Raissa’s World is a HotHead Fantasy

photography Nolan Knight

Styling, writing & production Amy Mazius

Creative Direction Ethan Haddox

makeup Ty Sanderson

Hair Mikel Mitchell

Lighting/gaffer Saul Barrera

Photo assist Bobby Wagner

Styling assistant Trish Paciente

Makeup assistant Nicole Goulet,

Words by Amy Mazius

Raissa is an ethereal creature–human, yes, otherworldly, also yes. Raissa, a formidable artist, stands just shy of 5”4. But you wouldn’t know it. Her energy permeates far beyond that in any room (or universe) she occupies.

Raissa floats onto set early on a Saturday morning in the Los Angeles Arts District wearing chunky Naked Wolfe sneakers and a long angelic skirt, reminiscent of a character from 80s anime. Her jet black hair and dewy skin ready for transformation–as seems Raissa, an ever enigmatic artist who seems wise beyond her years yet acutely in touch with her child-self. 

Within minutes, Raissa tells me about her experience growing up as a global citizen, not truly having grown up in any one place, but rather, many. Raissa grew up listening to the Big Acts flowing through stereo speakers; David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Maceo Parker, The Cure, and Oasis. Decades of hit makers, peppered generously with Brazilian, Argentinian, Cuban, and North African musicians. By age 12, Raissa was writing her own songs, inspired by a Leonard Cohen documentary. Producing came next, at just 14 ,Raissa gained access to Garage Band. A few years later, Raissa’s SoundCloud upload garnered over twenty thousand streams, unlocking a wide-web connection with artists who Raissa would collaborate with on projects. Today, we can find Raissa releasing her newest EP, CuteThreat. Raissa calls Los Angeles home where she lives and makes music, but for all intents and purposes, Raissa’s permanent residence will always be in our eardrums.

Making music is something Raissa needs to be doing, and constantly, as both a  release and living journal. Raissa reflects, “moving so much, I feel like there are always all these different versions of myself that have existed and no one [sees them all], apart from my parents from age zero and even now, my parents live far away–so even they've lost a chapter of development of who I am. I feel like I have all these chapters that all involve different people in different geographical locations. That can really put you in a spot where you end up having a bit of an identity crisis and being like, who am I? Where do I belong? Who really knows me? Who do I really know? Almost a lack of safety. For me, making music is a way in which I can bundle all of that together and say, this is all of it. This is me. It’s this place where all of it can live and I can see it, and it's not all messy inside. It's external.
This oeuvre Raissa describes that continues to shape and grow feels very real to me, as someone who has lived different chapters in different cities - different friendships and relationships coming in and out of the picture. You can be left with isolation, intense connection, and so much story that only you will ever know - unless you put it somewhere. But what does it all mean? Raissa shares, “it's really good for my sense of well being [to make music] and I hope that by feeling good when I'm making it, I'm imbuing it with that sense of well being and that sense of self esteem… that I can transmit that feeling to someone else.”

And Raissa does. In her recent single Penita, Raissa’s sometimes soft on the surface vocal hints at something stronger bubbling underneath, a restraint that the falsettos hit with a tongue-in-cheek sexiness and a minimal beat ala Ace of Base All That She Wants you can’t ignore, or more realistically, can’t not dance to. The new project, including these singles, feels like the natural next chapter. Raissa’s last EPs Cherry and Herogirl feels as though it came from a different era of Raissa, which, when I asked, was in fact true. Raissa said, “I had this period about a year and a half ago where I took a took a break from music, because I literally hated everything I was making and hated everything I was writing. And it's not because it was bad, but it was just how I felt. [everything felt] obvious and not real. It wasn't aligning with the compass [we each have] inside of us. When that compass gets thrown off, it’s really frustrating. I felt like, ‘What do I have to do to point North?’” Which makes sense - we’ve all been there. Listening to Hearteater from Cherry, I can’t imagine a moment when Raissa is off her True North; it hits right where I need it - that part of your chest that pumps only when you get to dance alone in your apartment.

Coming into the new project, Raissa approached it with a fresh outlook. Raissa said, “[I’ve been] getting out of my head; if this feels good and it feels right, I don't need to think myself out of it, because it's really easy to think yourself out of things, really natural, truthful, honest impulses. Being online all the time, even when your phone is off, there's an invisible audience in your head. So much of our lives are for consumption. We consume other people's lives. Other people consume our lives, especially when you're an artist and trying to build a career. There's so much of you that's online that it can be easy to think yourself out of actually, really positive instincts.” This return to nature is a welcome one. You don’t have to tell me to turn my phone off twice. We’re in an era where chronic onlineness is often our demise. Or at least the demise of original thoughts, honesty, or real fearlessness.

For Raissa, who is multilingual, often finds music to be a universal truth. “Different languages allow me to express different things. People describe time in different languages, which gives you an idea about their values. In English, you spend time, it’s a currency; in Spanish, you pass time. This leads to each language being better at expressing certain emotions, certain feelings, certain moods, because of how the culture has shaped how people speak. So I do find that when I write in Spanish, I write very differently to how I write in English. I'm more comfortable with melodrama in Spanish than I am in English. There's also a history to the music–a lot of the Spanish music that my parents listened to was very melodramatic. So it’s not only the language, but there's also the history of that art form in that language.”

Raissa uses language as monkey bars to play on. “It doesn't feel like I'm doing the same thing in English that I'm doing in Spanish or that I'm doing in French. I feel like I'm doing different things. They all work together, and they all make sense, and they're all part of me, but they're not exactly the same thing.”

On set, a few hours passed with Raissa crouching on a resin rock, transcending the invented identity of the prosthetic elf ears, which seemed completely natural for Raissa. She is of her own kind, transforming constantly before your eyes while emanating truth; seemingly sent from another, better, planet. 

“I think that's why art is so powerful. So much of it is fantasy,” Raissa says.

Spending time in Raissa’s world reminds you of the true power of fantasy. Put on your headphones and slip away into your own.

Raissa is an artist living in Los Angeles. ​​Raissa’s EP Cute Threat and singles (A La Mode, Penita, and Genius ft. Christina and the Queens) are out now.@thisisraissa