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Buy a print copy of the Rosalía issue of The FADER, and order a poster of her cover here.





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When I meet Rosalía on the 20th floor of a hotel in the East Village, she’s sitting across from Japanese nail art titan Mei Kawajiri, who is affixing encrusted rhinestones and miniature gold chains to her gel extensions. Suddenly self-conscious, I Iook down at my thirsty cuticles and consider asking her for an appointment of my own.

Thrifted and designer clothes spill out of scattered suitcases across the tiny hotel room, like a Burberry obstacle course. The fumes from the gel waft through the air, and Cayetana, Rosalía’s day-to-day manager, gets a whiff from the other side of the room.

“We’re getting super high right now,” Cayetana says, giggling.

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Rosalía’s nails are an indelible part of her persona. They’re the subject of week-long VICE experiments, lengthy explainers in Spanish media about the tradition of nail art among Black and Latina women, and the focus of her latest video, “Aute Cuture.” Today, it’s clear she knows exactly what she wants, politely asking Mei to add a layer of hard gel to reinforce the design.

“Can we cover — like really, really, really cover — all these details? Because if not, it will get stuck in my hair,” she says, chuckling. (She says these words in English, but we conduct our interview in Spanish.)

