Rauw Alejandro Turns His Past, Present & Future Into a Three-Act Spectacle at Forest Hills Stadium: ‘2027 Will Be Completely Raúl’
Categoria: Musica
The Puerto Rican star discussed Red Bull Chapters, a production that fused his personal history with an athletic approach to live performance.
Por Billboard | 06/09/2026
Forest Hills Stadium already feels like a kind of time capsule. Tucked inside Queens, its Tudor-style cottages and intimate village-like pathways create the sensation of stepping into a storybook hidden inside New York City. On Saturday night (Sept. 5), that atmosphere became the setting for Rauw Alejandro’s own living storybook: a three-act performance that moved from the Puerto Rican roots and musical influences that shaped him to the superstar he is now — and the artist he is still becoming. The show — Red Bull Chapters featuring Rauw Alejandro — was initially scheduled for one night. After that date sold out quickly, a second performance was added for Sunday (Sept. 6), giving the event an unexpected momentum even before its first chapter began. It also marked Red Bull’s first Chapters project centered on a recording artist, following the brand’s long history of building platforms around athletes, action sports and culture — including its influential Red Bull Batalla freestyle competition. That distinction mattered. This was not simply a Rauw Alejandro concert with Red Bull branding layered onto it. The production asked what might happen when Rauw’s theatrical concert language met the brand’s appetite for movement, risk and spectacle. One day before the show, Rauw told Billboard over Zoom that the collaboration was intended to merge “the world of extreme sports, the world of sports, with the world of art and music.” He added: “It’s literally Rauw and Red Bull. It’s not like Rauw Alejandro and Red Bull separately — it’s a fusion between the two worlds.” The performance made that fusion visible. Its three chapters were titled “Inspiration,” “Momentum” and “Legacy,” turning his career into a past-present-future narrative. Rather than treating his catalog as a straight chronology, the show presented his evolution as a series of leaps: from family, island and sound; to global momentum; to the risks required to keep moving forward. Rauw Alejandro performs during the inaugural Red Bull Chapters at Forest Hills Stadium on Sept. 05, 2026 in New York City. Credit: Taylor Hill / Getty Images Getty Images Inspiration The opening chapter began with images of the Caribbean Sea and the sun, accompanied by a narrated portrait of Puerto Rico as the place where mountains, ocean and city meet. The story connected Taíno, African and Spanish influences with salsa, reggaetón and rock — sounds that entered Rauw’s life through his grandfather, his own early ambitions and his father, guitarist Raúl Ocasio. That history gained new resonance in Billboard ’s interview, when Rauw spoke about growing up around his father and grandfather, both musicians. His grandfather was a trovador; his father played guitar, composed and introduced him to Elvis Presley, James Brown and other American oldies while salsa played in the family’s orbit. Rauw also recalled secretly buying his first reggaetón record as a child, at a time when the genre was not yet embraced by everyone around hi