Lao Ra

Deeply shaped by Catholic iconography and the visible scars of the War on Drugs that surrounded her in Bogotá, Colombia, Lao Ra crafts tropical yet politically charged songs she has dubbed “pineapple pop.” Songwriting began for her at age 12; after relocating to London she supported herself with a string of temporary positions—one of them in the PR department of a Spanish smoke-alarm manufacturer—while refining her sound. Her provocative first single, “Jesus Made Me Bad,” arrived in 2015, earned comparisons to M.I.A. and Gwen Stefani, and secured a contract with Back Butter Records. Ahead of the Jesus Made Me Bad EP, which surfaced in early 2016, she issued the track “Daddy Issues”; “Drum Machine” and “Bang Boom” appeared before the year ended. “Wild at Heart,” a duet with Ray BLK, opened 2017 for Lao Ra, and the Pablo Escobar-inspired “Bala (Bacano Bootleg #1)” followed that July.