Tokischa’s hair spikes out like jagged rays of an eccentric sun, bleached in a shade of unapologetic, brassy yellow. The hairdo — teased in the dual music video for her tracks “Miami” and “Celos,” released in June — is intentionally loud. It’s a technicolor warning that something seismic is coming, a glimpse into a new phase that the Dominican star has been meticulously planning. “The hair is key in the world of the album,” Tokischa teases of her forthcoming debut.
The look itself is a callback to Tokischa’s 2021 music video for the frenetic “Tukuntazo,” one of her early breakout hits, where she wrapped her curls in aluminum foil to construct the jagged shapes. “Now that I have access to wigs and a hairdresser, I can really use that hair concept and develop a character with that aesthetic, which is a rocker,” she says.
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Tokischa, the 29-year-old artist who helped turn dembow into a global sound — and has repeatedly fueled controversy with her sexually charged lyrics and provocative stage antics, including kneeling onstage to eat and drink from a dog dish — has built her career around bold, ever-evolving personas. From 2023’s Popola Presidente (the “president” of a fictional political party, PPL: Partido por la Libertad, with a platform of love, freedom and LGBTQ+ advocacy) to just Popola (Dominican slang for vagina), her work symbolizes empowerment through no-holds-barred femininity and subversion. Now in her Popola Super Saiyan era, she connects her spiked blond hairstyle to a futuristic, rebellious persona that matches her musical evolution.
“Miami” and “Celos” were an introduction to her debut, due in mid-October, and offered a glimpse at how Tokischa is evolving within the genre. While both tracks stay rooted in her signature dembow sound, produced by longtime collaborator Leo RD, they push into new conceptual territory: “Miami” captures euphoric liberation, while “Celos” explores themes of jealousy and betrayal with sharp lyrical interplay and emotional rawness. Though the style remains familiar, the double release serves as a precursor to the alternative, rock and electro-pop influences woven into her full-length, whose title remains under wraps for now.
Growing up in Los Frailes, a working-class neighborhood in Santo Domingo, the artist born Tokischa Altagracia Peralta was surrounded by bachata, salsa and merengue. “When I was a little girl, I listened to a lot of romantic music, Mexican ballads, because that was what the adults in the neighborhood listened to most,” she recalls. As reggaetón and Dominican dembow began to explode in the mid- to late 2010s, she gravitated toward the street music filling the city’s corners.
Her mother, Tokischa’s biggest inspiration, introduced her to international culture, style and the limitless possibilities of self-reinvention. When she relocated to the United States early in Tokischa’s childhood to pursue a better life, she would send issues of Vogue and words of encouragement for her daughter to dream boldly. “ ‘Life in the United States is very different,’ ” Tokischa recalls her mother telling her. “ ‘Learn English, learn to be yourself, be unique.’ ”
That advice shaped Tokischa’s understanding that artistic expression was never about following rules. From her early beginnings dabbling in rock, trap and rap, she was always drawn to unexpected sonic hybrids while staying rooted in Dominican street sounds. “Ever since I started making music, I started making trap because it was the closest thing to rock,” she says. “Rock has always been one of my favorite genres.”
That versatility has helped Tokischa score major collaborations: In 2021, she teamed with Rosalía on the risqué reggaetón-flamenco “Linda” (becoming her first appearance on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart); that same year, she sparked global controversy with J Balvin on the provocative “Perra” (which means “b–ch” or “female dog”). The music video depicted the Colombian superstar walking two Afro Latina women on leashes, while Tokischa posed on all fours inside a doghouse. (The video, which was widely criticized for dehumanizing and objectifying Black women, was eventually removed following widespread backlash; Tokischa later said in an interview that she was “truly sorry that people felt offended. But at the same time, art is expression.”)
In 2022, the Dominican provocateur was heating up clubs with a remix of Madonna’s “Hung Up” titled “Hung Up on Tokischa,” featuring the pop icon, which they performed in New York complete with an onstage kiss that sent the crowd into a frenzy. And in 2023, she paired with Sexyy Red for the raunchy house track “Daddy.” Next, Tokischa will join A$AP Rocky on “Flackito Jodye” — which he has been teasing online — from his upcoming album, Don’t Be Dumb.
To date, she has released over 60 singles as a lead artist and a collaborator, including five entries on Hot Latin Songs — but never an album, or even an EP. Yet, she’s now embracing the album format with a debut crafted around a contained narrative. “This album really tells a very special story for me, a very difficult time in my life that shaped me and brought me to where I am now,” she reveals. “It’s like a diary where I recount certain experiences that I’ve never talked about before. I feel like this was the best concept for a debut album — where I can let it all out.”
Her album will arrive on Tokischa’s own label, SOL, which she and her manager, Angelica Piche, co-founded in 2024 in partnership with Warner Music Latina with support from Atlantic Records. Designed as a platform for misunderstood artists, SOL reflects Tokischa’s own journey. “What drew me to Tokischa was her unapologetic authenticity and her ability to connect with global audiences through her music,” Warner Music Latina president Alejandro Duque says. “Tokischa is in a phase of creative renewal, with expansive energy.”
With SOL, Tokischa is empowering the next wave of countercultural voices while aiming to cement herself at the forefront. “Lately, I’ve been a workaholic, focused on making sure everything turns out perfect so that it reflects the vision I want to share,” she says of her debut. For an artist who has long been building a world entirely her own, come October, she’ll finally invite others in.
This story appears in the Aug. 16, 2025, issue of Billboard.
