Kick II

## Singles

1. "Born Yesterday"
Released: October 4, 2021
2. "Prada"
Released: November 3, 2021
3. "Rakata"
Released: November 3, 2021

**Kick II** (stylized as **KICK ii**) is the fifth studio album by Venezuelan record producer and singer Arca. The album was released on November 30, 2021 through XL Recordings. It is the second kick in the Kick trilogy. Kick II was supported by three singles: "Born Yesterday", featuring vocals by Australian musician Sia, 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.

## Background

Upon the release of Kick I, news surfaced that Arca would be releasing two more *Kick* albums to make a trilogy. The artist took to *Pitchfork* 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 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 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, and craziness."

## Composition

*Kick II* is primarily an electronic, experimental, avant-garde, reggaeton, pop and cumbia album. Album opener "Doña" features "eerie looping vocal mantras and squelching samples" and is "intentionally loose and disorienting, so when that familiar dembow rhythm locks in on the following track, the hypnotic pull is felt instantly". "Prada" and "Luna Llena" features "dreamy atmospheres float[ing] behind the driving rhythms" and garnered comparisons to Arca's 2017 self-titled album. The later track turns its "blurry, fuzzy synths, compressed reggaeton bump, and Ghersi's slow-pouring contralto 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 featuring contributions from Mica Levi". "Born Yesterday" is a pop power ballad whose "eerie otherworldly musings are subdued by a hypnotic dancefloor beat on the cusp of dissolution".

## Release

On September 27, Arca 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 Sia. The album was supported with more singles "Prada" and "Rakata". The album was released on November 30th, 2021.

### Singles

* The first and lead single, "Born Yesterday", was released October 4, 2021
* The second single, "Prada" was released November 3, 2021
* The third and last single, "Rakata" was released November 3, 2021

"Born Yesterday" (feat. Sia)"Prada""Rakata"
### Success

In late 2022, a mash-up of Rakata and a later released song El Alma Que Te Trajo went to have success, reaching millions of peoples "for you". This gained both songs success, with Rakata and Prada receiving over 10 million streams, Kick II becoming very successful out of the Kick pentalogy with reaching over 40 million and more streams just on Spotify, and Arca nearing to 1,000,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.

## Critical reception

On review aggregate site Metacritic, *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!* 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*'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".

## Merch

In 2022, Arca had released both LPs and CDs for the Kick pentalogy. However, XL (Arca's record label) had mispressed the compact discs for Kick II. It containted 6 songs form the other Kick albums, 3 songs from Kick iii, 2 from Kick iiii and 1 of Kick iiiii, while some tracks from Kick ii where missing, which are "Luna Llena", "Born Yesterday" and "Andro". Later that year, XL had repressed the compact discs and within hours, it had sold out.

**Standard Black LP**
$22.08
Purchase

**Ejecting Compact Disc**
$13.58
Out of stock

## Outtakes

**Bold** typing indicates that the song has been officially released

*Italic* typing indicates that the song was never released and has yet to leak fully online.

Underlined typing indicates that the song, snippets of the song, or lyrics have been leaked/posted/performed at some point, but not in studio quality.

* "**Alien Inside**"
* "Alto Voltaje"
* "**Crown**"
* "**Electra Rex**"
* "La Exorcista"
* "**My 2**"
* "**Ripples**"
* "**Sanctuary**"
* "**Witch**"
* "**Whoresong**"

## Trivia

* This will make Arca's 17th/18th mark in her discography.
* This also marks as Arca's shortest Kick of the Kick series, at nearly 34 minutes

## Navigation

"**Prada**"
"**Rakata**"
"Tiro"
"Luna Llena"
"Lethargy"
"Femme"
"Muñecas"
"Confianza"
"**Born Yesterday**" (feat. Sia)
"Andro"