Alejandra Ghersi Rodríguez (born October 14, 1989), known professionally as Arca, is a Venezuelan musician and record producer based in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Spain. She initially began releasing music under the name of Nuuro. After attending the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, Ghersi first released the EP ''Baron Libre'' (2012) under the name Arca and subsequently released the EPs ''Stretch 1'' and '' Stretch 2''; the latter experimented with hip hop and brought her attention from prominent music publications. She released her first two albums, ''Xen'' and ''Mutant'', in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Her eponymous third album, '' Arca'' (2017), became the first to prominently feature her vocals. From 2020 to 2021, Ghersi released the ''Kick'' quintet, starting with the album '' Kick I'' (2020) and ending with '' Kick IIIII'' (2021); these recordings drew from styles such as IDM,

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ) is a modern style of popular music, popular and electronic music that originated in Panamanian reggaetón, Panama during the late 1980s, and which rose to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s through a plethora of Puert ...

, avant-pop, techno, and ambient. Ghersi has frequently incorporated themes related to gender identity,

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

identification, and psychosexuality in her work, particularly after

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

in 2018. Ghersi has also worked frequently with other artists as producer and collaborator. She received production credits on releases such as

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

's '' Yeezus'' (2013),

FKA Twigs Tahliah Debrett Barnett (born 16 January 1988), known professionally as FKA Twigs (stylized as FKA twigs), is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, and dancer. She was a backup dancer for numerous musicians, and made her musica ...

' '' EP2'' (2013), ''LP1'' (2014), and

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

's '' Vulnicura'' (2015), ''Utopia'' (2017). She has additionally contributed to music by artists such as Kelela,

The Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is best known for adding Pop music, pop, electronic music, electronic and hip-hop stylings ...

Frank Ocean Frank Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987) is an American singer and songwriter. He has been credited by several music journalism, music critics as a pioneer of the alternative R&B genre. Ocean has won two Grammy Awards and a B ...

, Planningtorock,

Rosalía Rosalia Vila Tobella (born 25 September 1992), known mononymously as Rosalía (, ), is a Spanish Pop music, pop and flamenco singer. She has been described as an "atypical pop star" due to her genre-bending musical styles. After being enthral ...

, Sia, Shygirl, and Lil Uzi Vert.

Early life

Arca was born in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

as Alejandro Ghersi on October 14, 1989. Her father, Henrique Ghersi Rossón, is an investment banker and founder of VIP Capital (Venezuelan Investment Partners), an investment banking firm in Venezuela. Additionally, she has an older brother whose music collection she would frequently listen to during her childhood. The Ghersi family relocated to Darien, Connecticut when Ghersi was three years old, before returning to Caracas when she was nine years old. Ghersi described Darien as a " white picket fences" town with " deer and tick". After returning to Caracas, Ghersi eventually began playing the friction drum and started producing electronic music on

FL Studio FL Studio (known as FruityLoops before 2003) is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by the Belgian company Image-Line. It features a graphical user interface with a pattern-based music sequencer. It is available in four different ...

. She released music in her adolescence by the name of Nuuro, and received moderate popularity in her home country, with praise from big national artists such as

Los Amigos Invisibles Los Amigos Invisibles ( Spanish for "The Invisible Friends") is a Venezuelan band which plays a blend of disco, acid jazz and funk mixed with Latin rhythms. In addition to releasing eleven critically acclaimed albums, the band have been lauded ...

. She also did collaborations with fellow Venezuelan artists during this period, such as programming the synthesizers in

La Vida Bohème La Vida Bohème is a Rock music, rock band from Caracas, Venezuela, formed by Rafael Perez, Daniel De Sousa, Sebastian Ayala, and Henry D'Arthenay in late 2006 and mid-2007. The band takes influence from late '80s Punk rock, punk, disco, funk, ele ...

's Grammy nominated album '' Nuestra''. She later attended the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU.

Career

2012–2016: Production work, ''Stretch'' EPs, ''&&&&&'', ''Xen'', and ''Mutant''

On 1 February 2012, Ghersi released Arca's debut

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

(EP), ''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 2014, she was credited for additional production, programming and songwriting for five of the songs on

's '' Yeezus'', which was released on 18 June. Ghersi also served as one of the three production consultants. That same year on 23 July, she released her debut mixtape, '' &&&&&'' through

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

and Hippos in Tanks. The project included an audio-visual performance alongside Jesse Kanda, who contributed the visuals, at MoMA PS1 in October 2014. On 17 September,

' '' EP2'' was released, on which Arca produced and co-wrote every song. On 11 September 2014, it was announced that Arca signed with British label

Mute Records Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller (music producer), Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure (duo), Erasure, Einstürze ...

and released the lead single, "Thievery", from her then upcoming debut studio album, '' Xen''. One more single was released prior to the album's release, "Now You Know" on 31 October 2014 alongside a music video.''Xen'' was released on 4 November 2014 via

. Arca made significant contributions to

'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. According to Ghersi, the two began collaborating after her manager sent ''&&&&&'' to Björk's team and the musician contacted her through email. Ghersi collaborated with American singer Kelela on her ''

Hallucinogen Hallucinogens, also known as psychedelics, entheogens, or historically as psychotomimetics, are a large and diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mo ...

'' EP, which was released in October 2015. She was credited for producing, recording, mixing and co-writing two of the tracks, including the title track, which is an instrumental from ''&&&&&'' with Kelela adding improvised vocals. The following month, Arca's second studio album, '' Mutant'', was released on 20 November 2015. She released the '' Entrañas'' mixtape on 4 July 2016, following the single "Sin Rumbo".

2017–present: ''Arca'' and ''Kick'' series

On 22 February 2017, Arca signed with XL Recordings and released "Piel", the lead single from the eponymous third studio album, '' Arca''. The track was noted for featuring Ghersi singing which many reviewers considered a contrast from her older works. The release of ''Arca'' was preceded by three more singles: "Anoche", "Reverie" and "Saunter". ''Arca'' was released on 7 April 2017 via XL Recordings to widespread acclaim from music critics and was featured on numerous year-end lists. To promote the album, a music video for "Desafío" was released while "Saunter" and "Reverie" were released as twelve-inch singles. Later in 2017, Arca collaborated with Björk again on her ninth studio album ''

Utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

'', producing 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 held a series of performances at

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

cultural venue The Shed during a live shoot for a "yet-to-be released project". The series, titled "Mutant;Faith" was held from 25 September - 28 September and consisted of four acts. It was noted by fashion magazines '' Vogue''s Rachel Hahn and ''

Paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

''s Matt Moen for its improvised nature while the latter also noticed the interactive element of the performances. The performances featured guest appearances from Björk and American actor

Oscar Isaac Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada (born March 9, 1979) is an American actor. Recognized for his versatility, he has been credited with breaking stereotypes about Hispanic and Latino Americans, Latino characters in Cinema of the United States, H ...

. 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. Her fourth album '' Kick I'', featuring Björk,

, Shygirl and

Sophie Sophie is a feminine given name, another version of Sophia, from the Greek word for "wisdom". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Soph ...

, was announced on 8 March 2020 as part of an anthology and released on 26 June 2020; for this album Arca was nominated to the Grammys 2021. On 2 April, Arca had a 6 hour long twitch stream with a DJ mix named "^^^^^ (Circumflex)", which later premiered on NTS radio on 2 May. In July 2020, it was announced that a reissue of ''&&&&&'' would be released and the track "Knot" was released as the lead single. The mixtape was reissued to celebrate the anniversary of

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

based

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

label PAN. In September 2021, Arca's remix of " Rain on Me" by

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Known for her image reinventions and versatility across the entertainment industry, she is an influ ...

and Ariana Grande, which samples the songs "Time" and "Mequetrefe" from ''Kick I'', was released as part of Gaga's remix album '' Dawn of Chromatica''. On June 24th, 2021, Arca showcased a seven track extended play (EP) named "Issued by Bottega", and was only available on Bottega Veneta 2021 Digital Journal. The follow-up albums to ''Kick I'', titled '' Kick II'', '' Kick III'' and '' Kick IIII'', were originally scheduled to be released on December 3, 2021. However, starting with ''Kick II'' on November 30, albums were released in sequence within that week. A fifth installment, '' Kick IIIII'', was released "as a surprise" on December 3. Arca co-produced the track " Tears in the Club" by FKA Twigs featuring Canadian singer

the Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is best known for adding Pop music, pop, electronic music, electronic and hip-hop stylings ...

, which was released later that month as the lead single for FKA Twigs' mixtape '' Caprisongs''. Arca also produced the track "Thank You Song" by FKA Twigs, the closing track from the same mixtape. Arca appears briefly in a video interlude during

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

's Renaissance World Tour, and made a surprise appearance at the June 8, 2023, show in Barcelona to open for Beyoncé. In 2023, she supported

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

's Celebration Tour. In November 2024, Arca produced a remix of " Aquamarine" by Addison Rae titled " Arcamarine". The remix was released alongside a music video. The pair performed the song live at Ghersi's Coachella 2025 set.

Artistry

Musical style and lyrical themes

Ghersi's work published under the Arca name has been labelled as

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

hip hop music Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide r ...

and IDM, while her music released under Nuuro has been described as " electronic

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

" and " dreamy

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

". She frequently incorporates themes of psychosexuality,

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and gender identity into her music. Ghersi's music as Arca has been compared to the music of British electronic producer

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), known professionally as Aphex Twin, is a British musician, composer and DJ active in electronic music since 1988. His idiosyncratic work has drawn on many styles, including techno, ambient music, ambi ...

while the eponymous album ''Arca'' (2017) was compared to compositions by German composers

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

and

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

. The latter is known for being her first album as Arca to prominently incorporate lyricism. ''Stretch 1'' and '' Stretch 2'' which were released in 2012, have been compared to hip hop and club music. Reviewing ''Mutant'' (2015), Mark Richardson retrospectively compared ''Xen'' (2014) to

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

while the former leaned "toward

soundscape A soundscape is the acoustic environment as perceived by humans, in context. The term, originally coined by Michael Southworth, was popularized by R. Murray Schafer. There is a varied history of the use of soundscape depending on discipline, ...

". ''Xen'' was noted by ''

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...

'' Gary Suarez to contain themes of gender and

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

which were opined to be mainly implicit through the album's music videos. ''Kick I'' (2020) has been considered avant-pop while

was a prominent genre featured, on ''Kick II'' (2021). ''Kick III'' (2021) has been noted of its influences of IDM while ''Kick IIIII'' (2021) has been dubbed

ambient techno Ambient techno is a subgenre of techno that incorporates the atmospheric textures of ambient music with the rhythmic elements and production of techno. It was pioneered by 1990s electronic artists such as Aphex Twin, Carl Craig, The Orb, The ...

music. ''Kick IIIII'' (2021) has been dubbed "dark

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

" music by Joe Goggins of '' DIY''. While accepting her British Dance Act award at the Brit Awards 2025,

Charli XCX Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is a British singer and songwriter. She began posting songs on Myspace in 2008 before entering the London rave scene. Signing a recording contract with Asylum Re ...

shouted Arca out in her speech, among other dance acts she had been influenced by.

Influences

During her childhood, Ghersi cites her brother's music, which included

, British musician Squarepusher and

as heavily influencing her. The American composer and electronic musician Wendy Carlos has also been a major influence. According to Ghersi, Björk inspired her to use her voice prominently on her eponymous third studio album, and also helped her "find" her voice, following the development of a creative partnership between the pair. She has also cited her love for

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

which influenced the making of ''Kick I''. Arca also cites

as an influence, saying: "I don't know if I can overstate how major Madonna's music and persona were in my household". She cited German composer

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's '' Der Ring des Nibelungen'' as a primary inspiration for the ''Kick'' series and called

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

s the place she found a "home". Remezcla's Alberto De La Roza noted the influence of reggaeton on Ghersi's work.

Visuals

From 2012 to 2018, Ghersi often collaborated with Jesse Kanda on the visual aspect of her albums. He created the album artwork for her albums ''Xen'' (2014), ''Mutant'' (2015) and ''Arca'' (2017). She also collaborated with German photographer and director Daniel Sannwald to create her music videos. For the ''Kick'' series, Frederik Heyman created the album artwork for all of the albums except for ''Kick I'', which was created by her, Catalan artist Carlota Guerrero and Spanish multimedia artist Carlos Sáez. Ghersi's visuals for covers, music videos and packaging are, at times, sexually explicit or intentionally unsettling. In particular, the imagery featured in the artwork for Ghersi's single "Vanity" and the music video for her single "Thievery" were marked as NSFW, the former of which, resulted in a temporary ban on her

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

account. Arca's music video for "Reverie" (directed by Jesse Kanda) is age-restricted on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

for its graphic, violent imagery and sexual content.

Personal life

Arca came out as

in 2018, later adding that she identifies as a trans woman, and goes by she/her and it/its pronouns. As of 2022 Arca has stated on her

bio that she also uses they/them pronouns. In 2020 she stated in an interview for ''Vice'': "I see my gender identity as non-binary, and I identify as a trans Latina woman, and yet, I don't want to encourage anyone to think that my gayness has been banished. And when I talk about gayness, it's funny because I'm not thinking about who I'm attracted to. It's a form of cultural production that is individual and collective, which I don't ever want to renounce". In May 2023, Arca underwent facial feminization surgery. She commented on the surgery, by stating that she "feel so free after t like a load was lifted from erchakras". Arca lived in London and resides in

as of 2018. She dated Daniel Sannwald, and later the Spanish multimedia artist Carlos Sáez, who has often collaborated in the realization of her projects. The song "Failed" is written about her relationship with the former while the song "Calor" chronicles her relationship with the latter. In 2022, Arca signed onto the Musicians For Palestine pledge, refusing to perform in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

following the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis.

Discography

Albums

* '' Xen'' (2014) * '' Mutant'' (2015) * '' Arca'' (2017) * '' Kick I'' (2020) * '' Kick II'' (2021) * '' Kick III'' (2021) * '' Kick IIII'' (2021) * '' Kick IIIII'' (2021)

Mixtapes

* Baron Foyel (2011) * Sheep (2015) * &&&&& (2013) * Entrañas (2016) * @@@@@ (2020)

EPs

* Baron Libre (2012) * Stretch 1 (2012) * Stretch 2 (2012) * Madre (2021) * Issued by Bottega (2021)

Singles

* Hips Don't Lie Arca Remix (2014) * GENDER WAYANG ARCA EMBER (2019) * Big Science Arca Remix (2022) * Cayó (2022) * El Alma Que Te Trajo (2022) * Ritual (2023) * Chama (2024) * Aquamarine/Arcamarine (2024) * Electricity Arca Remix (2025) * Puta/Sola (2025)

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arca Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century Venezuelan LGBTQ people 21st-century Venezuelan LGBTQ people Venezuelan transgender people Venezuelan non-binary people Audio engineers Electronic dance music DJs Experimental musicians Hip-hop record producers Industrial musicians LGBTQ DJs LGBTQ people in Latin music Venezuelan LGBTQ songwriters Venezuelan LGBTQ singers Transgender songwriters Musicians from Caracas Mute Records artists Non-binary singers Non-binary songwriters Tisch School of the Arts alumni Transgender non-binary people Venezuelan DJs Venezuelan electronic musicians Venezuelan expatriates in England Venezuelan expatriates in Spain Venezuelan expatriates in the United States Venezuelan performance artists Venezuelan record producers Women in electronic music Women in Latin music LGBTQ record producers Transgender women singers Venezuelan music video directors