Photo courtesy of Ioanis Patsias
When was the last time you read a feel-good story about standom? Dedicated appreciation of a pop musician can take forms that feel anti-art, especially when they disseminate online. Whether it’s Twitter accounts battling over Billboard rankings on Chart Data tweets, the harassment of journalists over negative reviews, or the morphing of a musician’s career into a personal crusade, it’s impossible to look at the most visible elements of standom and not feel a little concerned. It also just doesn’t seem very fun.
Ioanis Patsias, a content creator known as iOA, has taken a different tack. Patsias was one of the thousands of Peruvians who were disappointed when Rosalía’s MOTOMAMI tour was announced without a stop in their home country. Patsias had seen the show once before during a trip to New York City, and while that would have satisfied most fans, the production unearthed a well of inspiration in him. He had previously recreated looks from artists like Billie Eilish and J Balvin, but the excellence of the Motomami tour demanded something next level.
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Over the following months, Patsias threw himself into recreating the show for Peruvian audiences who would otherwise miss out, casting himself as Rosalía. Seeking to adhere as closely as possible to the original show, Patsias hired dancers for the MOTOMAMI choreography and replicated the costumes and stage design down to the smallest details, including tattoos.
The show took place last week for a sold-out crowd of 3,500 in the Parque de la Exposición in Lima, and videos from the show went viral across the world with millions of views. According to one report, Patsias spent over $100,000 on the concert with ticket sales only covering some of his expenditures. However, Rosalía’s official TikTok did leave a positive comment on one of the concert’s videos: "parallel dimension unlocked."
Over email, Patsias spoke with us about the challenges in planning the tribute, his concert's viral reach, and shared a message for the artist who inspired him.
Why did you decide to organize this event, and how did you decide to do it at this scope?
I love Rosalía and I love the art of the MOTOMAMI world tour. Last year in September, for my birthday, I treated myself to a trip to New York City to see her at Radio City Music Hall, and I was SHOCKED at how well thought out and executed her show was. After that, I went back to Peru with the intention of sharing a bit of that experience with my community. I took advantage of the series on my channel where I recreate artists’ performances with a low budget, and I said, “WHY DON’T WE RECREATE ROSALÍA’S CONCERT?” I knew it was a crazy idea that had NEVER been done, and that was our biggest motivation to do it. I wanted to do the best tribute to Rosalía and her MOTOMAMI world tour from Peru.
What were some of the biggest challenges in putting this show together?
Learning the 17 choreographed sequences that we did in the show, casting the dancers (finding the best eight and transforming them as closely as possible into Rosalía’s dancers), getting the outfits and looks, getting the light helmets, hiring the ideal technicians to assemble lights and screens for the show. And the most difficult thing of all was organizing everything I mentioned, and doing it in record time, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE!!!
How closely did you try to stick to Rosalía’s actual concert?
1000 percent. As a content creator, I pride myself in doing things as well as possible. I felt that if I replicated the concert, I had to do it down to the smallest detail: the same tattoo as the one on Rosalía’s leg, the same headphones she uses, the same glasses, the same water bottle, the same scooters, EVERYTHING the same. I wanted to do it that way because the challenge was more interesting and more important to show in the video that we’re recording for YouTube.
How do you feel about the show’s reception?
I still find it hard to believe: Seeing my name, my photos and videos in different countries and in different places makes me very happy. Everything has been so fast that it doesn’t seem real. I’ve been making content for more than seven years, but this is the first time that our work has gone this viral globally.
Do you know if Rosalía is aware of your performance? If not, do you have a message for her?
She responded to a TikTok comment on a video [of the show] and started following me on TikTok as well, so I think so!!! I don’t know how much she has seen, but I know she saw something. I hope I can meet her and tell her about this whole experience!! I would also love to ask her for a shoutout to the Peruvians who love her!!! IT WOULD BE THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD!!
Answers for this interview were translated from their original Spanish
