Rosalía Tells Mexico City That 'La Perla' Was Born From Paquita la del Barrio's 'Rata de Dos Patas'
Rosalía told roughly 16,500 fans at Mexico City's Palacio de los Deportes on August 22 that her song "La Perla" would not exist without Paquita la del Barrio's "Rata de Dos Patas" — the Mexican singer's famously venomous takedown of a two-legged rat (Billboard).
The revelation came during the first of five nights at the venue, part of Rosalía's LUX tour. The tour takes its name from her 2025 album, on which "La Perla" appears as a duet with Yahritza y Su Esencia. Paquita la del Barrio, born Francisca Viveros Barradas, died in February 2025 at the age of 77, closing a career built on songs that named and shamed unfaithful men without flinching.
"Rata de Dos Patas," released in 2002, is perhaps the sharpest weapon in that catalogue — a three-minute barrage of insults aimed at a man Paquita calls a "two-legged rat." Rosalía told the crowd that the "emotional terrorist" invoked in "La Perla" draws primarily from that song's spirit. She then resumed her set with the track itself, tying the performance directly to the acknowledgement (Infobae; SDPnoticias).
The Mexico City date follows two shows in Guadalajara on August 15 and 16 and one in Monterrey on August 19. Rosalía continues at the Palacio de los Deportes on August 24, 26, 28 and 29. Venue attendance figures were provided by Ocesa, the promoter.
Earlier in the evening, Rosalía welcomed Mexican singer Kenia Os on stage for what the show bills as its "confessional" segment. Kenia Os, whose romantic relationship with Peso Pluma ended in June 2025, told the audience that her "type of men" tends to be singers. She also spoke about a previous partner she dubbed "el cacas" — a nickname social media has linked to rapper Gera MX.
In another moment directed at the host country, Rosalía performed "Reliquia" with a lyric declaring, "I grew up and learned boldness in Mexico and Barcelona." The line lands in a venue where she is playing five nights in eight days, a run that follows her three earlier Mexican dates.
The tribute to Paquita carries a particular weight given that the singer died only months before the LUX tour reached Mexico. Paquita spent decades as a fixture of regional Mexican music, her songs carried as anthems by women who recognised in them a refusal to stay quiet. That Rosalía, a Catalan artist, built a track on that foundation and then named the source on a Mexico City stage is a fact that needs no embellishment to land.
