Rosalía kicks off her third album with a song about converting herself into a "makeup de drag queen," and she concludes it with a round of applause that is well deserved. In between are forty minutes of music that are likely to be some of the most exciting, forward-thinking, and discombobulating that we will hear all year.

The creative Spanish performer merged classic and current flamenco rhythms with experimental pop flourishes on her second album, 'El Mal Querer,' which won a Grammy in 2018. The album was released in 2018. 'Bagdad,' a hit track that was inspired by a Barcelona strip club and 
expertly woven in a musical allusion to Justin Timberlake's 'Cry Me A River,' was one example of how exciting the results were. Here, she pushes herself even further to generate a stunning musical grab bag that includes flamenco, reggaetón, left-field pop, glitchy R&B, a brilliant Burial sample, hooks that sound like playground chants, and a song called "Genis" that is best characterized as "despondent gospel."

It's definitely a wake-up call to give it a listen. The delicate and seductive "Hentai," which Rosalía co-wrote and produced with Pharrell Williams, begins as a stripped-down glide before exploding into life with an explosion of rapid-fire rhythms. Pharrell Williams also contributed to the production of the song. It is made even more thrilling by sex-positive lyrics, including a phrase that translates into English as "I want to ride you like I ride my bike," which is one of the more exciting lines in the song. 

One of the two songs that Rosalía and James Blake collaborated on is called "Diablo." It features Rosalía's vocals that have been pitched-changed over menacing electronica and an off-kilter reggaetón beat. It gives the impression that Rosalía will do an excellent job scoring an independent horror movie if she ever decides to do so.

There are also some tunes that are more traditional, such as "La Fama," which features Rosalía and The Weeknd and is a beautiful example of bachata. She stated that Patti Smith had a significant influence on the lyrics, which reflect the negative aspects of fame. But despite the fact that her goals are lofty, 'Motomami' never displays an air of superiority or a sense of self-consciousness. She namechecks Julio Iglesias, Naomi Campbell, and hip-hop producer Mike Dean in the joyful reggaetón romp "Chicken Teriyaki," which sees her rampaging through New York City. 

In point of fact, one might make the same argument about the entirety of 'Motomami.' Rosalía is not so much staking out her own territory as she is constructing her very own state-of-the-art, very winding, supersonic highway. You are going to want to hurtle down this one again and time again.