Portrait · Junta de Andalucía / CC BY-SA 2.0

Rauw Alejandro

Singer, songwriter, dancer and producer

Born 1993

Rauw Alejandro was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and developed a career as a singer, songwriter, dancer and producer after first pursuing football. His early recordings included Inevitable, followed by the mixtape Punto de Equilibrio, with collaborators including Álvaro Díaz, Joyce Santana and Rafa Pabön. Music was part of family life: his father played guitar at church and his mother sang in the choir. The sounds around him included boleros, rock, merengue, salsa and reggae. In PAPER’s interview, produced in the context of a Buchanan’s collaboration, he connected his work to Puerto Rican culture and the responsibility of representing it. He grew up in Canóvanas and Carolina. Football led to university and a semiprofessional opportunity in Orlando. A school friend encouraged SoundCloud uploads; a Duars deal helped turn those experiments into a recording career. His own account of the breakthrough emphasises successive steps: collaborations with Nicky Jam, Chencho Corleone and Farruko preceded Tattoo and its remix with Camilo. Work with Selena Gomez then connected that rise with an international pop audience. Afrodisíaco began the studio-album sequence. Vice Versa was followed by Saturno and Playa Saturno, with the collaborative RR project alongside that work. Cosa Nuestra then brought another change of musical direction. The Cosa Nuestra title echoes Willie Colón’s record and the history of Puerto Rican migration to New York. He described making music with his team while travelling, using a mobile studio to keep developing ideas during touring. His first headlining shows at Puerto Rico’s Coliseo were a significant homecoming, following appearances at local venues and festivals. He described the influence of coaches on his discipline and the practical preparation behind a show: vocal warm-ups, stretching and a private moment before going onstage. His screen work includes judging the Netflix music competition La Firma. He also played Diego in Sky Rojo. Carita Linda foregrounded neo-bomba and Puerto Rican traditions, with a video directed by Martin Seipel and El Zorro. Cosa Nuestra: Capítulo 0 continued that exploration, combining bomba, plena and salsa. Its collaborators included Mon Laferte and Nino Segarra, while Romeo Santos contributed to the bachata Silencio. The Red Bull Chapters performances in Queens revisited different phases of his catalogue with guests including Tainy and Chencho Corleone. The sponsor’s report describes completed shows. He subsequently announced the album title Legacy; its release date had not been announced in the checked report.

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