Alejandra Ghersi, better known by the stage name Arca, is a Venezuelan musician, singer, composer, record producer, mixing engineer, performance artist and DJ based in Barcelona. She has released four studio albums—Xen, Mutant, Arca and Kick I —to critical praise, and has contributed production work to artists such as Björk, Kanye West, FKA twigs, Kelela, and Frank Ocean.
Early life
Arca was born in Caracas, Venezuela as Alejandro Ghersi. Her family moved to Darien, Connecticut, for a while before returning to Venezuela when she was 9 years old, where she was introduced to piano lessons. She released music in her teen years by the name of Nuuro, and received moderate popularity in her home country, with praise from big national artists such as Los Amigos Invisibles. She also did collaborations with fellow Venezuelan artists, such as programming the synthesizers in La Vida Bohème's Grammy nominated album Nuestra. She later attended the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU.
Career
On 1 February 2012, Arca released her debut extended play, Baron Libre, through UNO NYC. Later that year, she released the Stretch 1 and Stretch 2 EPs on 19 April and 6 August respectively. In 2013, Arca was credited for additional production, programming and songwriting for five of the songs on Kanye West's Yeezus, which was released on 18 June. She also served as one of the three production consultants. That same year on 23 July, she released her &&&&& mixtape through SoundCloud and Hippos in Tanks. The project included an audio-visual performance alongside Jesse Kanda, who contributed the visuals, at MoMA PS1 in October 2013. On 17 September, FKA Twigs' EP2 was released, on which Arca produced and co-wrote every song. Her debut studio album, Xen, was released on 4 November 2014 via Mute Records. Arca made significant contributions to Björk's eighth studio album Vulnicura which was released on 20 January 2015. She was credited as the co-producer of seven of the tracks, and the co-writer of two. Arca collaborated with American singer Kelela on her Hallucinogen EP, which was released in October 2015. She's credited for producing, recording, mixing and co-writing two of the tracks, including the title track, which is an instrumental from Arca's &&&&& mixtape with Kelela adding improvised vocals. Her second studio album, Mutant, was released on 20 November 2015. She released the Entrañas mixtape on 4 July 2016, following the single "Sin Rumbo". On 22 February 2017, Arca signed with XL Recordings and released "Piel", the first single from the eponymous third studio album, Arca, which was released on 7 April 2017 to widespread acclaim from music critics and was featured on numerous year-end lists. Later in 2017, Arca collaborated with Björk again on her ninth studio album Utopia, who co-produced the vast majority of the record. Björk explained that the album explored "the Arca-Björk overlap." A music video featuring Arca for "Arisen My Senses" was released on 18 December 2017. Arca also collaborated with Kelela on her debut studio album, Take Me Apart, released in October 2017. Kelela said she "anchored" the album and produced a bulk of it. She is credited for producing on four tracks, and co-writing two. In September 2019, Arca performed during a live shoot for a "yet-to-be released project". On 19 February 2020, Arca released a 62-minute single named "@@@@@" along with an audiovisual directed by Frederik Heyman. The track was released on XL Recordings on 21 February. Along with the single, 13 international tour dates were announced for Spring 2020. On 8 March 2020, her new album Kick I, featuring Björk and Rosalía, was announced.
Personal life
Arca came out as non-binary in 2018, later saying that she identifies as a trans woman, and goes by she/her and it/its pronouns.
