Akriila brings her unique alt-pop vision from Chile to the world

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Set us as preferred Earlier this summer, Akriila flew to Los Angeles and played two nights at the Roxy in West Hollywood.At 22, the Chilean singer-songwriter, most identifiable by her fire engine red tresses, is one of the most visionary newcomers in the latest wave of post-urbano Latin artists.

Fittingly, Akriila kick-started her career with a trap mixtape.The most-streamed tracks on her debut, 2024’s dazzling “Epistolares,” favor a progressive reggaeton vein.

She also collaborated with Milo J on “Llora Llora” — a folksy lullaby off the Argentine rapper’s masterpiece “La Vida Era Más Corta.” “Hot gays listen to Akriila” became a celebrated slogan on social media.Turns out she was just getting started.Released Sept.

3, her latest album, “Lucy Miró al Mundo y Notó Que Está Girando” — its title a delicious riff on Beatles lore — eschews reggaeton altogether, in favor of a hallucinogenic collage of shoegaze, electronic glitch pop and South American roots sounds.A guidepost of Chilean hyper-pop, it is also a heart-wrenching mash of tenderness and distortion.

The lyrics describe the trauma of a recent transition, after she left her father’s home and ventured to live on her own — and though she’s now an established artist signed to Atlantic Records, her music is still aching and vulnerable.“She is a reference point for all of us in contemporary music,” says producer Diego Raposo, a Dominican tastemaker who featured Akriila on his 2023 debut album.“I believe we’re witnessing something that we’ll probably never see again.

Her music reminds me of Björk, Aphex Twin, even Shakira — but it’s also incredibly fresh and original.”A few days before traveling to London for her inaugural European tour, Akriila spoke to De Los about the seduction of second verses, her obsession with �...