Guitarricadelafuente, the 29-year-old Spanish troubadour with expressive eyes, has spent the past year living a double life, splitting time between his world tour and the international film festival circuit. As a pop star, he croons about gay desire in anthems like "Full Time Papi." And now, as a serious actor in the expected awards season juggernaut La Bola Negra, he plays a soldier discovering his own homosexual inclinations during the repressive Spanish Civil War. "It's been crazy!" Guitarricadelafuente told me over Zoom from his apartment in Los Angeles.
"I was shooting La Bola Negra while I was touring all around. I just feel so grateful for what has happened this year, how I've been able to see my music so synchronized with what I was working on in La Bola Negra." Born Álvaro Lafuente Calvo in the small coastal town of Benicàssim, Guitarrica’s stage name is a combination of his last name with the Spanish diminutive for his instrument of choice, the guitar. He earned his first Latin Grammy nomination for his debut album, 2022's La Cantera.
And after befriending and collaborating with Troye Sivan, he leaned more fully into his identity on last year's sweaty and carnal Spanish Leather. Then, despite not having acted before, Guitarrica was handpicked by the director duo Los Javis (Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo) to star in La Bola Negra, an adaptation of Federico García Lorca’s unfinished play, alongside a cast that includes heavyweights like Penélope Cruz, Glenn Close, and Elite heartthrob Miguel Bernardeau. In the film, he plays Sebastián, a musician that's forced to join the Nationalist army, where he falls in love with Bernardeau's character, a prisoner of war named Rafael.
Shortly after the movie’s theatrical release, and before it begins streaming on Netflix on December 2nd, the multi-hyphenate joined GQ to talk about his burgeoning acting career, learning from Penélope Cruz, and writing the movie’s centerpiece song, “La Nieve.” GQ: What came across your mind when Los Javis presented you with the idea of acting in La Bola Negra? Guitarricadelafuente: I just thought they were crazy. They never saw me act before.
They told me, “We've seen you perform live. We've seen you in your music videos.” They approached me with the idea that I would play Sebastián, but without the script being written. It was this blind faith that I felt from their side that made me make the decision and put myself in their hands to do it in the most honest and confident way possible.
What was it like to go back nearly 100 years in time for this movie? And how did you prepare for the role? There were a lot of rehearsals.
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