanish can mean the variety of Peninsular Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain, the standard form of Spanish, or Spanish from Spain in general. In Spanish, the term (Castilian) can either refer to the Spanish langu ...

, referring to the objects used to transport transformed products out of a factory to the market.) After this scene, Rosalía sits voluntarily on an

assembly line An assembly line, often called ''progressive assembly'', is a manufacturing process where the unfinished product moves in a direct line from workstation to workstation, with parts added in sequence until the final product is completed. By mechan ...

where she is touched and transformed by people in white clothing and transported in a "palé" made of glass. After this, the singer jumps on these previously named containers. In the beginning of the music video, Rosalía is seen with a unibrow, referencing

. Kahlo was a Mexican communist painter whose tragic history and image have sadly been romanticized and commercialized around the world ignoring her art, thoughts or feelings. Therefore, the singer tries to express how a radical, broken and innovative woman has been

capitalized Capitalization ( North American spelling; also British spelling in Oxford) or capitalisation (Commonwealth English; all other meanings) is writing a word with its first letter as a capital letter (uppercase letter) and the remaining letters in ...

and transformed into a commercial product. Rosalía also references

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, an ...

's " La Duquesa de Alba", the woman with most royal titles in Spain. At this point its also notable the moves that the camera does, copying Rosalía's movements, referencing that she is constantly in the public eye, even though she sometime doesn't want to. Now knowing that "palé" means hidden in caló, this could mean that the singer is referencing her haters and how she's the centre of their thoughts. Rosalía sings how her style has been copied all around the world since it has been exported. She sings: "my Kawasaki rides in

seguiriya ''Siguiriyas'' (; also ''seguiriyas'', ''siguerillas'', ''siguirillas'', ''seguidilla gitana'', etc.) are a form of flamenco music in the cante jondo category. This deep, expressive style is among the most important in flamenco. Unlike other pal ...

". Seguirilla is one of the oldest genres in flamenco music. This references the pop/hip-hop fusion the Catalan artist has created within this classic Spanish art. There is a key phrase in "A Palé". Rosalía sings in the pre-chorus: "bite if you have to". Here Rosalía talks about the necessity to answer to those people who dislike you in the same way they attack you. The final phrase of the song translates to "pull it back". Here she directly talks to her critics by showing that she is not a fabricated product by the music industry.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal. * Rosalía Vila – vocals, songwriting, production * Pablo Díaz-Reixa – songwriting, production, bass, drum, percussion, programming, recording engineering * Frank Dukes – production, percussion, programming * James Blake – background vocals * DJ Riggins – assistant engineering * Jacob Richards – assistant engineering * Mike Seaberg – assistant engineering * Chris Athens – master engineering *

Jaycen Joshua Jaycen Joshua is an American audio engineer based in California. He won three Grammy Awards: the first for mixing ''Growing Pains'' for Mary J. Blige in 2007, followed by '' El mal querer'' for Rosalía in 2018, and ''Hyperspace'' for Beck in ...

– mixing engineering

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2019 singles 2019 songs Alternative hip-hop songs Rosalía songs Song recordings produced by el Guincho Songs written by el Guincho Songs written by Rosalía Songs in Spanish