Rachelle Cordova[1] (born March 8, 1988) known professionally as Elle Cordova and formerly as Reina del Cid,[2] is an American singer-songwriter and lead of the folk rock band Reina del Cid. She is also known for her online comedy sketches, rhyming spoken-word poetry, and videos celebrating literature, space, technology, and nerd culture.[3] She was formerly based in Minneapolis-St. Paul and is now based in Los Angeles.
Cordova adopted the stage name "Reina del Cid" in 2007 for her YouTube channel as a reference to Spanish heroic literature: having nicknamed a guitar "El Cid" after the Castilian nobleman of that name, she added the name "Reina" ("queen" in Spanish) to become "queen of my guitar".[4][5]
Reina del Cid first gained significant attention with a residency at the Amsterdam Bar & Hall in downtown St. Paul, performing every Monday night for nearly two years from 2013 to 2015.[6]
Reina del Cid in 2018
Alongside creative partner and lead guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Toni Lindgren, Cordova has released five full-length studio albums as Reina del Cid: blueprints, plans (credited to "Reina del Cid & the Cidizens"; 2012); The Cooling (2015); Rerun City (2017); Morse Code (2019); and Candy Apple Red (2022). The Cooling and Rerun City were recorded at Pachyderm Studios.[7][8][9] Songs from The Cooling were featured on NPR[10] and Baeble Music.[11]Paste magazine featured her subsequent single release, "Death Cap", and its filmed-in-Iceland music video.[12]
Cordova and Lindgren moved to Los Angeles in early 2020. Their fifth studio album, Candy Apple Red, was released on April 28, 2022, with a concert at the Turf Club in St. Paul.[14]
In July 2023, Reina del Cid "reintroduced" herself as Elle Cordova to reflect new "songs and poems that feel more personal...than ever before."[15] As a self-professed "English major nerd with a penchant for sci-fi tv shows",[16] she has released poems, skits, and songs about science, space, sci-fi, and literary themes, some set to hip-hop beats. She launched a YouTube channel under the new name. The Reina del Cid channel was renamed, first to "Sunday Mornings HQ" and then to "Elle & Toni", where Cordova and Lindgren continue to post weekly covers and originals. The band's new album will be an Elle Cordova release; previous material will retain the Reina del Cid moniker.[17][18]
In her April 2024 TED Talk, Cordova presented "Poetry and music that reaches across the digital void", performing her original song "Carl Sagan" and exploring social media and human connection.[19] TED presented her as a musician known for online comedy sketches, rhyming spoken-word poetry, and videos celebrating literature, space, technology and nerd culture.[3]
On August 4, 2024, Cordova uploaded to YouTube a cover of Darrell Scott's song "Long Time Gone", and wrote in the description that "We've been a 'long time gone' from this channel temporarily (working on our new album and a few other exciting projects!)".[20]
In March 2025, Cordova's YouTube channel had approximately 670,000 subscribers, with more than 350 videos and over 187 million combined views.[21] Her Instagram account had over 1.2 million followers.[22]
In January 2025, Elle and Toni ended the Sunday Morning series and started a new one, Full Moon Tunes, in which they post a new cover every full moon.[23]
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