Rosalia And The Weeknd's 'La Fama' Lyrics: English Translation And Meaning

Fame can be charming, seductive — and dangerous, at least according to Rosalía and The Weeknd's song, "La Fama."

In the bachata-tinged song released in November 2021, the two artists sing about how life-changing fame can render someone shallow.

“I wanted to write, in my own way, a bachata with a little story around ambition,” Rosalía said in a press release at the time. “Taking as a reference the lyrics of Ruben Blades or Patti Smith and the songs of Aventura, I ended up writing a story of romance with fame.”

The song — whose title translates to "fame" in Spanish — is now nominated for record of the year at the 2022 Latin Grammy awards, earning The Weeknd his third nomination at the Latin music awards ceremony. Rosalía is currently up for eight Latin Grammys at this year’s show, held Nov. 17 in Las Vegas.

“La Fama” was the lead single from her third studio album, “Motomami,” and was accompanied by a visually impressive music video.

In it, Rosalía portrays dazzling singer La Fama at a “glamorous yet slightly seedy dinner theatre club,” as the press release describes it, who takes the stage to perform for a dining audience.

Among the guests is The Weeknd, who finds himself seduced — and subsequently stabbed — by the singer. Danny Trejo portrays the host of the event, who concludes the video by saying, “What a show. Give it up for La Fama. Don’t forget, be careful what you wish for.”

A cautionary tale about falling for fame, read the English translation of “La Fama” below.

Here are the lyrics of 'La Fama,' translated to English

(Rosalía)

I’ll tell you

What happened

Don’t think it didn’t hurt

Or that I made it up

This is how it went down

I was with my baby

It was a pretty special thang

But I got obsessed

With somethin’ that was hurting him

Thousands of songs on my mind

And he could see that

And he told me so a bunch of times

But me, I paid it no mind

(The Weeknd)

Fame’s a lousy lover and won’t ever love you for real

Too much of a back stabber who comes as easy as she goes

You know she’s the jealous kind I’ll never trust

If you want, sleep with her but don’t tie no knot

What happened

Left me sleepless

I can’t even think

Her blood boils

She always wants more

Her ambition’s like stabbings

Sharp on my chest, it’s the worst

(Rosalía)

Fame’s a lousy lover and won’t ever love me for real

Too much of a back stabber who comes as easy as she goes

You know she’s the jealous kind I’ll never trust

If I want I’ll sleep with her but never tie the knot

There’s no way

This obsession goes away

Hightail it, disappear

I still haven’t figured out a way

(The Weeknd)

There’s no way to make it go away

Fame’s a lousy lover and won’t ever love you for real

Too much of a back stabber who comes as easy as she goes

(Rosalía)

I know she’s the jealous kind and I can’t ever trust her

If I want to, I’ll sleep with her, but I’m never gonna tie no knot

This article was originally published on TODAY.com