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ARCA’s third offering from KiCk i, “Mequetrefe” out today

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5 mins read

photo credit: Hart Leshkina

“the record to elevate her from electronic music’s experimental sandbox to pop music’s vanguard”
– Pitchfork

“KiCk i feels like her breakout moment, a well-deserved coronation”
– Stereogum

Today Arca has premiered a new single “Mequetrefe,” (LISTEN HERE) featured on her upcoming album KiCk i, due out June 26th (w/vinyl available on July 17th) on XL Recordings. In Arca’s own words, “the song “Mequetrefe” invokes the tenderness behind expressing who you are without shame, and the confidence and bravery it requires, because expression of gender-nonconforming self-states in a public space can often result in static within your environment.” A word that Arca heard growing up in Venezuela, it was more commonly used in a derogatory way towards men, but here Arca suggests flipping the script on the colloquial use of “mequetrefe” to portray a new archetype of masculinity and the results shines through on this club track that shimmers with trippy fractal beauty.

Arca, KiCk i  defines a new era of multiplex harmony for the Venezuelan artist, singer, DJ, performer and experimental music composer.  With appearances from BjörkRosalía, 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.

Arca KiCk i tracklist:

1. Nonbinary

2. Time

3. Mequetrefe

4. Riquiqui

5. Calor

6. Afterwards ft. Björk

7. Watch ft. Shygirl

8. KLK ft. Rosalía

9. Rip The Slit

10. La Chíqui ft. SOPHIE

11. Machote

12. No Queda Nada

KiCk i will be available on vinyl (single LP in a gatefold jacket, with a 16-page booklet of original art by Arca) and CD (in a black trigger ejector case).
Pre-order at Flying Out or Marbecks

Arca:

For the past eight years Arca has carved a blazing path through the zeitgeist. Every time we laid eyes on her she’d taken on some new form – noise sculptor, diva, philosopher, fashion plate, party girl, DJ, performance artist, painter. It’s her nonbinary mindset of endless possibilities that have resulted in an extraordinary range of work, outside of her own music which includes three albums (Xen, Mutant, Arca) and several mixtapes (Stretch 1, Stretch 2, &&&&&, Entrañas), she has produced for Björk, Kayne WestFKA twigs, composed music for MoMA and Analogue’s Mega SG, hosted Frank Ocean’s PREP+ party, performed with the Labèque sisters at Riccardo Tisci’s Burberry Autumn/Winter 2020 runway show.  She’s a painter who’s created her own album art, a model who’s signed to Elite, a tech innovator who’s co-designed some of her own unique instruments. It’s these seemingly disparate things that in retrospect add up to one astounding, ever-growing holistic work. But it’s the transformation itself, more than any one particular element, which has been her real work to date. With an example of this displayed last September over the course of four days at her multifaceted performance piece at New York City’s The Shed titled Mutant;Faith, inspiring founding artistic director Alex Poots to call her “a glimpse of a future I hope for.”

And while it’s always been clear–at least to those who’ve been paying attention –that this metamorphosis was building to something big and new. Now the final veil has dropped, the chrysalis bust wide open. A new queen is born, mutant and splendorous. A Latinx trans woman, who is redefining the role of the diva for a new generation.

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