Bagdad (song)

"Bagdad" (stylised in all caps, officially "Bagdad – Cap 7: Liturgia") is a song by Spanish singer and songwriter Rosalía. A fan favourite, it is the seventh track on the singer's second studio album El Mal Querer (2018), released on 2 November 2018, through Columbia Records. It was sent for a radio release on 4 December 2018 as the album's fourth single.^[1]

"Bagdad"
Single by Rosalía
from the album El Mal Querer
Language	Spanish
Released	4 December 2018 (2018-12-04)
Studio	El Guincho Studio (Barcelona, Spain)
Genre	New flamenco · R&B
Length	3:03
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	Rosalía Vila Pablo Díaz-Reixa Antón Álvarez Luis Troquel Leticia Sala Justin Timberlake Timothy Mosley Scott Storch
Producer(s)	El Guincho Rosalía
Rosalía singles chronology
"Di mi nombre" (2018) "Bagdad" (2018) "De aquí no sales" (2019)
Music video
"Bagdad" on YouTube

Inspired by the Barcelonian erotic club of the same name, lyrically "Bagdad" talks about a woman's loneliness.^[2] It was written by Antón Álvarez, Leticia Sala, Luís Troquel and Rosalía, with production handled by El Guincho and co-produced by Rosalía herself. It contains an interpolation of Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River"^[3] and a choral participation by the Orfeó Català as well as arrangements by Joan Albert Amargós.^[4][5]

In 2021, "Bagdad" was included in the soundtrack for season four of the hit Netflix show Élite, which pushed the song's commercial success to the point that the daily consumption of its music video tripled and the song entered the top 40 of the Shazam Global chart.^[6]

Background

In an interview with Beats 1, Rosalía said she was inspired by an erotic club in Barcelona called Bagdad and by Timberlake's "Cry Me a River": "He heard the song and said, "Yes, you can use the melody"; I was so excited because he never approves anything."^[7]

In this song, Rosalía represents a woman drowned by her anguish and grief due to a bad love. The woman does nothing to prevent it, but flooded by her own tears she finds salvation. The liturgy, a worship ceremony, ends with a rebirth.^[8] The song's lyrics, part of a narrative arc that spans the whole album, revolve around the main character of the story being seen alone crying in the streets at night, clapping her hands in sorrow "like she's praying to the rhythm of bulerías", and then being rescued by a "fallen angel".

Music video

The music video for "Bagdad", directed by Helmi, was filmed in Paris and released on 4 December 2018 on YouTube. It features Rosalía as a strip-club dancer, dancing in a pole wearing a blonde wig and a red latex mono similar to the one Britney Spears used in the music video for "Oops!... I Did It Again" in 2000.^[9] She goes to the place's bathroom after having a heated up phone conversation, where she starts crying to the point that the water from her tears fills up the whole room, drowning her. The singer tweeted that the music video is "For all those who were heartbroken and drowned in their sorrow."^[10] A portion of an unreleased track "Lo Presiento", initially intended for El Mal Querer, can be spotted at the beginning of the video.^[11]

Charts

Weekly chart performance for "Bagdad"

Chart (2020)	Peak position
Spain (PROMUSICAE)^[12]	7

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Mexico (AMPROFON)^[13]	Gold	30,000
Spain (PROMUSICAE)^[14]	Gold	20,000
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Rámirez, Lucía (5 December 2018). "Qué se esconde detrás de 'Bagdad', el último single de Rosalía". Metropoli Abierta. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
2. "Qué se esconde detrás de 'Bagdad', lo último de Rosalía". www.metropoliabierta.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 December 2021.
3. "La canción del día: 'Bagdad' de Rosalía es mucho más que su guiño a 'Cry Me a River'". jenesaispop.com (in Spanish). 4 November 2018. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
4. "Nosaltres també ens quedem amb Rosalía". Palau de la Música Catalana (in Catalan). Retrieved 29 December 2021.
5. "¿Por qué nos brillan los ojos con Rosalía?". www.publico.es. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
6. "Elite season 4 soundtrack: Every song in each episode". PopBuzz. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
7. Yglesias, Ana (6 December 2018). "Rosalía Cries A Literal River In "Bagdad"". The Recording Academy. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
8. "Qué se esconde detrás de 'Bagdad', lo último de Rosalía". www.metropoliabierta.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 September 2020.
9. "¿Qué tiene en común Rosalía en 'Bagdad' con la Britney Spears de los 2000?". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 5 December 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
10. Kim, Michelle (4 December 2018). "Rosalía Shares New Video for "BAGDAD (Cap.7: Liturgia)": Watch". Pitchfork. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
11. "Rosalía estrena el videoclip de 'Bagdad' y en Twitter no paran de hablar de ello". AS.com (in Spanish). 4 December 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
12. "Rosalía – Bagdad" Canciones Top 50. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
13. "Certificaciones" (in Spanish). Asociación Mexicana de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. Retrieved 14 December 2021. Type Rosalía in the box under the ARTISTA column heading and Bagdad in the box under the TÍTULO column heading.
14. "Spanish single certifications – Rosalía – Bagdad". El portal de Música. Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 14 December 2021.