Two generations of Andalusian rap meet on “Sirenas”, a dark, synth-driven break-up song in which Mala Rodríguez tears down a toxic relationship to keep her freedom, with Yung Beef as her duet partner. Jesus Ortega Bermudez and Juan Gonzalez Sanchez, who co-wrote the music with the two rappers, play the synthesisers and keyboards that make up the song’s electronic beat and give it its after-hours feel.

Self-love comes at a price in the lyrics, since starting again means first breaking what she had, a cost Mala judges worth paying. The break-up that ends the romance also starts Mala’s new project. “Sirenas” came out on 5 November through Universal Music Spain as the first chapter in a run of songs and videos she wants followed in order, which she describes as “como estar en una película”, like being inside a film. In the video, she tells the story behind the single straight to camera.

Born in Jerez de la Frontera, Mala came up through Seville’s late-1990s hip-hop scene with flamenco worked into her rap from the start. Her debut Lujo Ibérico arrived in 2000, years before she became the first woman to win both Best Urban Album and Best Urban Song at the Latin Grammys. Fernando Gálvez Gómez, the Granada rapper known as Yung Beef, comes from the generation after hers: his Barcelona crew PXXR GVNG became the founding name of Spanish trap in the mid-2010s, before he set up his own label, La Vendición Records, to release music that moves between trap, reggaeton and salsa.

Stream “Sirenas” HERE