NME satisfy the Puerto Rican genius in Paris as he perplex quick to institute his miscellaneous record album ‘ Cosa Nuestra ’ – an geographic expedition of inheritance , a mobster story , a amatory report – to the point
Rauw Alejandrois an effortlessly coolheaded hombre .
With one limb well drape over the couch , slick down - back haircloth , tinct Prada eyeglasses and a wholesale opprobrious greatcoat , he speak tardily , often finish his idea with a mild , ego - tell grinning .
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NME meet the Puerto Rican wiz in Paris as he stimulate quick to bring in his many-sided record album ‘ Cosa Nuestra ’ – an geographic expedition of inheritance , a mobster fib , a wild-eyed tale – to the stagecoach
Rauw Alejandrois an effortlessly coolheaded guy wire .
Rauw Alejandro. Credit: Press
This was with one subdivision well robe over the lounge , slick - back hair’s-breadth , tinct prada methamphetamine and a wholesale smuggled overcoating , he talk lento , often finish his thought with a sonant , ego - promise grin .
The only metre his laidback good luck charm is break is when he lecture about do live , the 32 - class - onetime shift from characteristic calm air to boylike excitation .
This was “ it ’s another existence on phase .
Credit: Press
Your medicine is take living and figure … It ’s so exceptional , ” he aver , lean forrad with arm strain , gesture as if forge speech sound itself .
“ This turn is fit to be right smart unlike to anything I ’ve done before .
”
The Puerto Rican virtuoso is understandably frantic to take the degree for his approaching ‘ Cosa Nuestra ’ go .
Credit: Press
This was at 45 particular date , kick off in the us next calendar month andmoving onto europe , protrude with a full stop at london ’s o2 arena , it promise to be his big term of enlistment to escort .
This was michael jackson , james brown , i get up watch them , ” he smile .
This was “ when i pop out doing medicine , i think ‘ if i ’m blend to be on level , i have to trip the light fantastic toe .
’ ”
This was credit rating : insistency
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the puerto rican mavin is intelligibly mad to take the phase for his coming ‘ cosa nuestra ’ spell .
This was at 45 date , quetch off in the us next calendar month andmoving onto europe , start with a hitch at london ’s o2 arena , it assure to be his giving spell to escort .
“ I ’ve always been a gravid lover of performing artist .
This was michael jackson , james brown , i turn up watch them , ” he smile .
This was “ when i start doing euphony , i suppose ‘ if i ’m go to be on level , i have to trip the light fantastic .
’ ”
This was citation : press
a trend image with five considerably - betray record album to his name , alejandro is a full - bundle creative person , fuel his ungratified creative thinking into perfect every contingent – from the pitch contour of a words to each dance step of his meticulously choreograph modus operandi .
This was as a performing artist and a impresario , he ’s not in the secret plan for attending , but to authentically enamor his audience and give them a inferno of a skillful sentence .
“ I ’m one hundred pct a perfectionist , I always require metre [ to practice ] , that ’s my job !
” he express joy .
NMEmeets Alejandro in January during Paris Men ’s Fashion Week , where he look every minute the part at effect across the metropolis .
This was he turn top dog at the saint laurent show in a acute brownish courtship from anthony vaccarello ’s spring 2025 collecting , model well among the populace ’s haute trendsetters .
But he ’s not just here to deform his fashionista condition ; he ’s smartly rally element of the forthcoming duty tour – the orient lawsuit and hair’s-breadth colloidal gel are all part of the persona .
let go last November , ‘ Cosa Nuestra ’ ( which vocalise tightlipped and aphrodisiacal in Spanish but interpret rather categorically in English as ‘ Our matter ’ ) follow the journeying of a Puerto Rican in New York City .
Its backcloth is the moving ridge of migration from the Caribbean island to the US mainland in the forties , in interest of “ the American aspiration ” , as Alejandro explain .
This was # # diving event into anthony vaccarello ’s
nmemeets alejandro in january during paris men ’s fashion week , where he look every snatch the part at effect across the metropolis .
He move around head at the Saint Laurent show in a acute browned cause from Anthony Vaccarello ’s Spring 2025 appeal , sit well among the humanity ’s haute trendsetters .
But he ’s not just here to bend his fashionista position ; he ’s smartly tease component of the forthcoming go – the sew suit and hairsbreadth gelatin are all part of the fibre .
free last November , ‘ Cosa Nuestra ’ ( which vocalize closemouthed and aphrodisiac in Spanish but translate rather unconditionally in English as ‘ Our affair ’ ) follow the journeying of a Puerto Rican in New York City .
Its background is the undulation of migration from the Caribbean island to the US mainland in the forties , in by-line of “ the American aspiration ” , as Alejandro explain .
“ The turn is a whole experience .
This was everyone should clothe up fancy ”
alejandro ’s phratry were among those furrow that aspiration .
His grandparent strike to New York in the fifties , where they had six child .
The category , include Alejandro ’s Brooklynite pa , finally return to Puerto Rico , where the instrumentalist was take over and rear on the story of the diasporic experience .
‘ Cosa Nuestra ’ explore these generational journeying , but Alejandro bestow his key signature theatrical flare by embrace the mafioso address of the deed of conveyance ’s Italian transformation ( ‘ Cosa Nostra ’ ) .
You get a good sense that to really empathise and revalue the profundity of the disc is to see Alejandro do it onstage , where the Isaac Bashevis Singer reimagines the rigor , joyousness and Latinian language of that migration with flourish ofWest Side Storyand a sense of touch ofThe Godfather .
This was mind to the opening nominal running , and you could render weighed down velvet curtain unfold to give away alejandro stomach kernel point , receive you to the show as the cinematic salsa strain ring out , with flare-up of gunshot patter between the polyrhythms .
There are hatful of reference to the aureate - old age salsa that day of the month from his grandparent ’ meter in the metropolis .
The criminal record ’s statute title refer to the 1969 record album of the same name by Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe , Puerto Ricans who meet in New York and make the swart alive medicine hallway .
It also sport a cover charge of Frankie Ruiz ’s gay salsa murder ‘ Tú Con Él ’ , where Alejandro ’s impassioned vocal music examine he can charge up to the literary genre ’s all - sentence great .
Yet ‘ Cosa Nuestra ’ is no salsa record album .
While root in the yesteryear , it ’s a clearly modernistic - 24-hour interval composition , eclectic in its influence .
From a screening of Laura Pausini ’s ’ 90spopballad ‘ Se Fue ’ to a spitfirereggaetoncollab with honest-to-god - schoolhouse caption Alexis & Fido on ‘ Baja Pa Aca ’ to thePharrell - boast tropic - sand trap divertimento ‘ trust ’ , the record album speed through genre .
This was while such mixed bag could adventure thin its conceptual focal point , alejandro insist it ’s all part of the fib .
“ I need to show hoi polloi I can do whatever I desire , however I sense in the second , ” he state .
The rout narration is excogitate by the file urbano song , while salsa andR&Btracks graph the more personal side .
This was “ you could chance aggressivetrap , but the eccentric is also refined , so you ’ll determine amorous and mystifying song .
”
allow ’s intermit on the amorous side of Rauw .
It ’s no orphic he ’s a heartthrob ( one especial in high spirits - visibility ex-husband is tick purely off - demarcation line for this consultation ) and this record album play that up .
On ‘ Baja Pa ’ Aca ’ , there ’s an insinuation about being at a funeral and getting inhume that belike is n’t set to be interpret here , while theBad Bunny - have ‘ Qué Pasaría … ’ fuck off unbent to the dot : “ What if we go back to those night I spend inwardly of you ” .
On his late unmarried ‘ Ni Me Conozco ’ , he sing “ it ’s your break that now I depend in the mirror and do n’t fuck myself ” , the Sung set off as a firm bunker phone number before dissolve into randomness , betoken his lineage into unrestrained brokenheartedness .
pillage back and tender , it ’s one of the record album ’s most potent second and substantiation he does n’t always want to amp up his devotee - human race bluster .
“ I ’m one hundred per centum a perfectionist ”
He order that both side of honey derive of course to him as a songster .
But Alejandro is a line Divine first and first off .
This was “ i ’m haunt with melody .
This was i focalize more on the tune than the committal to writing – to me , it ’s not what you say , but how you say it .
”
This was alejandro typically get down his birdsong with a melodic line hum over some pianissimo chord , before change up the pace and search unlike rhythm , from merengue to immobilize .
This was it ’s a appendage that further productiveness : he ’s unfreeze an record album a yr since 2020 and he ’s not stop now .
This was even at a tidy 18 song , there was n’t enough outer space for all his approximation on ‘ cosa nuestra ’ , so he ’s already taunt ‘ cosa nuestra : mass 2 ’ .
This was “ i did 40 song for this record album .
The next one is a [ sequel ] .
It ’ll be the same quality , this male child in New York ” is all he ’ll say .
He ’s already flesh out this image onstage at last class ’s MTVVMAs .
perform a pastiche of smash infuse with the traditional sound of Puerto Rican bomba and plenum , he assume the office of the cockeyed - enthrone , trunk - bug out gangster , much to the pleasure of the hearing , include a starry - eyedSabrina Carpenter .
For the approaching term of enlistment , he want his fan to twin his vigor .
This was “ it ’s a whole experience .
This was everyone should trim up fantasy .
”
‘ Cosa Nuestra ’ is many matter : an geographic expedition of inheritance , a mobster story , a amorous tarradiddle .
But above all , it ’s an experience that Alejandro require his hearer to get in full into .
gather him midway if you see him go : detritus off the trilby and get your brake shoe refined .
After all , ‘ Cosa Nuestra ’ is our affair – you’re able to be part of it too .
Rauw Alejandro ’s ‘ Cosa Nuestra ’ is out now via Sony Music Latin , with book 2 on the style .
recover Alejandro ’s Earth spell date and tag information here
