A report by Isabelia Herrera for The New York Occasions.
On his third album, “Saturno,” the Puerto Rican musician additional reimagines the style, drawing on the worlds of Miami bass, late ’90s underground and freestyle music.
Rising up in Puerto Rico, Rauw Alejandro usually hid the combination CDs his uncle gave him, which often included express lyrics, from his father. They featured puckish pop-punk bands like Blink-182, but additionally the precocious stars of underground, a synthesis of hip-hop and dancehall that predated reggaeton.
“Don’t even ask me about my outfits,” the self-described “emo reggaetonero” mentioned, taking bites of a sandwich throughout a latest cellphone name from Miami. Between picture shoots and studio classes, he was racing to complete his third album, “Saturno,” which landed final week. “They have been horrible,” he mentioned of his early wardrobe decisions, which mirrored his genre-mashing tastes. “They have been like, studded chokers, however with white Air Power 1s.”
Now 29, Alejandro nonetheless has a nonconformist streak, however he additionally occurs to be one of many largest stars of Spanish-language music. Over the past six years, he’s garnered a popularity as a slick heartthrob; it’s not unusual for followers to fling their bras onstage at his exhibits, or squeal uncontrollably when he thrusts his hips throughout a dance routine.
However the playboy theatrics don’t inform the entire story. Alejandro additionally has an imaginative, renegade method to pop music. His songs soften the perimeters of R&B, dancehall and reggaeton and sprinkle them with the glitter of disco and synth pop.
Alejandro’s first studio album, “Afrodisíaco” (2020), constructed on the next he’d amassed on SoundCloud for his crepuscular collages of R&B and reggaeton. Its 2021 follow-up, “Vice Versa,” took a extra audacious method; it included parts of drum and bass, deep home and disco, igniting conversations about reggaeton and digital music’s longstanding intersections. He’s nominated for eight awards on the Latin Grammys on Thursday night time.
Earlier than his music profession, Raúl Alejandro Ocasio Ruiz was a small-town child rising up in Canóvanas, a mountainous and tranquil space of Puerto Rico a far cry from the bustling close by metropolis of Carolina, the place he attended faculty. His father performed the guitar, and his mom was a backup singer and dancer. When he was 12, his dad and mom divorced, and Alejandro moved to Carolina completely along with his mom.
Music was by no means actually a certain shot, and even his long-term ambition: At first, Alejandro envisioned life as knowledgeable soccer participant. “I’ve all the time been a fan of going in opposition to the grain, like, ‘OK, everybody desires to play baseball and basketball, so I’ll play soccer,’” he mentioned. He devoted his life to the game when he was 7, attended the College of Puerto Rico on a scholarship and even moved to Orlando, Fla., to coach for the semiprofessional USL League Two.
However at 21, he reached a crossroads. Despite his dedication, knowledgeable profession appeared unlikely to pan out. Disillusionment, frustration and household monetary troubles finally led him to shelve his soccer desires. Within the aftermath, music was his remedy. “I’d begin to document actually dangerous songs,” he mentioned with fun. “The inventive half relaxed me so much.” He began displaying demos to his buddies, together with Kenobi, a highschool classmate and fellow former soccer hopeful who’s now considered one of his trusted producers and sound engineers. They inspired him to share his music on-line.
Alejandro began importing R&B tracks to SoundCloud round 2016, becoming a member of an area crop of unsigned however soon-to-be superstars, together with Unhealthy Bunny. A lot of them drew inspiration from the darker threads of R&B. “I recognized so much with that wave as a result of I’m not a rapper,” he mentioned. “We have been in one other vibe, like, ‘We’re the cool boys. We’re doing totally different stuff,’” he added with one other giggle.
In early 2017, he landed a document take care of Duars Leisure. However the subsequent three years have been removed from linear: Hurricane Maria and its subsequent financial devastation hit Puerto Rico, forcing Alejandro briefly to maneuver again to the mainland and take retail jobs to make ends meet. He finally returned to the island, and in 2019, he unveiled his debut EP, “Lure Cake, Vol. 1.” A 12 months later, his first studio album, “Afrodisíaco,” arrived.
“Saturno” builds on the glowing membership textures that Alejandro has explored prior to now. However this time, he traverses the worlds of Miami bass, late ’90s underground and ’80s and ’90s freestyle. A lot of right now’s mainstream reggaeton manufacturing has been dulled down for pop audiences, however the retrofuturist “Saturno” launches the style into deep area. “Saturn is the planet of Capricorns, and it’s additionally the planet of melancholy and nostalgia,” mentioned Alejandro, who’s a Capricorn himself. “They even say it’s a planet that represents arduous work, ambition, consistency, sacrifice. And that’s one thing that I establish with.”
Tainy, a contemporary architect of reggaeton who labored on “Saturno,” mentioned that Alejandro’s punctilious, concept-driven method units him aside within the business, and ups the ante for his friends. “It’s extra like, ‘Let’s create a chunk of artwork by way of the album — not simply the songs, however the aesthetic of the manufacturing that comes with it. What’s the message behind it, the idea, movies, art work?’” he defined in a video name. “I actually really feel it places the strain on all people else.”
Alejandro knew he needed a nostalgic contact for this document, and one thing that may make for a dynamic dwell present. Whereas different latest pop releases, just like the Weeknd’s “Daybreak FM,” have explored previous imaginings of the longer term, the main target has usually been synthwave or ’90s home. “Nobody had gone into that nook of ’90s freestyle,” he defined. That affect suffuses the complete document: There’s the throwback thump of “Verde Menta,” which lands like a propulsive revamp of an Exposé observe. On the Susana Estrada-sampling “Más de Una Vez,” Alejandro’s caramel falsetto floats over carbonated digital synths and drum machines.
He additionally recruited the reggaeton forefather DJ Playero, whose underground mixtapes have been important to the style’s proliferation within the ’90s. “Punto 40” and “Dejau” interpolate a few of Playero’s dwell performances, albums and avenue mixes, whereas the explosive hometown anthem “De Carolina” riffs on excerpts from the foundational tape “Playero 38,” like “La Gente Sabe,” by the duo Maicol y Manuel. Alongside his producers, Alejandro labored with Playero to assist form the tracks.
“If I’m utilizing these sounds, if I’m utilizing these colours, I wish to present respect to the individuals who did it,” Alejandro mentioned. “I attempt to make it different and new and a contemporary fusion, however nonetheless respecting the codes of the old-fashioned.”
Alejandro’s go-to producers, together with Mr. NaisGai, Caleb Calloway and Kenobi, seem on “Saturno” too. Alejandro introduced the crew a playlist as a temper board, compiling references he was fascinated about exploring on the document. Whereas he had supplied basic route for the sound of his tasks prior to now, he had by no means been instantly concerned in beatmaking or manufacturing. This time round, he mentioned he co-produced about 80 p.c of the album below the alias El Zorro.
“It was considered one of my targets as an artist to not keep boxed in,” he mentioned. “I’ve all the time had this starvation to study something I can.”
Kenobi famous that Alejandro has all the time been indefatigable — in class, music and life. “You all the time wish to work with individuals who — not even work, encompass your self with — individuals who fill you with life, with ambition.” he mentioned in a video name. “With out you realizing it, he brings out the perfect in you.”
For Tainy, Alejandro’s means to erode boundaries appears like a brand new second in mainstream Spanish-language pop. It’s “a cut-off date the place we’re so free and open to strive new issues, the place 10 years earlier than, it wasn’t the identical,” he mentioned. “The weirdos are popping out because the factor proper now.”