It’s been a long time since a music video caused a stir on social media quite like “Berghain” by Spanish singer-songwriter Rosalía. Writer Berit Glanz is equally captivated – not just by the performance itself, but also by the online frenzy as fans join forces to decode its meaning.
At the end of October 2025, Spanish singer and pop icon Rosalía released her single and music video Berghain, instantly sending shock waves through social media. Sung in German, Spanish and English, the song is backed by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) conducted by Icelandic composer Daníel Bjarnason, and features cameos from Icelandic artist Björk and American musician Yves Tumor. While Berlin’s legendary techno club Berghain plays no direct role in the song or video, references to the German language, operatic tradition and club culture are unmistakable.The Thrill of Interpretation
Since the video’s release, fans have been eagerly trying to find connections between the song title, Berlin’s techno scene and the German lyrics of Berghain. The power plant turned club famed for its selective door policy, mystical spirituality, classical music and operatic arias are all alluded to in the pre-release promotion, sparking wildly different interpretations. The ambiguity of Berghain and content generated around it – including cryptic clues, symbolic teasers and striking visuals on social media – heightened anticipation long before the song even dropped. Its ongoing success on social media is fuelled as much by the desire to decipher a work of art that operates on multiple levels as by the song itself. As an internet phenomenon, two aspects of the song particularly interest me: its multilingualism and the collaborative creativity it inspires online.Singing Robin and Other Visual Riddles
The song’s enigmatic, multilingual lyrics about the weighty themes of love and death first require translation before listeners can begin to make sense of them. Its ethereal video, featuring Björk as a singing robin and Rosalía in a succession of iconic Alexander McQueen outfits, has sparked countless online analyses, with fans dissecting and interpreting each fashion symbol. Rosalía added to the anticipation by sharing the score ahead of the official release, prompting a flood of videos in which fans performed and reimagined the piece on various instruments – producing a kind of collective prelude to the song itself.Big Emotions Meet Operatic Grandeur
Berghain’s release immediately triggered a wave of remixes and reinterpretations. Naturally, not everyone is impressed by the song. Some critics dismissed its opulent aesthetics as theatrics. And yet the track’s operatic introduction deliberately references a tradition where multilingualism and heightened emotion – bordering on the kitsch – are the norm. Singing in foreign languages is a fundamental part of opera training; after all, the classical operatic repertoire is defined by its linguistic diversity. With the German lines in her song, Rosalía also nods to Germany’s internationally acclaimed operatic tradition. Countless attempts by internet users to translate these lines and relate them to the Spanish and English passages are part of the playful linguistic engagement this work inspires.Monumental Art
The choir’s German lines – “Seine Liebe ist meine Liebe / Sein Blut ist mein Blut” / “His love is my love / His blood is my blood” – are undeniably kitschy, evoking the emotionally charged style of German Romantic opera, while their stark linguistic simplicity mirrors the monumental aesthetic of German techno culture. Rosalía twists this monumentality with ironic imagery in the second verse when a flame enters the brain “wie ein Blei-Teddybär” / “like a lead teddy bear”. The choral passages are finally interrupted by Björk’s characteristically mystical lines, in which she invokes divine intervention as the only path to salvation. All of this comes together in a work of art that, as an internet phenomenon, invites endless interpretations and creative responses – and its poetic multilingualism forms a key part of its appeal.Word! The Language Column
Our column “Word!” appears every two weeks. Itis dedicated to language – as a cultural and social phenomenon. How does language develop, what attitude do authors have towards “their” language, how does language shape a society? – Changing columnists – people with a professional or other connection to language – follow their personal topics for six consecutive issues.
November 2025
