Back in February, the experimental producer Arca triggered a new era by releasing an hour-long song titled “@@@@@.” Though the lengthy effort won’t appear on her upcoming album, Kick I, it sets the tone for Arca’s unconventional style of music. Now, the acclaimed producer previews her record’s release with the serrated single, “Nonbinary.”
Accompanied by an unsettling visual that touts a transgressive re-imagining of The Birth Of Venus, “Nonbinary” features blown-out bass while Arca delivers her prose with a metallic cadence. “Who do you think I am? / It’s not who do you think you’re dealing with, no / Cuz you’re not ‘dealing with’ / There’s no deal,” she recites.
Recently speaking to Paper Magazine, Arca detailed her inspiration behind the single: “I’m asking for recognition that we have multiple selves without denying that there’s a singular unit. I want to be seen as an ecosystem of minor self-states without being stripped of the dignity of being a whole. It gives me the feeling of possibility, to not allow for easy categorization. I wouldn’t want to just go pop and I wouldn’t want to go full experimentalist. That’s where a nonbinary mode of thinking feels really fertile. It opens possibilities rather than collapsing things. Allowing for change without resisting it.”
Kick I will arrive following three albums and several mixtapes by the producer. Along with an expansive discography, Arca has produced music for the likes of Björk, Kanye West, and FKA Twigs as well as penned a composition for the MoMA. More recently, Arca was the host of Frank Ocean’s PrEP+ dance party in NYC where he first debuted new music.
Watch Arca’s “Nonbinary” video above.
