Track of the Week: Rosalía chases the fire of the divine on ‘Focu ‘Ranni’
When Rosalía first teased LUX (Complete Works), the question wasn’t which additional songs would join the mix. It was: how could she possibly improve upon an already masterful vision, give its fully cohesive deep dive into everything theatrical art should and could be in mainstream spaces?
As strange as it may seem, one thing that most of us have learned from the beauty that is LUX is that you don’t always have to immediately understand what a song or body of work is attempting to convey to feel deeply connected to it.
After all, it says a lot that, upon its initial release, praise about its emotionality and visceral appeal appeared left and centre, cementing Rosalía’s position not only as an innovative, boundary-pushing powerhouse but as someone who truly transcends language barriers.
In the world of pop, changing and transforming is constantly met with a barrage of adoration and criticism, yet failing to venture beyond what established an artist as a major player in the game can often be seen as selling out or playing it safe. Rosalía, on the other hand, chases the thrill of the concept, placing art at the centre of how she expresses her position in the world around her.
And that position, as it has become clear, is one many of us can relate to, no matter whether or not we immediately understand her deeply personal lyrical connotations of “feminine mysticism”, as she describes it. Most of what we hear in this current era of Rosalía is what she calls music to “just enjoy” as well as “music that challenges you”, exploring the meaning of mysticism, femininity, and beauty across different settings and circumstances.
Considering how these come to the forefront of song of the record’s best songs, like ‘Porcelana’ and ‘La Yugular’, one of the latest additions, ‘Focu ‘Ranni’ (translated loosely to “big fire”), fits firmly within these realms, capturing the passion and euphoria of breaking free from something that perhaps wasn’t the best thing to chase to begin with.
Starting by immediately launching into the typical Rosalía-esque hyper-dramatic arrangements (with an equally as theatrically thrilling music video on Spotify), ‘Focu ‘Ranni’’ explores letting go or finding escape from a situation and the freedom that comes with that painful kind of honesty, the yell it out and scream kind that usually comes in a storm of rage as you enjoy finally being able to let your hair down.
The central component, as always, is Rosalía’s gorgeous vocal delivery, which oscillates between pained crooning and euphoric belting, symbolising the nonlinear experience of choosing your own path, but also the realisation that it was the best one you could have taken, given the circumstances.
It also evokes the same charm that many of Rosalía’s most masterful tracks deliver – which is, in essence, the satisfaction from voicing your own needs and desires, especially after going through something that made your own voice feel quashed or suppressed. Once again, we feel that sense of immediately reclaiming yourself and your own power, rather than leaving yourself behind.
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