Ralphie Choo

Ralphie Choo is a kaleidoscopic talent. Unbound by genre, the meteoric Spanish singer and producer is creating baroque pop that weaves impressionistic songwriting with rhythmic elements of flamenco, bossa nova, hip-hop, and IDM. Alongside friends and colleagues from the multidisciplinary RusiaIDK collective — which includes rusowsky, DRUMMIE, Tristan Mushu, and mori — Choo has honed sonic and visual signatures that interface with Internet aesthetics, the fashion world, and his own textured Spanish heritage. The whirlpool of influences culminates in his upcoming major-label debut Supernova, slated for release later this year.

Singles "Tangos de Una Moto Trucada" and "Bulerías de Un Caballo Malo" are avant collages of Spanish guitar, bulería claps, 808s, and flamenco's unique vocal cadence, tapping into the roots revival that has made global superstars of Rosalía and C. Tangana. Meanwhile, recent cuts such as "Gata" with rusowsky, and "MÁQUINA CULONA" featuring British producer Mura Masa, tap into the bass-heavy reggaetón booming in Spanish nightclubs.

"It's been a challenge creating these songs in Spanish since so many of my references are in English," says Choo, citing Rex Orange County, Tyler the Creator, and Aphex Twin as personal luminaries. "Most people are brought up with very specific pop culture references, but my mother exposed me to classical music and [Spanish musicians] Paco de Lucía and Camarón de la Isla. The raw emotion in their vocal performances and their chopped-up, punctuated style of guitar playing are huge sources of inspiration."

A Y2K baby, Ralphie Choo was born Juan Casado Fisac in Madrid, later relocating with his mother to the small town of Daimiel in Castilla-La Mancha. He describes an average upbringing playing sports, learning the French horn, and getting into trouble with friends. By the time he returned to Madrid to attend university, he'd developed a voracious interest in music production, delving deeper into the study of vocal harmonies and percussion. However, in 2019 a torn ACL left him immobilized for several weeks, which transformed his musical experiments into a vital creative outlet. He soon donned the Simpsons-inspired moniker of Ralphie Choo and began uploading ruminant lo-fi tunes.

His first big break came in July 2020 with "Dolores," the gauzy house/jazz hybrid crafted with rusowsky that was the first banger from their fruitful, ongoing creative partnership. But Choo cites the December release of "Lamento de una supernova" as an even more significant turning point: It was his first time dipping into flamenco, as well as handing the mix and mastering reins to engineers who achieved a more polished and professional sound.

Throughout the pandemic lull Choo cultivated his boundary-pushing yet distinctly Spanish voice with help from RusiaIDK, even scoring lead producer credits alongside rusowsky on folk-pop star DELLAFUENTE's acclaimed 2023 LP Lágrimas pa otro día. He also starred in his own cinematic Colors session in April, performing "Tangos de Una Moto Trucada," and took the stage at Sonar Festival in Barcelona this June with an updated instrumental arsenal that included a string quartet, cajón, flute, electric guitar, and pedal effects.

Even as Ralphie Choo simultaneously embraces and redefines monolithic notions of Spanish identity, his devotion to universal themes of love, heartbreak, and loneliness ground the project in honest reality.

"There's a constant sense of melancholy, especially when all the things you dreamed about start happening so fast," he adds, reflecting on the loaded emotions behind Supernova. "One day you're in your room sketching out songs and the next you're in L.A. and New York meeting your idols and making dreams come true. There's a part of me that asks, 'What changed?' Like, you don't want to let yourself down, but at the same time, I cling to banal memories of a life without worries. Now I have a schedule, a vision, and these crazy goals. I'm hungry for this, but I think that inner conflict is reflected in the record."