Arca

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

On 1 February 2012, Ghersi released Arca's debut extended play (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.

She received production credits on releases such as Kanye West's Yeezus (2013), FKA Twigs' EP2 (2013), LP1 (2014), and Björk's Vulnicura (2015), Utopia (2017).

She has additionally contributed to music by artists such as Kelela, The Weeknd, Frank Ocean, Planningtorock, Rosalía, Sia, Shygirl, and Lil Uzi Vert.

Arca was born in Caracas as Alejandro Ghersi.

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.

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.

She also did collaborations with fellow Venezuelan artists during this period, 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.

In 2013, she was credited for additional production, programming and songwriting for five of the songs on Kanye West'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 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.

She released her first two albums, Xen and Mutant, in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

On 11 September 2014, it was announced that Arca signed with British label Mute Records 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 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.

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 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".

Her eponymous third album, Arca (2017), became the first to prominently feature her vocals.

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.

Ghersi has frequently incorporated themes related to gender identity, non-binary identification, and psychosexuality in her work, particularly after coming out in 2018.

Ghersi has also worked frequently with other artists as producer and collaborator.

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, avant-pop, techno, and ambient.