La Perla

Album

LUX

Label

Columbia Records

Genre

Ranchera

Media Type

CD

Duration

3:15

Composer(s)

Rosalia Vila Tobella;Noah Goldstein;Dylan Wiggins;David Rodríguez;Ryan Tedder

Entered Chart

Nov 22, 2025

Peak Date

Nov 22, 2025

Released

7 November 2025

Recorded

Recorded 2023–2025Studio AIR Studios (London)A Tempo Estudios (Seville)Conway (Los Angeles)FB H

"La Perla" has an upbeat, charming melody with cheery production, but the lyrics tell a starkly different story. The track is laden with harsh criticism and insults directed at a former romantic partner. The title means "The Pearl," though it functions more like a polished little grenade. Singing entirely in Spanish, Rosalía spends the first verse politely removing the safety pin. She opens by calling the subject a "peace thief," and the charm only escalates from there. Rosalia calls him: A "local fiasco" A "national heartbreaker" An "emotional terrorist" A "walking red flag" An "absolute drag" There are also pointed references to infidelity: a "playboy," a suspicious "bra collection," and a repeated insistence that "loyalty and fidelity" is a dialect this individual will never be fluent in. While Rosalía doesn't name the person she's addressing in "La Perla," fans have speculated extensively about who the song might be about. Many have suggested her ex-fiancé Rauw Alejandro, with whom she was in a three-year relationship that ended with a broken engagement in 2023. Cheating rumors had surfaced at the time, though Alejandro denied the claims. When pressed about it on The New York Times Popcast, Rosalía went cryptic-philosophical: "There's always a villain. There's too many villains. The faith in masculinity is lost. That's all I will say." Helping sharpen the knives is Mexican trio Yahritza y Su Esencia, who deliver a second verse steeped in regional idioms and Mariachi-grade disdain. They invoke "el rey de la 13-14" - an expression for someone skilled in trickery - and declare that "they'll build you a monument to dishonesty." They also join Rosalía on the chorus, creating a kind of multinational symposium on lousy men. Rosalia wrote "La Perla" with David Rodríguez, Dylan Wiggins, Noah Goldstein, and Ryan Tedder for her 2025 album Lux. Rosalia pushed longtime collaborators Rodriguez, Goldstein and Wiggins into new sonic territory on the project. "The whole process helped me grow as a musician, as a producer, as a sound engineer," Goldstein told Billboard, who has also worked with Frank Ocean, Kanye West and Rihanna. "That's one of my favorite things about working with Rosalía: I'm always learning things from her." Lux was also Rosalía's first time working with songwriting juggernaut Ryan Tedder, who spent three years DM'ing her in hopes she'd finally let him into the studio. Once she did, she told him to stretch out and take risks. "For an artist to give me that freedom... it's the most fun I've ever had," Tedder said, which is impressive coming from someone who's worked on tracks by Adele, Beyoncé and Paul McCartney. Rosalia brought a bit of enchanted theater to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon when she performed "La Perla" on the November 16, 2025 episode. The staging played like a modern fairytale: Rosalía appeared in a billowing, princess-style gown, perched atop a towering stack of mattresses before descending to glide across the stage as the song swelled. In a lighter backstage-style moment, she gave Fallon an impromptu masterclass in her vocal warmups. Fallon struggled gamely with both the rhythm and the Spanish pronunciation, prompting Rosalía to cheer him on with a laughing "Let loose!" as he tried to deliver one of the "La Perla" lines.

Hola, ladrón de paz
Campo de minas para mi sensibilidad
Playboy, un campeón
Gasta el dinero que tiene y también el que no
Él es tan encantador, estrella de la sinrazón
Un espejismo, medalla olímpica de oro al más cabrón
Tienes el podio de la gran desilusión

La decepción local
Rompecorazones nacional
Un terrorista emocional
El mayor desastre mundial
Es una perla, nadie se fía
Es una perla, una de mucho cuidao

El rey de la 13 14
No sabe lo que es cotizar
Él es el centro del mundo
Y ya después ¿lo demás qué más dará?
Por fin vas a terapia, vas al psicólogo y también psiquiatra
Pero de qué te sirve si siempre mientes más que hablas
Te harán un monumento a la deshonestidad


No me das pena
Quien queda contigo se drena
Siempre se autoinvita
Si puede vive en casa ajena
Red flag andante, tremendo desastre
Dirá que no fue él, que fue su doppelgänger

(Bueno es que claro, no referirse a él como icono)
(Sería para él una narrativa reduccionista, ¿me entiendes?)
Nunca le prestes na', no lo devolverá
Ser bala perdida es su especialidad
La lealtad y la fidelidad
Es un idioma que nunca entenderá
Su masterpiece, su colección de bras
Si le pides ayuda desaparecerá

La decepción local
Rompecorazones nacional
Un terrorista emocional
El mayor desastre mundial
Es una perla, nadie se fía
Es una perla, una de mucho cuidao