''Kick II'' (stylized as ''KICK ii'') is the fifth studio album by Venezuelan record producer and singer Arca. The album was scheduled to be released on 3 December 2021, but released early on 30 November 2021, through

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been ran and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. Although only releasing an average of six album ...

as a continuation to her 2020 record ''

Kick I ''Kick I'' (stylized as ''KiCk i''; pronounced "kick one") is the fourth studio album by Venezuelan electronic record producer Arca. Recorded between Barcelona and London, the album was released on 26 June 2020 through XL Recordings. ''Kick I'' ...

'', and is the second entry in ''Kick'' quintet. ''Kick II'' was supported by three singles: "Born Yesterday", featuring vocals by Australian musician

Sia Sia Kate Isobelle Furler ( ; born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she rel ...

, as well as "Prada" and "Rakata", released as a double single. Its cover art was photographed by Frederik Heyman. The album received positive reviews and was nominated for the Libera Award for Best Latin Album and the

Latin Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album The Latin Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an honor presented annually by the Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences at the Latin Grammy Awards, a ceremony that recognizes excellence and promotes a wider awareness of cultural ...

Background

Upon the release of ''

'', news surfaced that Arca would be releasing two more ''Kick'' albums to make a trilogy. The artist took to ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' to say: "There will be four volumes. The third one is a little bit more introverted than ''Kick I'', a little bit more like my self-titled album, I guess. The fourth one is

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

only, no vocals. Right now, the least defined one, strangely, is the third one. It's all gestating right now ..Each ''Kick'' exists in a kind of

quantum state In quantum physics, a quantum state is a mathematical entity that provides a probability distribution for the outcomes of each possible measurement on a system. Knowledge of the quantum state together with the rules for the system's evolution in ...

until the day that I send it to mastering. I try to not commit until I have to. But I have a vision for it. The second one is heavy on backbeats, vocal manipulation,

mania Mania, also known as manic syndrome, is a mental and behavioral disorder defined as a state of abnormally elevated arousal, affect, and energy level, or "a state of heightened overall activation with enhanced affective expression together wit ...

, and craziness." In the following year, Arca released her

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

'' Madre'' and took part in ''

Dawn of Chromatica ''Dawn of Chromatica'' is the third remix album by American singer Lady Gaga, released on September 3, 2021, by Streamline and Interscope Records. Consisting of remixes of songs from her sixth studio album, ''Chromatica'' (2020), the album embrac ...

'', a

remix album A remix album is an album consisting of remixes or rerecorded versions of an artist's earlier released material. The first act who employed the format was American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson (''Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'', 1971). As of 2007 ...

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

, where she remixed the

Ariana Grande Ariana Grande-Butera ( ; born June 26, 1993) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her four-octave vocal range has received critical acclaim, and her personal life has been the subject of widespread media attention. She has received ...

collaboration " Rain on Me". While talking about the song on

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

, Arca stated: "It's also the last time I playfully deconstruct my songs 'Time' and 'Mequetrefe', as we say goodbye to the ''Kick I'' era and move into the ''Kick II'' era and beyond". On September 27, the producer released a new song, "Incendio" to critical acclaim. A week later, she revealed the release date, tracklist and cover art of her upcoming album ''Kick II'' alongside its lead single, "Born Yesterday" featuring

. With ''Kick IIII'''s announcement, Arca confirmed ''Kick II'''s sonic palette would be "a deconstruction and reinterpretation of

reggaeton Reggaeton (, ), also known as reggaetón and reguetón (), is a music style that originated in Panama during the late 1980s. It was later popularized in Puerto Rico. It has evolved from dancehall and has been influenced by American Hip hop m ...

Composition

''Kick II'' is primarily an

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

, reggaeton, pop and

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans during colonial times, and Europeans. Examples include: ...

album. Album opener "Doña" features "eerie looping vocal mantras and squelching samples" and is "intentionally loose and disorienting, so when that familiar

dembow Dembow is a Dominican musical genre that can be traced to a riddim that originated in Jamaican dancehall. When Shabba Ranks released "Dem Bow" in 1990, it did not take long for the dembow genre to form. Riddims were built from the song and th ...

rhythm locks in on the following track, the hypnotic pull is felt instantly". "Prada" and "Luna Llena" features "dreamy atmospheres float ngbehind the driving rhythms" and garnered comparisons to Arca's 2017 self-titled album. The later track turns its "blurry, fuzzy

synths A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

, compressed reggaeton bump, and Ghersi's slow-pouring

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...

resemble pining distilled into sound, and the titular image of a full moon feels similarly romantic". "Araña" is a deconstructed club track that "wiggles and crashes like a toy robot going haywire" and "invites listeners to tune into something resembling the soundtrack to a video game gone wrong". "Muñecas" is a "a haunting

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

featuring contributions from

Mica Levi Mica Levi (; b. 28 February 1987), also known by their stage name Micachu, is an English singer, songwriter, composer and producer. Levi is classically trained and since 2008 has released experimental pop music with their band Good Sad Happy B ...

". "Born Yesterday" is a pop

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

whose "eerie otherworldly musings are subdued by a hypnotic dancefloor beat on the cusp of dissolution".

Critical reception

On review aggregate site

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, ''Kick II'' received a score of 76 out of 100, based on reviews from 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Safiya Hopfe, writing for ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'' praised the albums hooks, saying "even at her most accessible, Arca refuses to paint from a predictable palette. But for all her experimentation and chaotic tangents, it is clear in ''Kick II'' that she is acutely aware of the balance necessary to build a bop." ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

''s David Smyth considered ''Kick II'' the "most complete experience as a single album" out of the entire quintet. Conversely, Lewis Wade of '' The Skinny'' called it "some of the least interesting music of the whole collection" and said that if the album was "more avant-garde, or more ephemeral, it may have worked better, but it doesn't hit with the intensity it should".

Track listing

Release history

Charts

Notes

References

{{Authority control 2021 albums Albums produced by Arca (musician) Arca (musician) albums XL Recordings albums Reggaeton albums Tecnocumbia albums Pop albums by Venezuelan artists Sequel albums