Over the past year, Arca has collaborated with Tokischa, and she's remixed Addison Rae and Hikaru Utada. Last month, all three of those artists came out to join Arca when she played both Coachella weekends. But it's been a little while since Arca has released any music on her own, so it's great to see that she's finally dropped "Sola" and "Puta," the two new singles that she's been teasing for months.
Arca does her own vocals on both new tracks, and both of them have mutated reggaeton beats, but that's where the similarities end. "Sola," Spanish for "Alone," has a dreamlike melody. Arca puts her voice through tons of filters, but that voice never loses its yearning, haunted quality. It's almost certainly the prettiest Latin glitch ballad that you will hear today. In the Daniel Sannwald-directed video, a tremendously glamorous Arca dances through the desert as fireworks erupt around her.
"Puta" -- you probably don't need me to translate that title -- is a much nastier track. On this one, Arca raps about milking and choking in a playfully mocking pop-star snarl. Discordant keyboards squirm and heave, but they don't overwhelm the horny drive at the track's center. The song's Stillz-directed video is hard to watch, since the editing is so viscerally disorienting. The images of Arca in sex-robot mode, filmed in lo-res digital, switch too quickly for you to process them. Here's what Arca says about both singles:
"Puta" and "Sola" are songs I’ve been perfecting for years. Taking my time writing, recording, producing and mixing them on my own, slow cooking, has been important to getting the music just right. I’m so proud of these songs, and both Daniel Sannwald and Stillz are geniuses; the videos are so amazing. The themes lyrically span both extravagant sensuality for the dancefloor on "Puta" as well as the vulnerability of tenderness and love in "Sola." I hope they bring joy and comfort as well as confidence to all my fellow mutants!
Check out both videos below.
The "Sola" b/w "Puta" double-single is out now on XL Recordings.
