María José Llergo

Born in Pozoblanco in rural Andalusia's Cordoba province, Maria José Llergo absorbed flamenco's deep regional roots from childhood, sensing its presence just beneath the local soil. Her grandfather's farm work soundtrack of flamencos and boleros provided her first musical exposure. Classical violin lessons occupied her from age seven through seventeen, after which an eighteen-year-old Llergo secured a scholarship for jazz and contemporary classical voice studies at El Liceo, the academy linked to Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu opera house. Additional training at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya under José Miguel Vizcay followed, an instructor shared with countrywoman Rosalia.

Once graduated, she performed across cafes, clubs, and television commercials. A 2018 contribution to the urban regional compilation Moonchies prompted Sony to offer a multi-album deal. Producer Lost Twin shaped her seven-track debut EP Sanación, released in 2020, which earned widespread notice in Spain, North American press, and European clubs through its fusion of flamenco, electronic textures, jazz, and pop. Earlier, in 2019, she had appeared on the same Moonchies project spotlighting regional talent.

Her vocal work on "The Sea Awaits You," the theme for Marcel Barrena's 2022 film Mediterráneo, secured the Goya Award for Best Song. She joined Fuel Fandango for the charting single "Mi Huella" and issued solo tracks "Que Tu Me Quieras" and "Te Espera El Mar." Also in 2022, "Mi Nombre" reached Spain's Top 20 by merging flamenco palmas with dance beats, ambient pop atmospheres, and nylon-string guitars, while a separate Goya recognition arrived in 2021 for best song of the year.

March 2023 introduced the club anthem "Ten Contrao," produced by George Moore and Jason Brown. Lost Twin's "Rueda, Rueda" arrived in June, its lyrics tracing freedom, spiritual transcendence, and radical self-acceptance; DJ Uwu and Daniel 2000 supplied an August remix. Later that month "Superpoder," co-written with Marti Perarnau Vives and Maria Zahara Gordillo Campos, entered the Spanish Top 40. October brought the expansive second album Ultrabelleza, again co-authored with Vives and Gordillo Campos. Its thirteen tracks thread nuevo flamenco through cumbia, reggae, Spanish pop, EDM, and hip-hop.