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 the same name, she added the name "Reina" ("queen" in Spanish) to become "queen of my guitar."[4][5]
Reina del Cid first gained big attention as a band 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, just before the COVID-19 pandemic.
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] the artist has released poems, skits, and songs on 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]
As of March 2025, Cordova’s YouTube channel had approximately 670,000 subscribers, with more than 350 videos and over 187 million combined views.[20] Cordova’s Instagram account had over 1.2 million followers.[21] They regularly release original and cover songs in their YouTube video series, Sunday Mornings, and frequently tour with singer-songwriters Joshua Lee Turner and Carson McKee.
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