Phrases / Phil Gomez
Photographs / Nina Rodriguez
RaiNao, the Puerto Rican artist, producer and musician, has turn out to be a powerhouse within the music world, mixing hyperpop, reggaeton, R&B, dancehall, and extra right into a sound that’s unapologetically her personal. Her fearless type and boundary-pushing creativity have already earned her collaborations with trade giants like Tainy, Villano Antillano, Álvaro Díaz, and Mora. However RaiNao isn’t simply chasing tendencies—she’s setting them.
Earlier this yr, RaiNao dropped her debut album CAPICÚ, and it’s been making waves ever since. The mission, which landed her on Better of 2024 checklist’s, isn’t simply an album—it’s a cinematic expertise. RaiNao has been releasing a collection of visualizers for every monitor, making a cohesive story that’s as mesmerizing as it’s immersive. She’s not simply giving us music; she’s giving us a journey.
In an unique interview, RaiNao opened up about her roots, influences, and the method of making her tantalizing universe. “Music has been part of my life since I used to be a bit lady,” she shares. “I began finding out it at 11, I noticed music as a companion or an escape, by no means as a profession path. That modified after I wrote my first track—it was then I noticed it was not solely what I loved most but in addition what I did finest.”
Rising up in Puerto Rico has been important to RaiNao’s artistry. “Being Puerto Rican and embracing my Caribbean id is a deep a part of me,” she says. “It lives in essentially the most poetic manifesto of my thoughts: my music. It’s one thing I maintain with immense respect and treasure deeply.” That love for her roots is clear in her potential to seamlessly weave Caribbean rhythms into her experimental soundscapes. RaiNao is creating music that’s each contemporary and acquainted that can begin the celebration as quickly as you push play.
Her debut album CAPICÚ is an emotional tapestry. “CAPICÚ is a universe of feelings,” RaiNao explains. “I went via a number of private conditions whereas creating it. For instance, ‘(des)enfocá’ is a track that made me cry loads. I made it with somebody who was my companion for eight years and who is likely one of the important causes for my music. We had a drastic break up within the means of curating the album, and it has been one of many hardest issues I’ve needed to undergo in my life.”
Her newest single, “BSUKEO,” pushes the boundaries of reggaeton. “It’s an experimental reggaeton with switch-ups on the rhythm, the chords, and the melodic progressions that fall exterior the norm throughout the reggaeton style,” RaiNao shares. “The concept behind the lyrics is a few night time after I went out to make a dream come true… to fulfill that individual and convey them again into my world of sexual arousal. I need the track to not simply be heard, however to be felt, seen, imagined, and touched.”
For RaiNao, collaboration is about elevating her artwork. “I like collaborating with minds that make me assume in a different way, problem me, and improve my sound,” she says. “Working with my buddies is and can all the time be a spotlight. Wiso Rivera, Giova de las Águilas, Barba Blanca, and Gano Lugo are a few of the producers who’ve elevated my concepts. Having the chance to collaborate with Tainy, considered one of my favorites since I used to be a child, was an expertise that blew my thoughts.”
However RaiNao isn’t nearly breaking sonic obstacles—she’s additionally about inspiring others. “I like motivating different minds to create freely. It has by no means felt like a accountability however somewhat a complement to my life’s objective: enhancing the world via artwork,” she says. Her dream collaborations embrace hitmakers like Juan Luis Guerra, Omara Portuondo, Kendrick Lamar, Justin Timberlake, and Oklou, in addition to exploring Caribbean genres like Bomba, Plena, Salsa, bachata, and reggae.
Once I ask RaiNao to explain her music as an anime character, she laughs. “It might be Blair from Soul Eater,” she says. “She’s a bit witch but in addition a cat.” And truthfully? It tracks. Very like Blair, RaiNao is magnetic, a playful feline dripping with enchantment and a knack for stirring up a bit chaos. However past the sultry attract of her siren vibe, RaiNao is a artistic powerhouse. Her head full with concepts 27192165181901 and counting—each final one safeguarded in her countless voice notes, an insurance coverage coverage in opposition to the curse of forgetting any of them.
Together with her newest single ‘BSUKEO’ and its alluring visible now out within the wild, RaiNao assures followers there’s much more magic on the way in which. “Extra surprises are coming quickly!” she guarantees. Together with her unfiltered creativeness and untouchable expertise, RaiNao isn’t simply making waves—she’s constructing her personal island within the music world, one spellbinding beat at a time.
