Today Arca has premiered a new single featuring Rosalía. The two contemporary pop stars have revealed their first official collaboration in the form of a cyberpunk reggaetón song titled “KLK”, which is on Arca’s album KiCk i, due out this Friday, June 26th on XL Recordings. This iconic relationship was revealed to the public last year when Rosalía used Arca’s vocal recordings as an interstitial in her Latin GRAMMY Awards performance (watch here), taken from a recording Arca made just a month earlier while working on her own project. As Rosalía exclaims on the song, “aquí con me Ale estamos bendecidas,” listen to “KLK” here now: https://arca.ffm.to/k_l_k
For the instrumental/beat of “KLK,” Arca worked with long-time friend and collaborator, Venezuelan producer Cardopusher, who features on the song as co-producer. Cardopusher and Arca first met back in Caracas while playing gigs together, and are now both based in Spain; KLK’s hypnotic bounce serves to both celebrate and deconstruct the reggaetón they both grew up listening to, while Rosalía’s additional vocals entwine with Arca’s to suggest mischief, sensuality and collaboration – a call for unity in celebrating life in virtue of the unknown.
Arca, KiCk i defines a new era of multiplex harmony for the Venezuelan artist, singer, DJ, performer and experimental music composer. With appearances from Björk, Rosalía, Shygirl and SOPHIE, this is the first time Arca has invited collaborators into her world, previously having lent her sound to some of the decade’s most avant-pop artists. To introduce the project, she first shared “Nonbinary” and her singles “Mequetrefe” and “Time,” which is featured in Chanel’s new short-film HERE, presenting their 2020/21 Cruise Collection. With them. declaring, “Arca’s work is beyond innovative…her vision for the future of pop is so thrilling,” and Pitchfork noting Arca’s ability to “continue to create a singular world,” Arca, a nonbinary Latinx transwoman, is redefining the role of the diva for a new generation as Stereogum exclaims, “KiCk i feels like her breakout moment, a well-deserved coronation.”
