Coachella 2023: Rosalía sings songs with new fiancé Rauw Alejandro at kinetic set

Love was in the air at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival’s main stage Saturday night — well, at least for Rosalía.

The Spanish singer, whose genre-blending music and vocals have lifted her to international fame, brought out her new fiancé, Puerto Rican singer Rauw Alejandro, with the couple offering fans glimpses into the relationship they’ve developed over their nearly four years together.

But before her man emerged on stage, Rosalía reminded the crowd of her own commanding stage presence. She first emerged on stage wearing a large motorcycle helmet, a nod to her latest acclaimed album, “Motomami,” while her group of male backup dancers brought heaps of energy to the set.

With her unique blend of pop, rap and flamenco music, Rosalia’s performance on the Coachella Stage Saturday was another sign of global stars’ top billing at Coachella this year. She performed on the main stage just before BLACKPINK, the first K-pop group to headline the festival, and just one night after Bad Bunny made history as the festival’s first Latino headliner.

More: Rosalía and Rauw Alejandro 'don't limit each other': How music's power couple balances love, work

Rosalía’s set also featured impressive choreography, with 10 to 30 dancers joining her for different songs. The dancers — who even formed a human motorbike that Rosalía sat on at one point — also played an important role in the set’s cinematography. Rosalía often looked directly into the on-stage camera as the dancers moved in sync around her, creating cool visuals on the large stage screens.

Despite her interplay with the frenetic camerawork, Rosalía did plenty to keep the crowd involved. For her hit collaboration “La Noche de Anoche,” the singer even stepped down to the crowd’s level with a selfie camera and let people belt the chorus into her mic. In terms of festivalgoers’ singing, let’s say the results were mixed.

After playing several other hits — as well as a brief cover of The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” — the Catalan singer brought out Alejandro to adoring screams from the crowd. The pair announced their engagement last month by releasing a video for their new song, “Beso,” that showed Rosalía’s ring, and they led with that song Saturday night.

After that, Rosalía and Alejandro also played “Vampiro” from their new EP, “RR,” with some raunchy dancing that drew swoons from the crowd. Released last month, "RR" was their first collaboration since becoming an item nearly four years ago.

While their engagement is still fresh, Saturday wasn’t the first live performance by Rosalía and Alejandro since their big announcement last month. A few weeks ago, the couple played a few of their songs from the new EP during one of Alejandro’s shows in Puerto Rico.

Yet their performance Saturday still felt significant. Tears welled in Rosalía’s eyes as she finished “Beso” with Alejandro across from her, and she frequently thanked the crowd for their support in getting her to Coachella’s main stage.

Alejandro left before the end of the set, leaving Rosalía solo to close out the performance in style. As they closed with “Chicken Teryaki” and “CUUUUuuuuuute,” she and her dancers hopped on scooters, said goodbye to the crowd and zoomed off stage.

Let's take it as a metaphor: Even with big changes on the horizon, Rosalía has no plans of slowing down any time soon.

Tom Coulter covers the mid-valley for The Desert Sun and can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Coachella 2023: Rosalía joined by new fiancé Rauw Alejandro at kinetic set