Alejandra Ghersi Rodríguez (born October 14, 1989), known professionally as Arca, is a Venezuelan musician and record producer based in Barcelona, Spain.
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.
Ghersi has frequently incorporated themes related to gender identity, non-binary identification, and psychosexuality in her work, particularly after coming out in 2018.
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.
After returning to Caracas, Ghersi eventually began playing the friction drum and started producing electronic music on FL Studio.
[9] 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.
[10] 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.
[11] On 1 February 2012, Ghersi released Arca's debut extended play (EP), Baron Libre, through UNO NYC.
[18] 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.
[34] Arca was released on 7 April 2017 via XL Recordings to widespread acclaim from music critics[35] and was featured on numerous year-end lists.
[34] Later in 2017, Arca collaborated with Björk again on her ninth studio album Utopia, producing the vast majority of the record.
[44] In September 2019, Arca held a series of performances at New York City cultural venue The Shed during a live shoot for a "yet-to-be released project".
[45] It was noted by fashion magazines Vogue's Rachel Hahn and Paper's Matt Moen for its improvised nature[46] while the latter also noticed the interactive element of the performances.
[53][54] 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.
[64] In November of 2024, Arca produced a remix of "Aquamarine (song)" from the freshly rebranded, up and coming pop star Addison Rae.
[70] Xen was noted by The Quietus' Gary Suarez to contain themes of gender and sexuality which were opined to be mainly implicit through the album's music videos.
[76] During her childhood, Ghersi cites her brother's music, which included Aphex Twin, British musician Squarepusher and Björk as heavily influencing her.
[79] She cited German composer Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen as a primary inspiration for the Kick series and called nightclubs the place she found a "home".
[88] Arca's music video for "Reverie" (directed by Jesse Kanda) is age-restricted on YouTube for its graphic, violent imagery and sexual content.
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.