[2] Presented as experimental and conceptual; a "romantic document that seamlessly links flamenco's characteristic melodrama to the storytelling of modern, woman-flexing R&B",[3] the album follows the anonymous 13th-century Occitan novel Flamenca.
[12] The album received universal critical acclaim for its experimental production— the use of flamenco elements mixed with pop and urbano music—, Rosalía's vocals, and accompanying visuals.
[14] All aspects of El Mal Querer, including visuals, engineering, composition and vocals, were highly awarded by the Recording Academy.
[18] The record cycle for Rosalía's sophomore album, El Mal Querer, began in late 2016 as her baccalaureate project, graduating from the Catalonia College of Music.
Despite having no budget to produce the record as she was an independent artist working on a university project, Rosalía invested a lot of her own money, to the point of almost going bankrupt.
[24] Writing for The Guardian, head critic Alexis Petridis highly commended the album, giving it the highest rating and describing it as "the calling card of a unique new talent."
"[20] Pitchfork ranked El Mal Querer the sixth best album of 2018, with Philip Sherburne complimenting its combination of traditional and modern styles, and praising Rosalía's voice, saying, "Whether breathy or belting, she's as commanding a presence as Spanish-language pop has encountered in ages—less an ambassador for flamenco than the inventor of her own fascinating hybrid.
"[55] The themes surrounding the narrative of the album, which revolves around the toxicity of a heterosexual relationship, became instruments for teachers and professionals to explain topics related to gender violence.
[56] Parallelly, El Mal Querer spawned controversy in Spain as it mainly takes inspiration of flamenco and gypsy culture and symbolism.
While some personalities and media outlets, like The New York Times, defended Rosalía by saying "the debate on the cultural appropriation of the Spanish singer is unfair: her music embodies, with height, the most eloquent artistic form of globalization: the remix",[57] many others criticized Rosalía's privilege as a white person within the music industry, stating that a Romani female would never have had the same amount of opportunities as her.
María Guadalupe Benzal Alía, a degree student in Translation and Interpretation and with a diploma in Intercultural Communication ratified by the Comillas Pontifical University of Madrid, wrote her thesis about the album, which she titled Análisis intercultural del álbum musical de Rosalía Vila, El Mal Querer y el consecuente rechazo de la comunidad gitana española.
[59] Peter Manuel, ethnomusicology professor emeritus (CUNY Graduate Center), published the journal article The Rosalía Polemic: Defining Genre Boundaries and Legitimacy in Flamenco also based on the controversy.
The visuals of El Mal Querer are mainly inspired in contemporary paintings, including The Two Fridas, Ángeles y Fuensanta, Ophelia, Naranjas y Limones, and La Maja Vestida.
Ćustić later worked with Lil Nas X on the cover art for his hit single "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)", which resembled The Creation of Adam.
Art and folklore for female empowerment") as well as Silvia Vaquero Tramoyeres' essay El Mal Querer de Rosalía: análisis estético, audiovisual e interpretativo.
[65] The iconicity of this musical era was brought to television in 2021, with the contestants of Drag Race España recreating the looks of it in a special episode called "the night of the thousand Rosalías".
[67] They highlighted a very American way to promote the album especially through appearances in MTV and pointed out a big fight to internationalize the singer and turn her into a superstar, yet an underground artist.