Since last week, videos have been filmed on the Instagram social network that show the singer Arca parading for the Mugler brand, in connection with the celebration of Paris Fashion Week.
“Take EVERYTHING. Thank you @muglerofficial @cadwallader @torso.solutions @biggayidiotdj @haleywollens all the team, production team, dolls, casting, music, glamour, hair, style, choreography, flow, rhythm, happiness. I felt so sexy. Thanks for letting me turn it off. I love it », expressed the transgender woman in a post that summarized her participation in the parade.
It is not usual to see the name of the 33-year-old Venezuelan in the press. In fact, many people are unaware that Arca was born in Caracas under the name of Alejandro Ghersi Rodríguez and, years later, she would be renamed Alejandra. But there are those who love her and thank her for being the way she is, her music and what she has done for the Lgbtq + community.
Communication way
As detailed by Humberto Sánchez Amaya, Arca, before his transition, said he was proud to be described as eccentric. According to him, he said, it is a word that does not scare him.
Instead, it should be celebrated because eccentricity is based on harmlessly expressing inner realities that are not easily communicated, says part of the interview he did at his home in 2017.
His music, transgressive and particular, gives shape to what sometimes words cannot describe. It moves between dream pop, synth pop and electropop, with strong influences from rap and Venezuelan music, with instruments like the furruco and fusions of Afro-Venezuelan percussion instruments and the beautiful tune of Simón Díaz. We must not leave out the raptor house or changa tuki that he usually includes in his proposal.
Music, as Sánchez Amaya recalled, for the Venezuelan is healing; especially after feeling lonely for a while. She likes to think that with her creations, other people will feel less alone.
lgbtq+
Amaya mentioned that, for Arca, being able to show his true sexual identity was important, especially since he grew up in a country where the word “maric*” is commonly used in street slang, but there is still an invisibility of what it means . “Maybe growing up here caused the longing to transmute shame into love,” she told the journalist.
According to Rey Flowers, a singer who represents the Lgtbq+ movement in Venezuela, “Arca is a Venezuelan artist who has broken any paradigm, not only on a musical level because of her transgressive and alternative mixes, but also because of her alter ego that has transcended culture. popular as an iconic reference of the Lgbtq+ community internationally.”
And if the artist wanted people to feel less alone with her proposal, she succeeded. Not only that, but there are those who identify with her artistic manifestation, or at least that’s what Rey Flowers said. «More than identified, I feel inspired by the way in which Arca has managed to raise her own standards by fearlessly showing who she really is. I think that all artists seek to build a community and not lose our essence in the attempt. Something that many lose to become a product. But consolidating an image, even if it may be difficult for many to understand, but still validates the quality of artist that you are. It is the best dose of inspiration. Thank you Arca for giving us so much.”
Influencer of the real ones
Despite the fact that she is the most influential Venezuelan producer in recent years and is responsible for the musical success of artists such as Sia, Björk, Kanye West, Rosalía and Lady Gaga, the young singer is more popular outside of social networks than within that world. .
She has more than 771,000 followers on Instagram and is followed by great international personalities such as Residente, Madonna, Katy Perry, Ivy Queen, Karol G, Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, Jenna Ortega, Rosalía and Danna Paola; or the countrymen Erika de la Vega, Édgar Ramírez, Jerri Di, La Vida Boheme, Rawayana, among others.
What she has achieved so far, she did freehand, thanks to her musical talent that led her to shine as co-producer with Björk in most of the songs and music videos of the album “Vulnicura”, from 2015.
That collaboration, he confessed, changed his life as it would happen to someone when they meet a soulmate. She added that a fertile friendship is important, that allows something else to be born.
«It made me realize that it is possible to be guided by intuition and reconcile the search with a life that is not one of suffering. She has protected me a lot too. In fact, I’m working on a Björk record as a co-producer. I don’t know when it will come out,” said the artist.
no surprise
However, something important happened with his participation in Paris Fashion Week. The power of a transgender woman who is applauded, celebrated and viralized on social networks comes at a time when a reality that still seeks more rights and claims is becoming more visible.
But it shouldn’t come as a surprise. At least that’s what Rey Flowers thinks. «Arca has had too many iconic moments, from its passage through the streets of Brazil, which caused a stir due to its closeness and treatment with its fans, to its participation on covers such as Vogue or appearances at public events with great artists such as Björk, Rosalia or Madonna. . Arca is the new ‘It Girl’ of pop culture and all brands want to work because it is simply ART. And art has no gender », he concluded.
Indeed, Alejandra is an artist in every sense of the word. According to a report by Últimas Noticias, she collaborated with the peculiar plastic artist Frederik Heyman.