Arca fans have a lot to look forward to later this year. The artist has just announced KicK iii, the latest installment in her KicK anthology, will be out on December 3rd — the same date as the second album KicK ii. She’s also shared a video for the KicK iii cut “Electra Rex.”
Update – November 18th: Arca has added another chapter to the series. kick iiii which will drop on the same date as the second and third installments, and features the lead single “Queer” featuring Planningtorock. Stream the track below, followed by the kick iiii artwork and tracklist.
The Venezuelan artist returns to her club roots on KicK iii, which she described in a statement as the “most incendiary entry in the kick universe.” She added, “The album is a portal directly into the more manic, violently euphoric and aggressively psychedelic sound palettes in the series.”
“Electra Rex” revels in this chaos. The sounds of metal clamor against the artist’s distorted voice, and in the Carlota Guerrero-directed video, she stands surrounded by an adoring posse. Watch the video below, followed by the KicK iii artwork and tracklist. Pre-orders are ongoing.
In a statement, Arca explained, “Electra Rex is a new archetype I propose in reference to commonly understood ideas of Freud regarding the oedipal complex — Oedipus Rex kills the father and unknowingly making love to the mother. Electra complex posits the binary opposite: killing the mother and unknowingly making love to the father.”
She continued, “And so I am the first to propose a nonbinary psychosexual narrative to avoid falling into the same generational tragic blind spots. Electra Rex, a merging of both names, an integration of both Oedipus Rex and Electra: Electra Rex it kills both parents and has sex with itself, and chooses to live.”
Just last week, Arca shared the singles “Prada/Rakata” with a video by Frederik Heyman. Before that, she announced KicK ii with the Sia-featuring single “Born Yesterday” and unveiled the KicK iii single “Incendio” to promote a concert film benefitting trans and nonbinary people in Italy.
