Rauw Alejandro lit up Viejas Arena on Wednesday, April 30, as he opened his 10th concert for the “Cosa Nuestra World Tour” in a unique style.
Raúl Alejandro Ocasio Ruiz, a Puerto Rican singer better known by his stage name Rauw Alejandro, started his music career in 2014 by publishing songs on platforms like SoundCloud after moving to the United States from Puerto Rico.
He started to gain attention when the song “Que Le Dé” which featured Nicky Jam dropped on Jan. 25, 2019. The song put him in the spotlight within the Latino community. He didn’t reach popularity until 2021, when the song “Todo de Ti” dropped on May 20, 2021, as his second single from his second studio album, “Vice Versa.” Although he started as a reggaetón and trap artist, Alejandro has taken different routes and explored various styles of music within the Latin genre.
The tour follows his fourth album, “Cosa Nuestra,” which was released on Nov. 15, 2024. The album has 18 songs in which he explores Afro-Cuban influences with songs in English and Spanish, mainly focusing on the salsa and reggaeton, but throughout the album he adds different genres.
Alejandro collaborated with artists from various countries in this album, including Mexico, Colombia, Puerto Rico, the United States, Italy and the Dominican Republic. The album is in reference to salsa artists Willie Colón and Héctor Lavoe’s 1969 album which is also named “Cosa Nuestra”, with the same idea of the 1970s in New York.
Fans arrived dressed in 1960s attire, as there was a suggested dress code when attending the concert that many fans followed. Many dressed in 1960s evening gowns, suits with vibrant colors, in addition to sparkles and sequins.
In the concert, Alejandro transported his fans to Brooklyn, New York, in the 1960s and 1970s in a Broadway production. The concert and album also took inspiration from “West Side Story.” This was also Alejandro’s first tour performing with a live band.Alejandro took us through four acts, presented in a storytelling format that explored various themes.
The story is set during a time when many Latinos, including Puerto Ricans, migrated to New York City for a better life. In addition, he tells us the story of the mafia which had a strong presence in the city during the 1960s through the five major mafia families: Bonanno, Colombo, Gambino, Genovese and Lucchese. Alejandro has personal ties to New York as his father was born there, and his great-grandfather from Palermo, Sicily in Italy, where the term “mafia” originated.
ACT I: TRUST NO ONE, LOVE ANYWAY
Act I centers on themes of desire, attraction and danger. Host Gilberto Silva introduces Alejandro’s character and backstory, describing his move to New York during that time. As Silva finished up the introduction, the lights turned off and a video started playing where Alejandro is narrating as he is driving a car at fast speed, next to another vehicle with a masked man inside.
Alejandro tries to get away by pushing a car off a bridge into the water, then another vehicle fires a shot at Alejandro’s vehicle, where the bullet goes through the window behind Alejandro’s head. Even though the car missed, they meet at a car standoff, ending in a car crash. At that moment, Alejandro rises up on stage with the masked man both lying on the floor.
The screen shows the two cars in flames, and on stage, a gun lies between Alejandro and the masked man. Alejandro gets up quickly, grabs the weapon, pulls the trigger and fires five shots. He then blows the smoke from the gun as his backup dancers remove the body, take away the gun and gloves, and hand him a microphone.
Alejandro, who is dressed in all black, a coat, fedora, and two-piece suit, starts singing and dancing to “PUNTO 40,” which features Baby Rasta, as flames fire up and the crowd sings along.
He follows with “IL Capo,” one of the songs from the Cosa Nuestra album. The song title is Italian for “The Boss.” As the concert goes on, Alejandro performs songs from his past albums and singles.
He continues with performances of “Santa” and “Mil Mujeres,” breaking into a high-energy dance routine with his backup dancers. During “Mil Mujeres,” Alejandro finally makes contact with Maria, marking a key moment in their on-stage chemistry.
He enters more in a lover boy song with “Tattoo” serenading Maria at the bar in the beginning of the song. Maria, who is wearing a short blue dress, is admiring Alejandro as he sings to her. He lifts her up to sit on top of the bar as the beat picks up and his dancers join in and makes a smooth transition to “Fantasías.” If someone didn’t know these two songs, people would have thought it was just one because of how well the transition was made.
He then transitions to his musical roots, going into his early trap and reggaetón sound with “El Efecto.” As the song plays, Maria starts getting closer, dancing seductively around him. After the song ends, Alejandro expresses his desire to see her. She plays hard to get, but eventually agrees to meet him the next day at noon. As she is walking away, Alejandro grabs her hand and asks for her name, which she gives it to him.
Once Maria leaves, Alejandro breaks into “Desesperados,” featuring Chenco Corleone. The song itself explains his desperation in seeing her again and having a sexual adventure. The end of the song closes Act I and Silvia returns on the stage.
ACT II: LEAP OF FAITH
Act II focuses on love and contradiction. In this act we learn more about Alejandro’s love journey seeing where it will take him and Maria.
The next day in the story, Alejandro arrives at Maria’s apartment which overlooks the Brooklyn Bridge. Alejandro is wearing a white wife beater tank top, suspenders, khaki pants, black dress shoes and an Ivy hat. He breaks into “Revolú,” featuring Feid, a song that talks about finally seeing each other.
A pre-recorded video plays, showing Maria through a window giving a reference to Romeo and Juliet. Alejandro transitions into “Committed,” a bilingual track featuring Pharrell Williams.
Maria takes him outside of a Billiards building, where he starts singing “NO ME SUELTES.” As the song is playing the screen transitions to the inside of the Billiards building. This helps him transition into “Todo De Ti,” which breaks to a faster dance routine. The song talks about everything Alejandro likes and admires about the person.
Once the song finishes the backdrop changes to Alejandro and Maria in the park with the view of buildings. He starts singing “Carita Linda,” a beautifully written song in tribute to his homeland of Puerto Rico. One of the most impactful imagery was the sky filled with clouds showing a large Puerto Rican flag centered in front of the sun.
On stage, female dancers appear wearing colorful tank tops and long white skirts, while Alejandro dances alongside live instruments. Since the song is new, the lyrics were displayed on the side screens.
He closes Act II with “Amar De Nuevo,” which is questioning what is going to happen with him and his lover. Towards the end of the song, Maria returns to the stage.
Alejandro goes towards the bed and finds a note from Maria. She tells him in the letter that whatever they have going on can’t work out at all. In the note Maria told him, “Don’t look for me, don’t think about me, it’s better to forget everything.”
ACT III: WHEN THE LIGHTS GO DOWN
Once Maria left him, Alejandro was left heartbroken and in pain. At that moment, one of his popular songs from the album, “Khé?” featuring Romeo Santos, starts playing. His dancers, dressed in white with black dress shoes and black top hats, approach Alejandro and hand him a red blazer to cover his shirtless body. The song “Khé?” portrays the love he just lost by remembering everything they did together.
Alejandro pours his heart out to the audience, giving an emotional monologue about his relationship with Maria. The delivery of his monologue is theatrical, read in such a dramatic way that he could have been part of a telenovela.
“And you asked me for more, and I gave you more,” Alejandro said. “I remember those nights, right? And I remember I treat you right, right? But I don’t know what happened to you. Like, you changed your mind, and you broke my heart. I told you I was just going with my friends to have two drinks. But it’s okay. I’m going to a concert by myself in San Diego. Because I believe that there, maybe is the love of my life and tonight, I’m going to “perrear” all the way down, and I’m going to forget you, mami. Because you know what? Tomorrow is a new beginning.”
The stage turns into red lights and Alejandro is having his back towards the audience, while a cameraman captures his face and projects it onto the big screen which allows the audience to see both Alejandro and themselves within the crowd.
Later, two figures appear on stage dressed as vejigantes, famous folkloric characters from Puerto Rican culture. One was dressed in white, the other in black. As Alejandro, who is acting intoxicated and is stumbling across the stage, the white vejigante is calling him by pulling him through an imaginary rope. Then the black vejigante does the same thing pulling him to the other side.
ACT IV: BETWEEN LOVE AND WAR
Act IV, brings in the themes of chaos, fury and freedom to close out the show. Alejandro comes on stage wearing a gray suit, fedora and gloves. An outfit similar to the one in Act I. He opens the act with “Cosa Nuestra,” then moves into salsa music with “Tú Con Él,” which is a cover from the 1985 song by Frankie Ruiz just in his own twist.
He then goes to his trap music with “Espresso Martini,”featuring Marconi Impara and Yan Block. While he sings this song, Maria is seen with another guy, the same unidentified figure that was on the screen telling Maria to handle her business with Alejandro.
Next, “Qué Pasaría,” featuring Bad Bunny begins to play, another of his popular songs of the album, as the crowd starts dancing and singing loudly.
Maria and Alejandro meet up but it was a trap so that Maria can kill him. The unidentified man handed Maria a gun. The plot twist was that her name wasn’t Maria, and her real name all along was Sofia. She points the gun to Alejandro but the lights turn off and the only thing the audience can hear were gunshots. The lights turned on and the audience saw that Sofia killed the unidentified man and handcuffed Alejandro on a park bench.
She leaves Alejandro handcuffed and struggling on the bench, walking away with a suitcase. Before she left, she tells Alejandro that he will never see her again, setting the stage for the next song, “Desenfocao’”. During the fast-paced performance, Alejandro is framed for the unidentified man’s murder, and police officers appear on stage chasing after him.
The police officers cleaned up the body and are trying to arrest Alejandro, who tries to flee. Close to the end of the song, the music slows down, and everything is in slow motion: the screen, the dancers, the police, and Alejandro. The officer catches Alejandro where they have him face planted to the floor. The curtains go down, and Silva comes out, asking the audience whether this is truly the end for Alejandro.
The curtain goes back up once more, revealing the entire cast of performers on stage. Alejandro closes the concert with “SEXXXMACHINE.” As he is done singing but the music continues, he joins hands with his dancers and bow down, just like a finale of a Broadway show. Alejandro thanks his dancers, the host and to his live music band. He then has a solo moment to show off one last dance. He finishes with a dramatic split, rises with his body shaking, arms raised high, then turns to celebrate with his team as the curtains go down.
