Many artists dream of having “the song of the summer” – a track that is a hit everywhere, stays a hit for months and then exerts a powerful nostalgic force on listeners so that it remains a favourite for years, or decades, afterwards.

Usually it takes a lot of planning – pushing the song to radio, punting it to major playlists, getting influencers involved. It is blanket marketing and then you sit back and watch the streaming numbers rise. Well done. Take the rest of the summer off.

Except Spanish singer Rosalía seems to have achieved this in her home country without having officially released the song in question. Spanish newspaper El País first covered the phenomenon around her song ‘Despecha’ as part of her Motomami tour.

At her show at the WiZink Center in Madrid on 19th July, 20 pre-selected followers joined her on stage to dance to this “phantom” song while the rest of the audience sang back every word.

It all started at the Almería bullring on 6th July at the beginning of her tour when Rosalía published the setlist in advance, listing three unreleased songs that would be performed.

Fans recorded the new songs as they were being played and shared them on YouTube and TikTok. One song (with the working title of ‘Lao a Lao’) was the one that really caught fire and was shared among fans and watched so often and so quickly that the audience at the next shows were word perfect on it.

It then erupted when she posted a 35-second-clip of it on TikTok. At one show, she asked the audience to cheer for the title the song would get when finally released –‘Lao a Lao’ or ‘Despecha’. The latter won.

Lots of acts with loyal fanbases know when they play a new song that it will go online and spread quickly, but not with such ferocity. And fans are not directly involved in the A&R process as the song evolves. This is a fascinating example of how live is driving social media which is in turn driving live – and all without a song being formally released.