Rosalía says a Harlem church turned her away, so she went shoe shopping
Rosalía told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show that a doorman at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem refused her entry to a Sunday gospel service, even though she had dressed carefully for it.
A Sunday visit that ended at the door
Rosalía returned to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on NBC to talk about her album LUX and the international tour that has just ended. The 34-year-old Spanish singer, who has just received the Premio Nacional de Músicas Actuales 2026 for LUX, told Fallon that on the previous Sunday she decided to attend a service at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York. She said she showered, applied makeup, styled her hair and put on perfume, oils and hydrating creams before leaving. Her outfit was planned with care: capri pants, a cardigan and small heels, which she called her church shoes. The look was meant to show a modest visitor who had come to hear the word of the Lord. The show is taped at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan.
I got dressed up for God, hot for God, you know what I mean?
Turned away at the door
She arrived early, joined a long queue on the street in bitter cold and waited until the line started to move. When she reached the entrance, a tall man looked her up and down and told her she could not enter that day. She recounted that the church was full and that she was not on the list. She said she had been rejected by the church and had not known such a thing was possible. Rosalía told the story with a laugh, describing how she had stood in line for a long time before reaching the door.
- Rosalía decides to attend a service at Abyssinian Baptist Church
- Waits in the cold outside as the line starts to move
- Doorman refuses entry and tells her she cannot come in that day
- Rosalía goes shopping and buys new shoes
Shoes instead of a service
Rather than stay, she went shopping and bought a new pair of shoes. Fallon remarked that this was what God would have wanted, and Rosalía said she had really tried to get in. She added that she hopes one day to be allowed inside the church and that she wants to return to see the gospel performance. The anecdote closed the church segment of the interview.
God said no, but my outfit said yes.
Other anecdotes from the interview
Rosalía also told Fallon that she sometimes hides from her bodyguard, Víctor, for fun, calling it 'the spark of life'. She explained that she set up her own confession booth at concerts because everyone has something to confess. On her upcoming album, the band U2 has written a song called 'The Mirror Maker (Rosalía)', and Bono sent her a message about the project, asking whether certain words made sense. She said she wanted to use one word in particular. Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, who heads the Vatican's cultural office, said she stresses religious experience as a fundamental experience of humanity, a theme that also appears on the cover of LUX, which shows her in a white, nun-like veil.
The album and the tour
SPIEGEL writer Andreas Borcholte wrote that with LUX the singer brings elements of exaltation, overwhelm and enigma back into pop. The album's tour has just concluded, according to Spanish coverage of the appearance. Rosalía is also scheduled to appear on Saturday Night Live on 10 October.
