Today Arca has premiered a music video for ‘Mequetrefe,’ conceived, produced and directed by Carlos Sáez, Arca and Kynan Puru Watt over the period of the global quarantine. The video arrives in unity with the release of Arca’s new album KiCk i, which is available digitally worldwide via XL Recordings/Rhythmethod, with vinyl to follow next month. In the recent lead-up to KiCk i’s delivery into the world, Arca shared two singles ‘Mequetrefe’ and ‘KLK‘ featuring Rosalía. Watch the video for ‘Mequetrefe’ HERE.
The music video for ‘Mequetrefe’ was conceptualised and created while in lockdown. Arca approached the creative process for the video not through the lens of circumstance but as an exercise in agency – acting as stylist, make-up artist, and performer to dream up the playful variations of her self-states. In collaboration with her partner artist Carlos Sáez, the two produced and filmed the homemade video in Barcelona and then brought in animator Kynan Puru Watt based in Shanghai who fed about 10000 frames of Arca into a neural network for an extended period of time to allow for layers of CGI to interact with each other.
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 decades most avant-pop artists. To introduce the project, she first shared “Nonbinary” and her single “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.
