Beto Aghemio still vividly remembers the first time he saw Rosalía on stage. It was on Thursday, November 15, 2019, at the twentieth Latin Grammy Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. That night, the Catalan artist gave a brief performance in which she sang the songs A Palé and Con Altura. “I was really impressed,” he says to Culto, the programming director of Radio La Clave. “I remember they introduced her as an emerging artist, but on a global level. And although it wasn’t a grandiose show because it was just one of many in the broadcast, in that performance she showed she had everything very clear. There was a very well-defined space for the choreography and the way she engaged with the audience, who received her very well.”
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At that time, the Barcelonan was an emerging name making a mark with her unique blend of pop, flamenco, and urban music. In fact, she was one of the stars of the night—the same one in which Mon Laferte performed in reference to the situation in Chile—winning five awards for her album El Mal Querer. “At that moment she made it clear that the level of artist we were seeing was a long-term thing. It was something bigger than just a hit or a song that would become trendy,” adds Aghemio.
Seven years later, Rosalía has established herself as a key name in global pop. And her ambition has not diminished; rather, it has solidified. In the coming days, she will arrive in the country to perform four dates at the Movistar Arena with her Lux Tour, the most ambitious and challenging show of her career. A show in which she expands the concept of the album of the same name, which in its four movements presents a pop symphony with touches of classical music, electronic elements, phrases in 13 languages, and references to saints from other times.
The arena tour began last March at the LDLC Arena in Lyon, France. She has already toured Europe and North America, where she had to postpone the first shows due to a family emergency. This week she moved to South America, starting performances in Colombia, then moving on to Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. Overall, the tour has sparked positive reviews for its bold proposal that mixes various artistic expressions; from the start with the star giving a nod to ballet—which has earned her criticism from professional dancers—through refined choreography prepared by the renowned French dance collective La Horde, to a brilliant moment designed by Dimitri Papaioannou for the performance of La Perla, halfway between theater and performance art (including a reference to the Venus de Milo).
A moment that caught the attention of The Guardian and was highlighted in its review of the show at the O2 in London. “Her performance of La Perla, on a dark stage, with her dancers’ white-gloved hands alternately covering the lower part of her body like a dress or framing her, is both visually stunning and strangely simple, devoid of the kind of high-tech effects that pop shows usually rely on.”
In some way, the boldness Rosalía showed in Lux is complemented by her striking stage production. Expectations were high, as the album was included in various best album lists of 2025 (Culto recognized it as the Best International Album of the season). And despite how challenging the album is and the few numbers from her previous works in the setlist (6 songs from MOTOMAMI and some from Los Ángeles), the shows have been successful with audiences and critics alike. “From her striking entrance to a fun New York confession, to a finale that transformed the stage into a surprising religious image, the first of Rosalía’s two nights at MSG offered countless memorable visual and musical moments,” Billboard wrote about the performance at the famous Madison Square Garden in New York on June 16.
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The shows are structured in four acts, with a live orchestra and several moments rich in cultural references and artistic pieces. “From a certain perspective, Lux might seem like a pedantic and even pretentious project, with its twelve languages and nods to spiritual saints and divine texts,” Rolling Stone wrote in its review of the show at Madison Square Garden. “However, the live experience softens the rough edges, adding touches of pop, sensuality, and playfulness to a deeply transformative show; and it’s a balance no artist achieves as well as Rosalía.”
For The Guardian, the show is “a visceral and striking experience” and quite fluid in its one hour and forty minutes duration. “Fun, smart, musically bold, visually striking, emotionally moving: Rosalía’s live show is a triumph, as they say in Barcelona.”
Following the religious imagery of the album, the shows include a segment where a celebrity is invited on stage to share a revealing confession, like a sinner before the parish priest. This moment has featured personalities such as Karol G, Chappel Roan, Maggie Rogers, Bad Gyal, Cara Delevingne, and other local celebrities, whom she has made tell stories of romantic or sexual misadventures. For Rolling Stone, this moment in the show is “a touch of extravagance.” According to what Culto learned, it is expected that this segment will also be done in Chile, although possible guests have not yet been confirmed.
Although the album was introduced with the overwhelming single Berghain, crossed by Vivaldi-like strings and a nod to operatic singing, it has managed to stay in the conversation thanks to its more accessible songs. Beto Aghemio noticed this in his role as programming director of La Clave. “This album was harder than the others, it was difficult to find a single, but in the end they did the job,” he explains. “The first thing they showed, Berghain, was harder to get on air, given that there are very few things that sound like Berghain. On the other hand, La Perla is a song that has been well received on radio, also Sauvignon Blanc, those are songs that have had airtime.”
Rosalía has four shows scheduled in the country, starting next July 24, then repeating on the nights of the 25th, 27th, and 29th. According to production sources, the artist’s team is bringing their own stage infrastructure to the country and will begin setting it up at the Movistar Arena the day before the shows start. Tickets are still available through the Puntoticket system. “I am very interested in this show,” concludes Beto Aghemio. “Because it’s a show very different from what we’ve seen in the country.”
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