Arca and the Dignity of Abjection: Kick ii, iii, iiii, iiiii review 

actually, muñecas, meaning dolls, is a term referring to trans women. shes talking about “her dolls” her sisters, her community. and i think muñecas is about the specific loneliness of being a trans woman. and in bruja “muñecas de metal” is more about resilience. hope this helps ❤️

this music is for EVERYONE!! never let ppl within the community gatekeep art; I get why we protect it, but the more hearts this touches, the better 💅 loved this review sir, keep it up!!

@30:30 it's worth reading how Arca herself explains Electra Rex, a very interesting concept indeed: "Electra Rex is a new archetype I propose in reference to commonly understood ideas of Freud regarding the oedipal complex: Oedipus Rex kills the father and unknowingly making love to the mother. Electra complex posits the binary opposite: killing the mother and unknowingly making love to the father. And so I am the first to propose a nonbinary psychosexual narrative to avoid falling into the same generational tragic blind spots. Electra Rex, a merging of both names, an integration of both Oedipus Rex and Electra: Electra Rex it kills both parents and has sex with itself, and chooses to live." it's about merging and/or removing the masculine and feminine parts within oneself, as a way of survival and self discovery. it's one of kick iii's highlights for me, also because i love the production on this track. i want to thank you for this review! it was a very enjoyable video that helped me appreciate Arca even more, especially in terms of her audiovisual and lyrical themes around abjection. i wasn't aware of Kristeva's work before so i will definitely read more about it! thanks

From a trans feminine perspective, I think Estrogen doesn't deserve the chop. The song is ambient, yes, but for me personally it's such a meaningful track. It has this "coming home" feeling, like "my body is finally inhabitable in a way i've never felt before". There's this tenderness to it that really gets me excited for my future and fills me with hope that the things I hate the most about my body don't all have to be permanent

I highly suggest you give Araña more shots, it’s literally a whole experience in itself. It’s my favourite one off Kick ii. Arca said at first it’s supposed to sound like a spider sucking the liquids out of you and towards the end it’s all of Arca’s personalities singing at once. So to me, I just close my eyes and see myself in this deliciously produced sci-fi horror 🥵

Loved hearing your thoughts on this. Thought I might respond to some of what you brought up in your review. 1. Arca's name is Alejandra Ghersi 2. Born Yesterday was actually a 2012 Katy Perry demo by Sia. It seems like the only alteration in the KICK ii version is Arca's production, so that may be why it feels out of place. 3. Arca recently talked about the meaning behind mutant faith in her New York Times profile. "Ghersi said the term 'mutant faith' is a belief in the promise of the othered. 'A faith for mutants, outcasts, freaks, weirdos, the othered, migrants,' she explained. 'An intersectional rallying cry for the spirit.'"

Professor Skye, if you liked tierno from kick iiiii then I HIGHLY recommend you give Arca's 2017 self-titled album a listen (if you haven't already). Tierno's very reminiscent of the songs off that album. When making self-titled, she would regularly take walks through Abney Park cemetery near her place in London, and you can definitely tell from the album

An hour-long video on Arca and Abjection? I'm gonna jouir!!

Kick iiiii has become my go to study music it’s the most ambient and, not my favorite (that’s iii) but everything about Arca’s music I love

I love hearing her nails on some of the piano tracks. It's the Avantgarde version of the hipster vinyl cracking, everybody seems so obsessed with, a la ARCA!

the explanation of what abjetion is was actually really mind opening. it is a concept i've been struggling with for some time now and seeing it being put into words was incredible. thank you.

This is genuinely one of the most refreshing music channels I’ve found on this platform

As a Trans Youth™, I'd just like to say that art is art and you have every right to listen to/talk about Arca's music! Talking about it from the lens of your own perspective is not the same as talking over trans people or misrepresenting that aspect of the music. For the record, the vast majority of us trans folk do not gatekeep art in that way :)

I first discovered Arca in 2019 when looking for music to present for my college Spanish class. Her self titled album really moved me even though I wasn’t (and still not) the best at Spanish. Her Kick albums showcase how versatile she is and how much she has to say whether or not she is speaking at all. Crown is probably my favorite out of the bunch but that’s just because I’ve been waiting for it to be released for so long. I do recommend listening to her self titled record. To me, it’s her best work.

As a trans woman who is 6 years into my transition and seeing how Arca transitioned more recently I love how you mentioned that you can hear the sweetness coming in because what I believe transitioning has done for me is because I am more feminized in appearance and my dysphoria lessens i'm not so at odds with the world or myself as much as I was before transition and the magic and sweetness of estrogen takes over the anger and frustration and sadness due the poison of testosterone putting our bodies and minds in distress since our first puberty. SO I believe as Arca is coming more into her own as a woman you see this gentler sweeter side emerging that has always been there but the world can see it now. When you exist in the world as a nonbinary femme assigned male at birth person but really you are supposed to be a woman you are always at odds with the world around you which I believe is what Arcas music represents sonically the sound of abjection exactly as you stated, and the sound of feeling disoriented and confused in yourself and your identity and the pressures of this robotic judgemental society.

I was totally not expecting to learn some thing watching this but there you go. You’re not a schmuck, you’re an open minded human and I enjoy listening and learning. Arca is fierce and on that we can agree.

This review is so gooooddd, you really made me sat through a 50-minute review

I WAS WAITING FOR THIS REVIEW i always appreciate an art/art history take on musical works…a lot of people don’t make connections to allegory and just talk about how they feel, which is fine, but i already know how i feel so it’s just redundant. i also appreciate your willingness to forgo a bad reaction to people who tend to gatekeep arca’s music, which has happened as american yt cis gay men tend to make fun of her music. a lot of her things are based in hispanic sounds that they don’t like (reggaeton, specifically) and there’s a lot of online discussion that exemplify this. also, arca’s name is alejandra ghersi rodriguez :]

Great review professor! I really related to "The Moment" you had in the car, I had the same Arca Epiphany a couple of months after discovering her! There are a few comments I would like to add that hopefully aren't repetitive: 1. Muñecas is also how part of queer people refer to themselves 2.The really hard beats in incendio seem very influenced by brazilian funk, which makes sense in the latino context of her influences 3. I think you should give Electra Rex another chance. In her own words, she proposes "a new archetype, a nonbinary myth updated for the present and future in service of nonbinary modes of relating to greek tragedy" 4. In Joya I believe is when she speaks to all "mutants" who listen to her and look up to her, and she kind of soothes them in a motherly way, reminding how special they are in the world.

I’m hopping in the Arca self-titled train!!! The fact that her self-titled album came just before KiCk i has made me love both of them so much more. They’re so different and I love that she’s so versatile.

Arca’s just published an Instagram post about Kristeva and her philosophy with specific reference to abjection. Might be a coincidence, but probably not, kudos!

Great review! I do think she is the most interesting artist in the scene right now, it's like she breaths music, knowledge, and is really liberating to queer people. I also think you would love her self-titled album if you liked tierno and musculos, i believe it's her magnum opus to date

must comment-- you are a fantastic public speaker. your ability to stay on track completely off the cuff with no editing is incredible

this channel is GOLDEN

Just wanted to tell u Muñecas means dolls and it is just a term that of endearment among trans women! In English and Spanish trans women call each other/themselves dolls/Muñecas

I will admit I just clicked cuz this man is cute as fuck. But yeah aside from that great way to analyze the music of Arca, I myself even struggle with the harsh way she produces her music but it’s special in a way I can’t describe. I like it but the same way I like beer, not about how it tastes but what it represents and makes me feel.

Remove Electra Rex? Alien Inside? Pu? goddamn you really... made a choice

Very interesting exploration on the topic of "abjection" and otherness.I appreciate your deep dive into this complex subject. It was eye opening and expansive. Her real name is Alejhndra Ghersi Rodriguez ( I just looked it up).Carnal relations ? You're a married man Skye LOL.

so glad you dove into these records. been really digging them, kick iii truly is great! first record since sophie's passing to reassure me there's someone who can take the torch from her and lead the way forward. i also wasnt very into kick i last year and now after falling in love with the whole set it's so great

Thank you so much for your academic interest in these 4 albums by the amazing Arca. You validate her work and even though I don't ever look "to be seen" by others in art (as some attention seekers unknowingly do), I do feel seen by you reviewing her work with an open mind and heart. Her work has been something I'm finding more and more things in common with aside from the fact that we are both hispanic trans women. I don't think Arca thinks of herself as a "woman" in the same way I know that I am biologically a man...but the human condition is much more complex than ones gender. Songs like Prada and Rakata tap into those concepts. I keep finding new things to identify with in her work. She reminds me a lot of Bjork in that aspect.

Definitely, Arca needs to listen this. I'd loved your arts analysis.

This was a beautiful review. You have a way with words that enlivens and inspires. I’ve learned a lot about Arca and these bodies of work through you. Thank you

My 12 songs list would be: Prada - Rakata - Tiro(reggaeton part), Incendio - Intimate Flesh - Joya(hip-hop/experimental part), Xenomorphgirl - Queer - Lost Woman Found ("witch house" part lol), Chiquito - Tierno - Crown (dark/soft ballads part)

I'll be honest, as a transfemme there are times when I give up on "normal" people understanding us, even if just for a moment. Seeing people like you connect with Arca makes it easy to have faith, even if just for a moment. Thank you ❤️

thank you so much! im so happy to hear someone knowledgeable discuss these albums. another music reviewer on RU-vid who I regularly watch listened to 30 seconds of each song and said they were annoying, overly sexual, and experimental without a purpose. So hearing you talk about abjection makes sense why a straight white American male refuses to even give the album a chance

It doesn't matter if you don't fit the picture or ideal of something so different what matters is being open minded and collected information for search of a greater knowledge. I haven't watched all your videos though but I tip my hat to you for even trying to acknowledge and I find it so amazing

I LOVE everything you had to say. You put to words what I can only feel❤️

Kick iiiii is the cuddle session at the end of the violent sex of the previous 4 Kicks

loved this review!! arca’s music is so transformative for me and when I listen to it, I often feel like I exist in a strange liminal world we have created, so it’s always fun to understand someone else interacting with her art.

sometimes i do feel "not trans enough" to be such a big fan of Arca. I see my identity as nonbinary and homosexual and arca does make music about that, but i am not of trans experience and i don't go clubbing. I don't experience community, and experiencing community (espeically the lgbt community where Arca's music comes from) seems to be such a huge part of Kick. I don't know. I suppose i relate most to the theme of alienation and experimentation with texture itself - its variation is comforting

enjoying this a lot. about halfway through. your three choices for kick ii are identical to what mine would be, after my dozens of listens spanning months. muñecas is one of my favorite arca songs. i appreciate that you and your wife can sense the humor in that song as well. as far as arca's strengths, muñecas feels like it highlights just about every single one, perfectly. as far as reveling in the abject, when muñecas is playing, that song inhabits me and vice versa.

Absolutely love your in depth analysis on these albums! Your Arca content has been my favorite so far!

I love your thoughts on Arca. You should definitely analyze her self-titled.

You're not gonna believe this but Arca just put out her own edited version of all 5 albums.

Love your reaction this is a very very interesting take from an unusual perspective.

As a young genderfluid/trans NB, it makes me very happy to see someone like you discuss this music, along with Dorian Electra and the like. You're one of the only older music lovers I've met that respects and attempts to understand where this art is speaking from, so thank you :)

tierno is actually an outtake from her self titled album, similar to coraje. if you like that, you’d probably like her self titled album.

Thank you for such a great review. I agree with you that kick iii is the best Arca album. I think it was inappropriate to combine tracks from these albums into one. but those songs that you liked are simply divine. thank you very much for such attention to the LGBT community and reviewing such issues. I've never seen your reviews before. Now I want to watch the rest of your videos, your reflections.

I loved your review! is one of the best ones if not the best that I’ve seen in a long time. We can truly see the dedication, time and effort you’ve put for this and it turned out amazing!

very interesting. loved the explanation of the abjection theme

I loved your review as always! I wonder if you had ever considered linking your spotify. It would great to have access to this greatest hits playlist . As for my thoughts on the albums, I loved them. It felt like a transformative experience, the abrasive latin-influenced electronic forwardness of the first album only seems to crescendo to this juggernaut known as kick iii. I similarly saw the comparison between the mechanical nature of the music and the kind of post-human, transgender narrative Arca is pushing. I think it's a great use of cover art. There is this almost cyberpunk, 'egyptians building the pyramid' vibe to all of them, before closing with this godlike, pagan figure that doesn't seem mechanical at all. It seems transcendent. The music of kick iiiii reflects that. No longer abrasive, no longer synthetic (in an auditory sense, it obviously is synthesised). It's my personal favourite of the five, and the album that ties the series together as a narrative. Apologies for these jumbled thoughts, I'm neck deep in an assignment for my masters on copyright issues in music sampling, and this is my way of procrastinating. I should perhaps have waited until I could make more succinct thoughts lol On Ryuichi Sakamoto, I'm not sure how much you know about him. If the answer is not much, then I'd highly recommend diving into his stuff. He's a genius for my money, with his influence ranging from 70s synthpop to japanese city pop to the dawn of experimental electronic music, to hip hop, to ambient, to classical music, (some of it oscar winning, alongside david byrne of the talking heads). His hugely influential experimental electronic album B-52 was the namesake of the... well... B-52s. Definitely worth checking out. If the answer was loads, then I'm sorry for re-informing you! side note: I recently re-watched play time as I always see the poster in your video. Always struck by how I discover new things about that film each time. It's such a pitch-perfect parodic painting of metropolitan culture!

dreaming about call me by your name-ing with this daddy

Hey professor skye, love your reviews !!!!!! You should do video or series of videos on your record collection I’m curious on what you have.

Morbo, in this context doesn’t mean morbid (in castellano). It means kinky. It’s primarily used in the LGBT+ scene to express a preference for fetish or kink, particularly non-vanilla hetero-normative sex acts that are distinctly non-penetrative. Like being into feet or water sports for example. Te gusta el morbo? Si, me flipan olores, especialmente pies que apestan. Meos también me van. Uff que morbo Knowing this renders the song’s meaning. Because to the many who indulge in “morbo” sex acts, these fetishes are not “morbid”, i.e disturbing or ghoulish, but a very acceptable and at the same time alternative expression of sexual creativity, sensory awareness and the shadow (Jungian not Freudian).

Muñecas, Dolls, is referring to trans-women, when she says “sopla” she is saying “blow that gust of wind” - I believe this is an anthem of encouraging other transfem people to live without fear and not be afraid to become a wind blow a gust to a hurricane even if it makes a mess. I also think the spaceship take off noises tie in to represent take off regarding owning your identity. maybe I’m reading too much into it but that’s how I interpret it. It’s def my fav in the entire album. Also, if you liked tierno, check out ARCA her self titled album from 2017 which is her last pre-transition work. It’s so soft and romantic and heart wrenching and heart breaking I think you’d love it. I’d love to see a review of yours to that one :-)

this video was profoundly meaningful to me, thank you for sharing and doing what you do

Electra Rex is very hard to get into, even for me who listen to Arca's work for years now. But with more listens I stop paying attention to the beginning of the song and focus on the ''Should I blow? Should I? Should I?'' and I love that so much.

I feel Born Yesterday (though I like the song) just doesn't fit KICK ii's vibe and feels like a random tangent. I feel it would have been better suited for 'kick iiii's vibe, if it had to fit anywhere.

ELECTRAREX IS A REAL HIGHLIGHT FROM THE PERIOD WHERE SHE SHOWED HER SESSIONS ON INSTAGRAM DAY IN AND DAY OUT ON QUARANTINE >:( just for the nostalgia factor it deserves a place

Hey Professor! I just want to say I'm ahuge fan of your reviews and you brighten up my day each time I listen in. That being said I think you should really check out the new dltzk ablbum "frailty" and let us know hat you think. Huge Yves tumour and Dijon fan here for refrence

I loved this review. what a smart, fresh and interesting approach to Arca's music!

Just found Arca yesterday, her music is beautiful, raw and boundless

i loved your analysis of sevdaliza’s last album! i’m happy you acknowledged that arca’s kick projects aren’t “geared” towards your community, however i really feel if you listened to her self titled album “Arca” that may change your perspective and broaden your view on her artistry as a whole. Her self titled project reminds me of sevdaliza’s “ison” and may be able to entrance you beyond what the vision of the kick series offers

it's great that you like and connect to this in a way where you understand your own limitations in grasping the source material yet still appreciate it for what it is and does for you. Would rather hang out with someone who likes fun than someone who thinks someone should have their fun over somewhere else, if ya know what i mean

he was the most cute to watch

“This is the sound of 1000 dislikes” not born yesterday being the most hated song by arca ever from the whole fandom. You’re subconsciously one of the dolls

22:20 I personally disagree with the idea that her song Muñecas is suggestive of oral sex. I think the reference to "la ráfaga que sopla incesantemente" is more a metaphor to a chaotic feeling, an overwhelming intense negative mind corruption. Sort of like gender dysphoria, the frustration of the disconnection between conscious identity and bodily experience that is out of one's own control. And the word "muñecas" itself isn't a reference to her fans per se, at least not in their entirety. The word she uses to describe her fans are "mutants", which in a way has a similar reference to what "muñecas" simbolizes, which is deviance from a sexual norm ("mutants" was usually used in various cultures to refer to queer people, and oftentimes more specifically used in derogatory allusion to trans people). In English, a lot of transfemmes, especially in older times, used the term "dolls" to refer specifically to trans women and more generally to anyone under the transfeminine gender spectrum. So it is a reference to that, to transgender femininity. I believe it is a song about celebration of transness and communal unity between transfeminine people, a "letting go" of gender-based suffering and frustrations within. You can see this reference to communal unity with the constant repetition of the phrase "todas mis muñecas" (all of my dolls)

The audacity chopping araña, electra rex, and estrogen

If you liked tierno, theres a really similar song on her 2017 album called "Coraje". All of that album has a similar vibe to kick iiiii

great video AVAA

yessss, been waiting for this, thank you

oooo i’m excited to come back in watch this after i experience these records!! love to see this

People assume that just because of this difference in factors of age, gender, culture; that the ability to empathize is simply lost by default. It's lost because of the presence of ignorance and bias but naturally, it exists! People who are not like you can empathize with you and imagine themself in your shoes

nice review! a birthday gift for me

Music if for anyone with ears. Is it made for with you in mind? Maybe not but the nature of art is that it’s birthed one thing and grows where it will.

If you can feel It, If It touches you, it's for you.

ITS AMAZING HOW IN 51 MINUTES OF VIDEO YOU DIDNT TALK ENOUGH ABOUT THEEEE MAYOR INFLUENCE OF VENEZUELAN CULTURE IN HER MUSIC and in this 5 albums. a lottttttt of references of venezuelan sounds and rithms from raptor house techno to llaneras and galerones , lyrics of the bests musicians here, she names places, every song uses al LEAST one word in venezuelans slang, names a lot of instruments from our culture. even thooo shes grew up priviledge as you said in the begining that doesnt quit the faaccct that she is venezuelan. great video just complementing the information, since im from venezuela

What an amazing review

Grimes seems to be planning to do something similar to what arca has done, and plans on releasing an album titled book one soon

I love this review and all your reviews but I think I disagree with the suggestion that Arca's albums are humanistic or that they're trying to naturalize or humanize Arca and by extension transgender people. I think the music rejects the idea of a common humanity and that such a thing would even be desirable. If it has a moral agenda, I don't think its one which insists we admit or assimilate the abject into the "human" fold.

I actually collaborated with Arca. I could say so much, and all of it is good. Back when Arca was Nuuro, during the IDM days, Nuuro/Arca and I would toss beats and just like, song ideas back and forth. We actually were going to create a music project called Magenta, but we never got around to it. I believe there might even still be a myspace page for "magenta"

I think this project is fascinating because she purposely made it so you can listen to different albums for your different moods (or "self-states", as she says in her song Nonbinary off KiCk i). I'm surprised you chopped Electra Rex and Joya because they were both huge highlights for me, but I'm also nonbinary so I probably just related to it differently. She makes something for everyone - which is great, because everyone should be exposed to her amazing music! Also fun fact, you may be surprised to hear that most of Arca's fans did NOT like the Sia collab either lol

Professor: about what you were saying at first, DON'T WORRY! It is not representing the whole colective opinion

If you really wanna analyse arca . You must learn spanish. The ghetto spanish. She uses words of the street. Just and advice. Sorry for my broken english . I love you

I'm only halfway through but god I appreciate you for making this

you’re a gem

Loved this bestie. Also, some context of that Balašević sign in the back? :D

This Review Is lit 🔥

You should definitely listen to miss Anthropocene by Grimes. I’m curious to get to know your opinion about it :)

Your greatest hits album with some things added and moved around made my really picky sister sit through an hour of arca!!!!

So I'm halfway listening to the video and I wanted to let you know that a muneca or a doll is slang for a trans woman. So when she's talking about her munecas she's talking about her fellow trans women--her girls, essentially.

Fantastic video

kinda in love with u

I hope you consider reviewing Aya's "im hole". I think it's outstanding both musically and lyrically. I really think you'd appreciate the evocative poetry.

for muñecas i have a couple of interpretations, it could mean that is giving live (CPR) to her "muñecas" (fans) as she is creating this whole art and expression movement that is very important for a lot of people (including myself). On a more gnarly side "muñecas" also means "wirsts", hence this song could have a connotation towards suicide and beging her rescuer to non-stop (incesantemente) blow air on the CPR, while lamenting on her wrists (??). Probably not, Arca doesn't talk about these things on her songs often. But my favourite is that, muñecas, could also refer to trans women and trans community in general since they've been historically portrayed as sexual objects, as disposable dolls that ppl with privilege could use as they want (blow = sopla) and then throw them just like old toys (?). Reminds me of those ridiulous sex toys that you litterally have to inflate blowing air like balloons. Don't really know, pretty ambigous and haunting; and that's why this my favourite song.

Well I came here to hear your review of one of my favorite artist ever, just popped on my YT front page and I remember how nice the review for kick i was, but I looked at the back of your room and I see last name of my country's modern time lyricist, the Panonian sailor, late Đorđe Balašević is that right?

Interesting that you reduce the South American rhythmic palette to reggaeton, which is Caribbean. I would go with "funk" (funk carioca, funk mandelão, funk proibidão, funk 150, baile funk or the controversial term favela funk) but that is obviously a confusing word in this context, and also, Brazilian, not Venezuelan. Of course we live in a society and all that, but I'm a genre police and I can't help it. Nitpicking like this just gets better when you find the right forum for it. For some time the gentrified audience also reduced deconstructed funk to "bala club", then neoperreo (which exists but is not the end of it all), and now I see this word "Latin electronic" popping up which kinda reminds me of the helplessly archaic term "world music". Would be interesting to hear like...Venezuelan thoughts on this. If you're in the Venezuelan scene, what do you call it?

This music is absolutely for you

Omg I love this channel

First minute. I gotta say... He's so cute.