Laura Carvajalino, better known as Lao Ra, grew up playing in punk bands in her native Bogota. She also grew up in the post-Pablo Escobar days, when Colombia was still mired in violence, then left for London to make music. All those influences comes together in an exhilarating musical mix full of brash “listen to me” bravado.
“I wanted to make something that was cool, but it needed to be pop and punk and it needed to have content as well. It needed to have a seriousness,” Lao Ra told Billboard over the phone from London on the eve of the release of her new video for her single “Patrona” (Boss Lady).
With it’s dembow beat, twangy opening guitars and attitude-laced lyrics (“La patrona soy yo” or “I’m the boss lady”), it "really sounds like I wanted to sound; I would describe it as cheeky, modern, pop and Latino,” says Lao Ra, who sings in English and Spanish and is signed to Disruptor Records.