New Album ‘Capicu,’ Anxiety, Music

It started with a failed math course. “I failed the same class three times,” RaiNao says over Zoom. “The third time, I said, ‘No, this is not for me.’” So, around 2014, the singer-songwriter born Naomi Ramirez quit her biology major at the University of Puerto Rico and gave up on her plan to become a surgeon, instead pivoting to a new major in theater arts and audio-visual production. “Theater really helped me learn how to utilize my voice,” she says.  

A decade later, RaiNao, 29, is one of the most exciting voices in urbano. Her music expertly folds jazz, R&B, and alternative-pop touches into sleek reggaeton, creating a refreshing blend of genres that’s all her own. It helps that she’s also a trained saxophonist with an ear for sounds that stand out and intrigue. “People take longer to understand if you’re not following a trend, but making your own,” she says. 

Speaking on her lunch break while filming a music video, RaiNao looks otherworldly with winged eyeliner and sparkling lime-green eyeshadow. Her hair is perfectly tousled, a signature blond highlight streaking her dark locks. Two nose piercings punctured with silver hoop rings match the chunky necklace of linked circles across her neck. 

She describes her life as being like a line of flicked dominoes falling into place. In fact, the name of her debut album, Capicú, refers to a play in the popular Caribbean game. “It’s like a win-win,” she explains. “No matter what you do, you’re winning.”

RaiNao has been on a roll since the release of her debut EP, Ahora A.K.A. Nao, in early 2022. The EP’s inventive approach caught the attention of countless new fans, including Bad Bunny, who shared her alt-perreo earworm “LUV” with his global following on social media — then brought her out for one of his homecoming shows in San Juan on the Un Verano Sin Ti tour that summer. In 2023, RaiNao had the audience in Austin begging for an encore at her first SXSW showcase. She gained even more fans last year with two appearances on Puerto Rican producer Mora’s album Estrella. One by one, the dominoes fell in place toward the much-anticipated release of Capicú this year. “Our expectations of [the album] don’t matter,” she says. “We’re going to win regardless, because the most important thing is the process, and the process has been beautiful.”

Moving across hyperpop, reggaeton, R&B, drum-and-bass, dancehall, and salsa, Capicú sounds like nothing else out right now. Horns trill throughout single “Gualero REFF12.31,” creating a smooth accent to the song’s insistent bongos. RaiNao loves experimenting with new sounds; lately, she says, she’s been into the “funky and weird” percussive rhythms heard at Brazilian Carnival celebrations. But her favorite part of making music is writing her clever, evocative lyrics. “I think there’s a magic in using words in a way that only you can,” she says.

Raised in Santurce, a San Juan neighborhood filled with murals and a booming arts and club scene, RaiNao grew up surrounded by music. Her father held side gigs singing in salsa bands like Pete “El Conde” Rodríguez’s. “My dad chased [a career] in music very passionately, all of his life,” she says.

RaiNao loved music, too, but she was a shy kid, to the point that she felt terrified of singing in public. The one exception was in front of the audience at her family’s church. “I knew I could sing because I would sing in the shower and at church,” she says. “I wasn’t scared because it was the same people every Sunday.” Even so, when she tried out for the Escuela Libre de Música, a prestigious music school, RaiNao opted for the saxophone instead of vocals. “I’m sure there’s a lot of my friends who are still like, ‘WTF, what is she doing?’ because I never opened myself up to explore my voice before,” she says.

Her anxiety was a serious issue in her teens. “I would get panic attacks,” she says, adding that she was once hospitalized during a mental-health crisis. Over time, she learned to quiet her fears of the future, but even then, a career in music seemed like an impossible dream. “I always wanted it, but I never dared to start, because it’s hard to make a living out of art,” she says. When she told her dad about her plan to switch majors in college, he offered a word of caution about going all in on music. (“You can do both things at the same time,” she remembers him saying.)

Just before the pandemic shut down the world in 2020, RaiNao said “Fuck it” and uploaded her first YouTube video: a reggae-infused cover of Puerto Rican salsa singer Víctor Manuelle’s “He Tratado.” She followed that up with a string of original singles, holding live sessions online occasionally as a way to connect with fans. Her 2021 song “Me Fui” made its way to Sonar, a new label founded by Puerto Rican powerhouse Rimas Music that year with the goal of platforming rising artists. A biting breakup anthem that traverses jazz, rock, and reggaeton, “Me Fui” showcased the best of RaiNao, and soon she had a deal.

Today, RaiNao sounds confident and sure of herself. “We have today to give it our all,” she says. “We have to do it right now” — which is, of course, a play on her stage name. She chose it by riffing off a nickname (“Nao,” for Naomi), which became an online username before taking on new meaning when she started what she calls her “life project.” In the Bad Bunny-approved “LUV,” RaiNao puts it perfectly: “¿A que esperar? Mejor RaiNao.” (“Why wait? It’s better RaiNao.”)

RaiNao doesn’t shy away from exploring vulnerable emotions on Capicú. With “Naomi’s Interlude,” she refers to her past mental-health struggles with the intent of reminding listeners that they’re not alone. “I’ve learned to control it,” she says of her anxiety. How exactly? “I really can’t do anything other than to make my music and create my reality the way I want to.”

Alongside fellow Puerto Rican up-and-comers like Villano Antillano and Young Miko, RaiNao has started a revolution in the male-dominated genre of urbano music — not just with her mix of genres, but with her loudly queer lyrics and unapologetic presence. “We are doing something unprecedented,” she says. Not only are she and her peers reinventing the scene on the island, they’re blazing a path for new generations to come. “It’s really mind-blowing to be a source of inspiration for others who want to dare themselves to do it,” RaiNao says. 

And she’s not going to stop there. This year, RaiNao is out for world domination. “I want to eat the whole world,” she says, narrowing her black-rimmed eyes. “And bit by bit, I’ll do it.”