Rakiyah on closing her Cosmic Love Odyssey with ‘My Collection of Boy Tears,’ engineering, and building a limitless world
Rakiyah did not stumble into music so much as engineer her way toward it. The New Jersey artist studied to become an industrial engineer at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, interned in aerospace, and released her debut EP Into the Cosmos before deciding the equations could wait. On July 31, 2026, she sat down with EARMILK to talk about My Collection of Boy Tears, the album that closes her Cosmic Love Odyssey trilogy and, in her telling, sets fire to an old version of herself so a new one can rise.
The turning point came abroad. Studying in South Korea, she found a confidence she had not carried home before. “Through that experience I gained so much confidence that when I came back to America I released Into the Cosmos while I was interning as an aeronautical engineer,” she says. The EP landed with enough force that she walked away from engineering entirely. What looked like two separate lives, science and song, became one system feeding itself.
The Cosmic Queen, Built From Scratch
Rakiyah’s catalog is a mythology. Each project adds a chapter to the story of her alter ego, the Cosmic Queen, a character she describes as a personification of the divine feminine. “Into the Cosmos laid the foundation for a new world and the identity of my alter ego,” she says, “but that universe started fully materializing in the Cosmic Queen.” The evolution was not optional. She realized staying comfortable would shortchange everyone. So she went deeper, into love lost, betrayal, vengeance, and finally healing.
The influences are specific and unashamed. She grew up on Twilight, Blade, Underworld, and Lord of the Rings, on Mortal Kombat and Naruto and anything Marvel or DC could publish. Ask her which character reflects her artistry and the answer arrives instantly: Storm, the omega-level mutant with cosmic control. Musically, she pulls from Missy Elliott, Janet Jackson, and Aaliyah, then folds in Korean lyrics and cinematic sci-fi until the whole thing sounds like nobody else.
That refusal to fit a box has cost her. As a Black woman making rock, singing in Korean, and living left of center, she says she has faced harassment and an industry that struggles to receive artists who resist easy categorization. Her response has been to fall further in love with her own authenticity, and to watch other Black women tell her she gave them permission to do the same.
Tears as Fuel
My Collection of Boy Tears is her boldest chapter, and its logic is almost alchemical. The Cosmic Queen collects the tears of the boys who wronged her and uses them to strengthen her powers. “I hope my listeners learn the strength behind sadness,” Rakiyah says, “and know that their own tears can be used to water their personal gardens.” The album processes toxic love cycles and unhealthy coping, then insists on rebirth as the destination.
She points to “Waiting So Long” as the song closest to her. Co-written with friends, it watches her own life play out like a film, trauma and doubt and the grind of chasing a career, before landing somewhere softer. “I know now that my time is coming,” she says, “and I’ll stay open ’cause I waited so long.”
The momentum is real. Rakiyah recently graced the cover of Pandora’s Alternative R&B playlist, with the platform spotlighting her single “Truthfully” and the new record. Early listeners are already reacting with a mix of shock and devotion online, one fan admitting they were only two tracks deep and completely undone. For an artist who insists her world is limitless, that reach feels like proof of concept.
