Words / Madie Doppelt
Photos / Jenn Li
“My peak moment of liberation is during the show. It’s the moment I enjoy the most,” explains Six Sex, as she recounts her world tour so far. She hopes her fans can experience the same. LADYGUNN catches Six Sex at her Lollapalooza aftershow and together, we talked about the new album, world tour, and her artistic process. The Argentine perreo singer/songwriter describes her style as ravetón, which blends stylings of reggaetón, dancehall, neoperreo, and techno. Her music oozes sex appeal and dance-spiration, transporting listeners to an underground rave, whether they’re at the concert or riding the bus to work. Six Sex fans are immersed in the fantasy from the moment they arrive at the concert or press play on the record– in fact, the promise of escaping into a hedonistic, sexual fantasy is one to be desired.
Debut album Ultra offers just that: a portal into the Six Sex cinematic universe where everyone can become the psychosexual vixen of their fantasy. She laces hard techno bass lines with lyric themes of sexuality, liberation, and reclaimed agency. Lead single “boyfree” boasts a, you guessed it, euphoric separation from men for a trip to Miami with the girls. “Don’t enter in my body / No sugar daddy / Con todas mis muñecas / Buenos Aires a Miami.” The album is bookended with declaration of bodily autonomy. Opener “Ultra Terrorific Fantasy” begins with the declaration “yo no soy tu pornstar” while closer “no more porn” boasts “My human body is not your fetish / My human body is my fetish.”
Six Sex’s earlier work provides sturdy structure to the fantasy. Her cheeky humor cuts through with lyrics like “My boyfriend is gay / my baby is shit / my name is Six Sex / my ass is too big” from the lead single “U&ME” and the instructional “How to make your ass bigger,” both from her fifth EP, X-sex. At first glance, Ultra is a cheeky romp through hypnotic absurdism and rave beats. Underneath, however, the album is laced with an existential aftertaste: open and loud sexual expression reveals profound vulnerability. Through this, Six Sex poses the question: whose fantasy is this? What makes it “terrorific”?
Six Sex’s visual world explodes these questions into cinematic imagery. Her love for film is palpable in her work, and a medium she takes inspiration from, particularly horror and psychological thriller. When asked about her favorite movie, Six Sex has a hard time picking just one. She cites Yoshihiro Nishimura’s 2008 film Tokyo Gore Police– a Japanese sci-fi horror– as a major visual inspiration for the album. Set in dystopian Japan, Tokyo Gore Police follows a female monster-hunter who uses violence and sadism to keep the public safe, while carrying out a revenge plot on a mysterious assassin.
This inspiration becomes tangible in her visuals. Every concert begins with a promise: “Rated X: Another Sexual Show by Six Sex” plasters the stage of her world tour. The “Ultra Terrorific Fantasy x Not ur mom” combined music video begins the same rating advisory, and then hops immediately into a fast-paced smattering of psychosexual, violent, and hedonistic imagery. The revenge she seeks? The reclamation of her own sexual gaze.
The Six Sex fantasy has gone world-wide, touring North America, South America, and Europe. Her Lollapalooza aftershow was her second Chicago performance in the last two months. She played at Sleeping Village in April, pre-Ultra’s release on June 6th, and now she’s back again with added songs from the album. Nestled in the middle of the setlist, “BEAUTY Privilege” fits in perfectly, discussing the social power wielded by attractiveness, while “LOVE ME HATE ME” acts as a new set closer, proving itself the hypnotic anthem of a new era for the tour. In discussing her return to the city, Six Sex remarks, “it was a very nice surprise for me to be back twice in such a short period of time. I’m very happy and I can’t believe how people have received me in Chicago.”
Hailing from Villa Tesei, Argentina, Six Sex is still shocked at the positive reception of her music from fans across the world. Every new country and city has its own element of surprise. The biggest, however, is how rapidly her gaggle of dedicated fans grows with each show. “There’s one thing in particular that has happened lately,” she says. “I can recognize someone from one show traveling along with the tour and [see] them on another show… [it] impresses me so much.”
The Lollapalooza aftershow crowd featured a handful of familiar faces from her Sleeping Village show. At Outset– a notably bigger venue than Sleeping Village– the audience has now tripled. But what remained the same were the people directly next to me, who I recognized first by their dance moves and second by their euphoric shrieks. “I would like for people to be able to feel free during the show and basically… release” Six Sex explains. “Like screaming or jumping or dancing… I see people in the crowd doing that and I love [it].” This energetic exchange is palpable at her concerts. Six Sex delivers a full concert of choreography, and her fans encourage her through cheers, gifts given while she’s on stage, and raucous dancing in the crowd.
Ultra is Six Sex’s sixth studio project, preceded by five EPs. This was no accident. Six Sex has an affinity for numerology, explaining that “the number six has been appearing to me all my life and I really believe in this kind of repetition signal the universe provides.” She goes onto reveal that “following the number six is like a kind of guide and a compass that reassures the fact that I’m… following what the universe throws at me.”In talking with Six Sex, there seems to be a marked difference between the performance persona and Francisca Cuello, the artist behind her.
Six Sex acts as the hentai doll-ification of Francisca, speaking in a high and whispered tone, done up, and oozing with sexuality. While Francisca isn’t totally far off, she offers a cool, grounded presence that provides a thrilling contrast to her public persona. Our interview was conducted the morning after her HARD Summer performance in LA, which immediately followed her weekend in Chicago. She had 24 hours to rest and dye her hair before flying off to Paris, where the European leg of her world tour continues. Even mid-hairdye, she presents calm, comfortable, and generously warm. She exudes the same level of raw confidence as Francisca as she does onstage as Six Sex.
The playful and heightened avatar of Six Sex developed naturally over time, through comfortability on stage. While she may refer to Six Sex as her persona, Francisca is clear that she isn’t a character, but a version of herself, sharing, “[it’s] more of a thing of being present…This reciprocal feeling with the audience is the thing that allows me… to be that persona.” It isn’t just Six Sex who experiences liberation during the shows. Her concerts become a space for her fans to step into their own personal avatar, one who is louder, sexier, and more expressive. And through this, her fans experience liberation and release as well, just as she hoped. “Since I’ve started with my project, there have been a lot of surprises along the way” Six Sex recounts, referring to her artistic career as a whole. “Seeing this reciprocal bond happening [between myself and the audience], it’s already a surprise and I feel blessed to experience that with my fans.”
The Six Sex fantasy may be jet-set and going global, but Six Sex herself remains grounded. How can one remain centered while her career rockets sky-high? For Six Sex, the answer is simple: “The main thing… is my gut feeling– my intuition. I try to follow that as much as I can.” Her intuition is finely tuned to her fans as she continues to deliver. Through her cinematic world of demonic vixens, horror tropes, and perreo-rave inspired beats, she provides the exact environment for release that she set out to create. There are still a handful of dates left on her world tour. If you catch “Another Sexual Show by Six Sex,” get ready to shake ass and release into the “Ultra Terrorific Fantasy.”
