Tutafarel Shares”Passenger princess” Single + Video
Last month, Tutafarel, (pronounced [ˌtuː.tɑː.fəˈrɛl]), the creative alias of Brazilian-born and Los Angeles-based multi-disicplinary artist Raphael Rosalen, shared the announcement of his debut album, “Monte Casanova”. Our first introduction to the world of Monte Casanova was the fierce and hypnotic lead single “AMERICAN NIGHTMARE.”
Today, Tutafarel shares the newest taste of “Monte Casanova”, in the form of the fun, seductive, and hyperpop-esque new single “Passenger Princess”. The accompanying video aims to visually define the ethos of the modern-day passenger princess by showing voyeuristic displays of love reminiscent of romantic dynamics in the digital era. The video follows Tutafarel in intimate moments: lounging in bed, taking selfies (both analog and digital), showering, and riding his bike through the city, complementing the vibey, playful energy of the track.
“The track mixes some of my soft rap influences for the album, like Brockhampton and Doja Cat, with a bit of a fun K-pop energy in the back”, he shares.
“The idea came from one night out with this guy I was seeing. He picked me up in a two-seat convertible, music blasting, speeding through the Hollywood Hills, with city lights glittering in the back. He had one hand on the wheel, the other on my thigh. It was hot, cinematic, and I wanted to save that confident and sexy feeling before it flew away. I’d been wanting to write a song titled ‘Passenger princess’ for a while, and all of this just came together. The song is sexy, fun, and perfect for a late-night drive.”
Though Tutafarel had been quietly building the world of Monte Casanova for some time, the LP truly began to take form in 2025 after a road accident left him recovering in bed for several months. Immersed in 90s action movies, Greek tragedies, and the legend of Giacomo Casanova, he began piecing together a world that could hold both the chaos and the beauty of modern everyday life. Sonically, he pulled from a wide range of male pop, turning to artists like Michael Jackson, Brockhampton, KAIRO, and Justin Bieber, pairing it with softer, more playful influences like PinkPantheress and Addison Rae. Notably, the entire LP was self-produced by Tutafarel in GarageBand, giving the record an instinctive, deeply personal edge.
As Tutafarel explains, “There’s sex, drugs, and rock & roll, sure, but underneath it’s about accepting imperfection: yours, mine, everyone’s. We live in a culture obsessed with surface, so opening up the messy parts can feel wrong sometimes. This record says forget that. It’s okay to dance through it, stay home and cuddle to a black-and-white-movie, or just be. Monte Casanova is a moment of escape—a big, cathartic sigh—but dressed in pop.”
The album Monte Casanova is part of a larger multimedia project that includes Tutafarel’s debut book of the same name and an ongoing TikTok/serialized video series. The book is set in a near-future, crumbling Los Angeles ruled by media spectacle — think Succession meets Romeo & Juliet. This two-act queer tragedy follows Monte, a fallen icon born into power, as he confronts intimacy, betrayal, and the politics of influence. Told through a Chorus of journalists, influencers, and digital onlookers, it’s a sharp portrait of identity, power, and intimacy in a digital age. It lays out the emotional universe that the album builds on.
The TikTok series expands that world into a serialized narrative for a younger, online audience. Together, the three formats create a single interconnected world that blends music, literature, and digital storytelling.
“Passenger princess” is out today on all DSPs. The “Passenger princess” video is out this Friday, Octover 24th. Tutafarel’s debut album Monte Casanova is due for release on December 5th.
FEATURE INTERVIEW:
Your album and its singles all have such distinct and evocative titles. Can you talk about the origins of the album title, Monte Casanova, and what inspired the single’s name — “Passenger princess”?
Monte Casanova was born during a time when I couldn’t move. I had an accident that kept me in bed for a couple of months, so I escaped into stories, films, documentaries, and books about mountains and people pushing themselves into the impossible. The word “monte”, meaning “mountain,” stayed with me. Around the same time, I was reading about Giacomo Casanova, this early kind of “it-girl” figure obsessed with beauty and desire.
When I put those two words together, Monte Casanova, it felt like a symbol: a romantic who climbs toward redemption. Someone who throws themselves into the journey, no matter how high the peak or how uncertain the ending.
“Passenger Princess” came from that same place, but filtered through internet language. I love finding poetry in slang, taking a meme and showing its soul. For me, it’s about softness as power, surrender as a choice. It’s that moment in a car at night when you stop trying to control the story and just let the city blur around you. It’s joy, intimacy, and the art of letting go.
You’ve described your sound as a blend of soft rap with K-pop energy, pulling from influences like Brockhampton and PinkPantheress. Was that fusion something you set out to create from the beginning, or did it come together more organically during the recording process?
It came together naturally. I’ve always been drawn to contrasts, the masculine and the feminine, the glossy and the raw. I grew up listening to so many different things, from K-pop to bossa nova to the kind of sad electronic pop that feels like whispering secrets. When I started making Monte Casanova, I wasn’t trying to chase a genre, but rather I was chasing feelings.
I wanted the songs to sound like joy and intimacy at the same time, something you could dance to but that also hits a nerve when you’re alone. Even with all the shiny, chaotic energy, it’s grounded in emotion and honesty. Producing everything myself helped keep that balance. It still feels like bedroom pop, just dressed up for a night out.
You’ve mentioned that Monte Casanova isn’t just an album, but part of a larger multimedia project that includes your debut book and a TikTok video series. Can you talk more about how those pieces connect? What inspired you to build a full narrative universe around the music?
It honestly happened by accident. While I was making the album, the songs started to feel like scenes in a movie, and I couldn’t stop imagining the world they belonged to. So I began writing, mostly to keep track of the story I was seeing in my head, and that turned into a full book. The book (also titled Monte Casanova) is a modern-day tragedy, think Succession meets Romeo & Juliet. It follows the tradition of Greek tragedies, which I’ve always loved because they let people talk about hard, modern things in poetic ways. Then the TikTok series came as a prequel to that story, told through these daily voice memos from a political aide caught between power, secrets, and desire.
The three parts speak to each other. The music gives you emotion, the book gives you context, and the TikTok series gives you intimacy. Together they make one story about power, love, and what it means to be seen in the digital age. I’ve always loved the idea of storytelling that spills out of one format and finds new life in another. It’s like the universe started building itself, and I just followed where it wanted to go.
PRE-SAVE: Tutafarel – Monte Casanova
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LISTEN/WATCH & SHARE: Tutafarel “Passenger princess”
Stream | YouTube
LISTEN/WATCH & SHARE: Tutafarel “AMERICAN NIGHTMARE”
Stream | YouTube
Photo Credit: John Brooks
