Rosalía Responds to Rapper’s Misuse of Technology
Almost 9 years ago, in August 2014, there was a massive leak of photos of famous actresses and celebrities that caused outrage. A few years later, a new type of cyberbullying emerged where new technological tools, such as deepfakes, were used to put the faces of celebrities in adult videos. Now, Spanish singer Rosalía has become the new victim of the misuse of technology. Rapper Juan Manuel Cortés Reyes (JC Reyes) shared a topless image of Rosalía, which was later criticized by her followers on social media.
The ability of computers to manipulate images, and especially of artificial intelligence to create false images with a quality that is becoming hyper-realistic, is dangerous. Geoffrey Hinton, the pioneer of this kind of technology, has already pointed this out. The original image of Rosalía showed her in a phosphorescent green shirt, but the rap “singer” uploaded a version where she had bare breasts to an Instagram story.
According to El País, JC Reyes made a live broadcast to defend himself instead of apologizing. He said that the image was edited by him with Photoshop and announced his next musical theme entitled “Rosalía”. But as Rosalía responded to this attack, it revealed that the rapper is doing this to promote his new single and himself confirmed it on social media.
Rosalía’s response to this attack by JC Reyes was: “Go find clout [influencia] disrespecting and sexualizing someone is a type of violence, and it’s disgusting, but doing it for 4 plays of + what gives is shame (sic)”. JC Reyes had attracted the attention of the media in 2021 when he was arrested in Seville for participating in an armed robbery against two Germans.
Rosalía Vila Tobella, known simply as Rosalía, is an influential Spanish singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her career took off after graduating from the Faculty of Music of Catalonia, when she released the album Los ángeles in collaboration with Raül Refree and her recognized El mal querer in 2018, which fuses flamenco with pop and music. urban. Her international rise accelerated with the song “Con Altura” in 2019, a collaboration with J Balvin.
Her third album, Motomami (2022), delves deeper into Latin music, and is the best-reviewed album of the year on Metacritic. Rosalía has achieved ten number one singles in Spain, won two Grammy Awards, twelve Latin Grammys, among others, and is the Spanish artist with the most awards from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. In addition to her musical career, she participated in the film Dolor y Gloria (96%), by Pedro Almodóvar.
In conclusion, the misuse of technology can be dangerous and harmful. It’s important to be respectful of others’ privacy and not use technology in a negative way. Rosalía’s response shows how unacceptable it is to sexualize and disrespect someone for personal gain. We should always strive to treat each other with kindness and respect.
