In the podcast “Spotify Presenta,” the pop megastar stated her intention to keep “separating the artist from his work.” In a video posted on social media, the Catalan artist asks for forgiveness.
Rosalía has recently taken steps to clarify her stance and to offer apologies after remarks about painter Pablo Picasso sparked a fierce controversy. It all began during an interview with writer Mariana Enríquez on the Spotify Presenta podcast. Rosalía expressed her admiration for Picasso’s work and even went so far as to say she could “separate the artist from the man.” “I don’t care, I appreciate his work,” she added, and she explained that the creator’s personal life did not concern her when engaging with his art.
However, these remarks quickly provoked outrage among many fans who did not hesitate to remind people of Picasso’s dark past. Accusations of misogyny and of physical and sexual violence against Picasso have been documented for many years. His own granddaughter, Marina Picasso, described, in a book published in 2001, how he “subjected” and “crushed” the women in his life, before deforming them in his canvases. More recently in France, the podcast Vénus s’épilait-elle la chatte by Julie Beauzac and the book Picasso, Le Minotaure by Sophie Chauveau had widely helped inform the public about the painter’s actions.
Rosalía Speaks Up to Express Her Regrets
Facing this backlash, the author of Malamente spoke in a video posted on social media on Saturday, March 14, to express her regrets. She admitted that she was “not at peace” with her initial statements, explaining that she actually did not know about the existence of the “real cases of abuse” at the time of the interview.
“I want to apologize […] for this absolute lack of empathy toward these women and their testimonies,” she explains, after underscoring the importance of not commenting on certain subjects without a thorough understanding of the facts. A timely clarifications as Rosalía prepares a worldwide tour after a major critical success with her latest album, Lux, ranked fourth in the 2025 Best Of list by Les Inrockuptibles.
