Tokischa's Metamorphosis (2024)

When you look up Tokischa on the internet, one of the first words you’ll see associated with her name is usually some variation of the term “provocateur.” Hailing from Los Frailes, a neighborhood in the east of the Dominican Republic's capital, Tokischa — full name Tokischa Altagracia Peralta, sometimes affectionally referred to as Toki — is more than often heralded as an agitator for one reason or another. Earlier this year, The New York Times called her a "sex-positive queer rebel” lauded for her “prurient lyrics and high-profile collaborations." Last year, Byrdie claimed that, through her music, she was “dismantling boundaries put in place by a society rooted in misogyny. All those descriptors are true to an extent, but ultimately, Tokischa is just trying to tell her story.

Tokischa has come a long way since her debut in 2018 with “Pícala,” a trap-infused collab alongside Dominican singer Tivi Gunz that served as an ode to weed. Both her motifs and motives have changed. In four short years, she’s become one dembow’s key figures on the global scene. Much like Tokischa herself, the genre also finds its roots in Santo Domingo. It’s often described as reggaeton’s “close cousin.” Though the two genres share some DNA, certain markers differentiate them. Mixing elements of merengue, rap, reggae, and Jamaican dancehall, dembow’s constant and fast-paced cadence is unmistakable. However, to the untrained ear, it’s undoubtedly dembow’s quasi-violent, racy verses — accompanied by equally ribald dances, more often than not “perreo” — that stand out the most.

Though the intention varies depending on the artist, most dembowseros sing of sexuality and, some, liberation. Tokischa, now 26, is following the tradition but imbuing her music with an unapologetic approach and a dose of punk and rock. This approach, which she flaunts in music and beyond, it’s what often earns her the “rebel” label. But, upon further inspection, that rebellion is just but confidence.

Tokischa is not afraid to push the limits and explore new things, even if that means ruffling some feathers — usually those of conservatives and retrogrades. Fashion and beauty are just some of the elements she utilizes for it. Both visually and lyrically, the Dominican artist looks to style to inform her music. This is perhaps most notable in her collaborations with Spanish singer Rosalía. “La Combi Versace,” off Rosalía’s Motomami album, features fashion references galore, while the music video for Tokischa’s “Linda” pays homage to extravagant beauty with nods to salon culture.

“When I started working in music, I was practically on my own, so I learned to look for my style by myself,” Tokischa tells Teen Vogue over the phone. Since, at the time, her budget was limited, she would go to “la paca,” the term used in the DR to refer to second-hand clothing, to secure pieces and build her looks. “Now I have more budget, I can buy clothes online, travel, and go to the store. I also have a personal stylist who helps me pull pieces. I also have people who help me make my own pieces because I like coming up with my clothes. I have a team, Tiempo de Zafra, that makes clothes for me. I have a team now. Before, I was on my own. But I’m still as selective.”

When it comes to fashion, Tokischa credits her mother as her main inspiration. Though she moved to the U.S. when the artist was just three years old, she was always a fixture in her life. “She taught me about fashion since I was little,” she shares. “She taught me to use different things that nobody was using, and that made it way easier to style myself. It made it easier to pick my style and keep evolving that style.”

“My mom would send me all the fashion magazines — Vogue, Bazaar, everything. She went to the U.S., but she called me every day. We would spend hours on end on the phone. I’ve always lived in the DR, so she would tell me, ‘Look, this is what’s fashionable now.’ Those trends had not reached the DR yet. Nobody had them. She would send me the latest trends, and I would flex them in the neighborhood.”

Aside from sending stuff, Tokischa’s mom also visited sporadically and made sure to come home bearing gifts. “It’s normal when family members move to the U.S.,” Tokischa says. “They come back when they can, and they send over a lot of stuff. Tanks and boxes full of food, clothes, everything. I remember when skinny jeans started being a thing. Everyone wore flared pants, and my mom arrived in the neighborhood wearing skinny jeans. We were all like, 'Ok, what are these pants? She looks like a lollipop.' Later that year, skinny jeans were all the rage.”

Thanks to her mother’s gifts, she might have been ahead of the trends then, but now she’s setting them. Since she stepped into the limelight, we have seen Tokischa constantly experiment with her style, embracing femininity just as much as masculinity. One day, she can upload a selfie in which she’s just as glammed up as Jessica Rabbit, and the next, she will be favoring an androgynous style while rocking a suit and tie. It might seem like a “trendy” thing to do now, but it’s always been like this for her. “That duality, it’s because I feel like it does not matter,” Tokischa explains. “Clothes are for everyone. I can use everything. There are things about me that remind me of my dad, and there are things about me that remind me of my mom. I’m a mix of both. We all are, so why not embrace that?”

Though she admits that this shift in mentality is indeed generational and easier now because the internet has made it more accessible, she also believes the world has always had “daring people” who tried things first — namechecking her mom and aunt as examples. Tokischa calls this “una comunidad de libre expresión” — a community of free expression — and believes it will always exist despite double standards.

Of course, she’s part of it, and this is perhaps where the “provocateur” tagline is best suited for her. In 2021, at the Billboard Latin Music Awards, Tokischa graced the red carpet in a look she christened “Santa Popola,” which, in Dominican slang, translates to the “Holy vagin*” or “Saint vagin*.” The look made headlines for its explicit nature. However, it was not as planned as people might think.

“La Santa Popola was a look that was actually born when my stylist sent me some options. As soon as I saw the look, I knew it was right. I loved it. I came up with the name once I was already wearing it. It was not something I had in mind. When I put it on, I was like, ‘Wait a minute, this looks like a vagin*.’ It was that moment when I saw it on, with makeup, and felt the texture, that the name came to me.”

Continuing the “provocateur tirade" with religious elements, Tokischa was fined for posing wearing lingerie in front of a mural dedicated to the Virgin of Altagracia in La Vega last year. She did not expect the reaction and later issued an apology. However, the pics are still on her social media, and she stands by the message.

“It was a creative and artistic picture,” Tokischa, who takes pride in her own faith, explains. “I gave it the title ‘Los cueros también rezan’ — meaning ‘slu*ts pray too’ — because that’s what the picture represents. We all have the right to pray. We all have the right to ask for forgiveness and atone for our sins. People felt offended by that. They couldn’t see the beautiful message and only saw a seminaked Tokischa before the Virgin.”

Tokischa’s main intention is never to be incendiary, but her risqué visions often get lost in translation. In 2021, Tokischa found herself in hot water when the music video for “Perra,” her collaboration with Colombian reggaetonero J Balvin, was released. The music video was immediately criticized for including imagery featuring Black women wearing prosthetics resembling dogs. They were also on leashes and being walked by Balvin.

Though sans prosthetics, Tokischa herself also adopted dog mannerisms in the video, which was ultimately removed from YouTube. Balvin later issued an apology. However, Tokischa and her manager Raymi Paulus, who also directed the music video, defended their choices in an interview with Rolling Stone. “I understand the interpretation people had, and I’m truly sorry that people felt offended. But at the same time, art is expression. It’s creating a world,” she said at the time.

“Our creative process never aimed to promote racism or misogyny,” Paulus added. “The Dominican Republic is a country where most of the population is Black, and our Blackness is predominant in underground scenes, where the filming took place, and which was the subject of the video’s inspiration. ‘Perra’ was a video filmed in the neighborhood, with people from the neighborhood, and the use of people of color in ‘Perra’ was nothing more than the participation of our people in it.”

Despite the controversy, Tokischa has since continued using the dog imagery on her own solo stages, playing off the “perra” double entendre. Some people think that a reaction — whether good or bad — is better than getting no reaction at all, better than going unnoticed. When Toskicha is given this prompt, there’s a moment of silence on the line. “Well, I don’t know. I don’t know how it feels to get no reaction at all. It’s never happened to me,” she confesses between laughs.

Though fashion props have served as the main vehicle for Tokischa’s “provocation” and the conversations she has opened — intentionally or otherwise, as Byrdie already noted — beauty can be just as rousing — if not more. In this realm, Tokischa’s approach is just as raw as her sartorial choices, but in a very different way.

For Tokischa, beauty is something much more personal. Instead of acting as an extension of her craft, it’s something that has aided her in the process of self-discovery. While traveling the world to perform, the artist noticed many women, especially across Latin America, sported long, luscious hair — something she feels is not as common in the DR.

“Since we are little, Dominican women use relaxers to straighten our hair. When we are teenagers, we go to the salon to get our blow-outs, get our hair dyed, and get highlights. We are very faithful [and stick to these practices.] When I was little, there was a time when I lived with my dad, and if I behaved, he would pay for me to go to the salon.”

“Going to the salon and getting your hair straightened, it’s a custom in the DR,” she continues. But even though salons can feel like safe spaces for particular communities, just like the video for “Linda” depicts, Tokischa ultimately chose herself. “I don’t do that anymore. I want to let my natural hair grow, my curly hair. It’s embedded within our culture, but I think curly hair is beautiful too, so I left it all behind when I started my organic journey.”

After experimenting with different haircuts and dyes since she was 18, Tokischa decided to forego the chemicals and go all natural three years ago when she noticed that she only had “three little hairs” left. “I started using only organic products that my sister-in-law makes, and it’s grown a lot,” she says. (In fact, she’s also started making her own soap.)

Tokischa has implemented this more holistic approach not just in the beauty space but in life. Speaking to Remezcla in early 2021, Tokischa revealed she had just recently celebrated her first year of sobriety. She started smoking at 16. “I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I don’t do anything else. I just figured that it’s [healthier] for my body, for my mind, for my spirit to be sober,” she said then. “I had a lot of fun smoking, I had a lot of lyrics from it, I love the experiences from all of that, but [they’re] just memories now.”

A little over a year later, Tokischa is just starting to pen her new chapter, one that’s already resonating across the world — literally and figuratively. For the majority of 2022, she has been on the road across the U.S. and Europe, performing a mix of festivals and concerts. “The audience’s energy is so beautiful. The people that come to the show enjoy the music. That’s something I have not experienced in the Dominican Republic because I only played in clubs, and people there only come to show off, not to enjoy the artist.” During her shows and sets, she feels like the main attraction. Though the journey has been long, Tokischa still has more to go until she wraps up in October, and clearly, she’s enjoying the ride.

Photographer: Evan Browning
Photo Assistant: Victor Mendez
Stylist: Roberto Johnson
Hair Stylist: Rai
Makeup Artist: Elliot Martínez
Producer: Karen Lopez
Local Producer: Odette Pedie
Production Assistant: Alexia Felipe
Art Director: Emily Zirimis
Sr. Fashion Editor: Tchesmeni Leonard
Visual Editor: Louisiana Gelpi
Designer: Liz Coulbourn
Assistant Fashion Market Editor: Kat Thomas
Jewelry Market Assistant: Tascha Berkowitz
Executive Editor: Danielle Kwateng
Translator: Sara Delgado