Vetor Interviews: BADSISTA

BADSISTA speaks his own language in “CUTEBOYZ”: Presenting himself for the first time as a transmasculine person, the veteran producer and DJ releases an EP that expands his sound and reintroduces him to the music scene

Text and interview by Pedro Paulo Furlan

Photography by Victor Cazuza

São Paulo, 11:30 AM / Berlin, 4:30 PM.

When the producer BADSISTA sits down to talk with me, he's in the middle of his European tour, more specifically in Berlin. Promoting his latest EP, “CUTEBOYZ”, the artist has been traveling through several European cities performing his new songs—this after hosting a listening party back in São Paulo, his hometown.

“You need a fierce social drumbeat,” says Rafa Andrade, the name behind the BADSISTA project. He quickly adds, however, “the crowd’s response has been really cool, I’m enjoying this moment too.”

With five tracks and fully self-produced, “CUTEBOYZ” is BADSISTA’s newest release. The producer, DJ, and vocalist has spent over a decade in the electronic music scene. When I ask about his legacy, he jokes: “Are you calling me an old maricona?”, before bursting into laughter and agreeing, pointing out that “I’ve been doing this for a long time, long enough to see a new generation coming up [...] I remember myself, back then.”

With “CUTEBOYZ”, the artist reintroduces himself, also addressing topics he hadn't touched on before, such as his gender transition—alongside new sonic elements. The EP is his first project mostly without vocals, and BADSISTA tells me his goal was to “speak a different language—not one of lyrics and words, but just of sounds.”

“Music is wild because it gives us things that aren’t words,” he says. “That’s what I was aiming for—something that’s not complicated, but that hits; people need to feel it and understand it.”

“The dancefloor is my thermometer”

Coming from a deeply musical family and surrounded by everyday musical influences, BADSISTA discovered his musical calling early on—studying since childhood. At 31, Rafa tells me, “I’ve always had a strong instinct for this music thing,” explaining that he learned to play entirely on his own until he earned a scholarship to study music production.

Photography by Victor Cazuza

“I’ve always been super nerdy—I loved computers and video games,” he says, explaining that it was by combining those two interests that he discovered his love for electronic music. That passion deepened when he got the chance to formally study the genre and really learn how to use a computer to create music.

“I’ve always loved experimenting, so finding out I had a million possibilities just with my computer, alone at home, with headphones—that was perfect. I think that’s where the drive to produce came from.”

Over the years, BADSISTA became a favorite in São Paulo’s nightlife scene, then nationally, and eventually internationally. With a unique blend of traditional electronic genres like trance, techno, and house with funk, Rafa carved out his space in Brazil’s music scene—becoming one of the most recognizable names in the global underground.

When he began working on “CUTEBOYZ”, BADSISTA had already released several EPs and his debut album “Gueto Elegance”, as well as produced for major names like Linn da Quebrada and Jup do Bairro. To test his new sound and the experiments he wanted to explore, he turned to the club, which he calls “a place of many decisions.”

“I use the dancefloor as my thermometer. If I feel like there’s a part that people didn’t vibe with, I go back home and tweak it.”

Saying he sees his work as a DJ and as a producer as “mutually feeding into each other”, Rafa tells me that two songs from the EP were especially made for the dancefloor. “SPDRIP” and “PSYCODELIA” were both crafted to get people dancing.

“SPDRIP”, the first track, was made to open his sets. It’s inspired by ambient music, avoiding heavy percussion and focusing on creating an atmosphere. Meanwhile, “PSYCODELIA” started as a remix of the classic “Fullgás” by Marina Lima, created to play during her show, and later reworked for Tomorrowland—“there’s still a tiny sample of Marina’s voice in there.”

“Sometimes I’m DJing and get inspired to produce something. Other times I’m just chilling and think, ‘I want to make something new to play.’ It’s like a space where I forge my own tools.”

“Spend ten minutes with me and you’ll get it”

“It was a process that came together in different ways—from mastering this new language of arrangement, production, and the computer, to creating music without words, and also my gender transition,” BADSISTA explains when I ask about the identity behind this project.

CUTEBOYZ marks the first time the artist publicly presents and positions himself as a transmasculine person post-transition. In the EP photos, Rafa appears in traditionally masculine situations, surrounded by other transmasculine individuals.

“We collected things that, in a general consensus, are masculine—symbols—but we brought the question: ‘What if this is mine?’” he says, explaining that the photos and videos shot at the gym were part of his move to “open more doors and windows,” reimagining masculinity and embracing trans people within that movement.

Photography by Victor Cazuza

The project goes beyond trans people, though. For BADSISTA, CUTEBOYZ is about reimagining masculinity for anyone who has suffered under it.“It’s crazy to try to redefine this with the body you have and the way you express yourself. But in the end, this is the way I found to communicate, you know?”

When I ask why he chose this project to speak out, Rafa says it's something he’s talked about with his wife, Thais Regina—who also directed the EP visuals—for a long time.

“Spend ten minutes with me and you’ll get it,” he jokes, referring to his identity, saying that now was the inevitable time to speak about it.

“I was basically raised by travestis, and they were a big part of this process for me, you know? Especially in not pretending to be something else, but also in learning to wait—and this is what makes the most sense right now.”

“We’re not unknown anymore”

One of the most prominent genres in CUTEBOYZ is funk, a sound that BADSISTA has long been connected to. Growing up in Itaquera, on the east side of São Paulo, Rafa says funk was the music of the street. “I’d know when a song was going to blow up because I heard it a lot outside—the street was the real hype.”

A longtime fan, he remembers going to funk parties and falling in love with the genre through its proximity to electronic music. “It’s wild how the funk crowd is super receptive to psytrance and rave stuff,” says BADSISTA, continuing: “I already loved electronic music, and that made me even more interested in funk—seeing how it was made.”

Photography by Victor Cazuza

In recent years, funk has taken over underground spaces and the electronic music scene. He highlights funk bruxaria—a subgenre born in São Paulo, known for its hard beats and electronic production—saying that funk reflects the reality of the city and offers an escape from the chaos of the metropolis.

“A city full of people, stress, traffic, concrete—things start bubbling. My youngest niece says, ‘Some things only witchcraft can heal.’”

Adapting this sound to his style, BADSISTA merges funk into CUTEBOYZ, blending it with more traditional electronic genres. On the EP, Rafa brings a sound that’s undeniably Brazilian, pointing out that Brazil’s electronic movement is one of the fastest-growing in the global scene today.

“Something we really value in Brazil is doing your own thing. The people who stay true to their own vibe are the ones who really stand out,” says the DJ, adding that this unique potential is how Brazil has taken over the world.

“We make music for ourselves to play because we know the dancefloor will love it—and people abroad are paying attention. We’re not just nobodies anymore. We never were—but now it’s not just one or two artists, it’s an entire scene.”