Guitarricadelafuente brought his modern-meets-traditional folk sound to late-night television for the first time on Tuesday night, making his TV debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live! with a dreamy performance of “BABIECA!” The song is one of the standouts from his 2025 album, Spanish Leather.
Colman Domingo, who was guest-hosting the show that evening, introduced the Spanish artist before the performance began. Guitarricadelafuente opened softly, singing and playing a zanfona, or hurdy-gurdy, which gave the song a hypnotic start before the arrangement gradually expanded with the addition of more band members. The track eventually shifted into an upbeat, club-inspired sound, reflecting the song’s theme of desire and falling in love hard. “BABIECA!,” Guitarricadelafuente has said, was inspired by a nightclub where his parents met.
A broader sonic approach on Spanish Leather
“BABIECA!” also reflects the broader sonic range Guitarricadelafuente explored on Spanish Leather. Speaking to Rolling Stone last year, he said he wanted the songs to feel “more contemporary” and “more grounded in what I witness on a day to day basis,” while also aiming to “capture a generational moment through these stories.” He added that he spent a few weeks in New York and Los Angeles, mainly in L.A., working with Carter Lang at his studio and at his home.
“I had this idea that what I was making was very Spanish,” he told Rolling Stone. “And suddenly, people from other countries, even without understanding the language, were connecting to the music, to its energy and that’s been really interesting.”
Another screen project on the way
The Jimmy Kimmel Live! appearance is not Guitarricadelafuente’s only on-screen moment this year. He is also starring in La Bola Negra, a war epic that connects several generations and periods of Spanish history and takes place in 1932, 1937, and 2017.
Directed by the Spanish duo Los Javis, the film has already drawn strong acclaim. It won the Best Director prize at Cannes and is set to begin its theatrical run on Nov. 6. La Bola Negra marks Guitarricadelafuente’s first major acting role and also stars Penelope Cruz, Julio Torres, Glenn Close, Miguel Bernardeau, and Carlos González. The film will premiere on Netflix on Dec. 4.
