Rosalia’s “Sauvignon Blanc” music video might make M.I.A. mad
The Spanish pop star’s Christian era continues.
Photo courtesy of Rosalia
Rosalía crafts a resurrection myth in the new video for her LUX ballad, “Sauvignon Blanc.”
The video was directed by Noah Dillon, who also shot the album cover for LUX and is known by many as one-half of New York City indie-electronic band The Hellp.
In the simple and dreamlike video, Rosalía lays on the scorching desert earth, wearing a beautiful black dress and pearls (a possible nod to LUX standout track, La Perla). An ominous black car approaches her, which she can also be seen lying inside of while nursing a glass of the song's titular beverage. Rosalía can also be seen levitating and surveying that same car engulfed in flames throughout the video.
The video's resurrection storyline and desert locale is a continuation of LUX's spiritual, and specifically Christian, thematic allusions.
It's the second video from the LUX album roll out to forgo pop star theatrics and choreography for a more ethereal and muted visual palette. The ice rink-set video for "La Perla" was a departure from the extravagant video style she explored on "Berghain," which featured multiple striking set pieces and an entire live orchestra.
The “Sauvignon Blanc” music video will, incidentally, likely add more fuel to the discourse that artist M.I.A. began via a February 10 post on X. M.I.A. claimed that Roslía "stole" the artist's work and that LUX's use of Christian aesthetics and iconography is theft.
"I am happy Rosalia is bringing Christ to the Left and the WEST and it needs to happen but here is my dilemma... When the asthetics team is stealing my work, it's not Christian ... I know my work is truth because I lived it. It took sacrifice and discipline," she wrote.
M.I.A. told The Guardian in 2022 that she had a "vision of Jesus Christ" in 2015 during a video shoot in India. In the years to follow, she would express her newly Christian faith in her art and music, most notably on her 2022 album, MATA, which featured the reverential single, "The One."
M.I.A.'s use of political language (identifying Rosalía as of "the left") suggests that M.I.A. continues to see herself as part of the political right following appearances with figures like Candace Owens and her outspoken beliefs, such as her public skepticism regarding vaccines.
The question of who gets to claim ownership over visual aesthetics and concepts has been a highly contentious topic as of late. In January, artist Eartheater also accused artists Megan Thee Stallion, Robyn, and LSDXOXO of using her as a reference.
