Rauw Alejandro


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Afrodisiaco (2020), 5.5/10
Vice Versa (2021), 4.5/10
Saturno (2022), 5/10
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Puerto Rican reggaeton singer and rapper Rauw Alejandro (last name Ocasio Ruiz) debuted with Afrodisiaco (2020), a set of predictable stereotypical numbers in that fashionable style. The majority are in a languid midtempo like Mood (a duet with Panamanian singer Carlos "Sech" Williams). The most pronounced reggae limp is found in De Cora <3 (a duet with J Balvin produced by Caleb Calloway) and Soy una Gargola (a duet with Puertorican producer Rafael "Alex Gargola" Hernandez). The singer's narrative skills are on display in Un Sueno (a romantic duet with Michael "Trippie Redd" White). Among so many facile songs, the casual, laid-back, complexity of Quimica stands out for its interplay of voices and the tempo shifts that even flirt with house-music trance in the second half (architected by Puertorican producers Luis "Mr NaisGai" Gonzalez and Caleb Calloway with Swiss producer Michael "Kenobi" Meyer).

Vice Versa (2021) contains the hit Todo de Ti (which sounds like a house novelty of the 1990s, despite the fact that it required five songwriters and three producers) but, more importantly, concocts an impressive fusion of house, funk, drum'n'bass (Cuando Fue), soul balladry and Brazilian rhythms. For example, Cosa Guapa transitions from Caribbean exuberance to disco trance, and Y Eso is a strange case of synth-reggae. There are a couple of lively dance numbers (Sexo Virtual and Tengo un Pal), but mostly this is a monotonous flow of sleep-inducing ballads like 2/Catorce.

Saturno (Sony, 2022) opens with Punto 40 (a cover of an old Puerto Rican hit of the 1990s), and shows nostalgia for the 1980s in a trio of contiguous songs: the exuberant dance-pop of Verde Menta, the Scooter-esque techno of Corazon Despeinado and the frantic Dead or Alive-esque synth-pop of Dime Quien. And that's not counting Que Rico Ch**gamos, dominated by industrial beats and synths. Emblematic of the pensive overtones of his music are the dreamy dirge Mas de una Vez and Cazadores, a duet with Dominican-American rapper Austin "Arcangel" Santos. That leaves very little for pure reggaeton, and the best example come at the end: the feverish De Carolina (a collaboration with reggaeton pioneer producer Pedro "DJ Playero" Brito) and the single Lokera (a collaboration with Puerto Rican rapper Bryan "Brray" Quinones and Puerto Rican singer Edgardo "Lyanno" Feliciano).

(Copyright © 2021 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )