The Cuban reggaeton artist Musteerifa surprised in a recent interview recorded in Cuba by revealing aspects of her identity that, according to her, "no one knows": she doesn't like being treated as a woman, sees herself as a man, and considers herself "like a therian."
The video was posted last Saturday on TikTok by the account @la.farandula57 and has garnered over 54,000 views, generating a wide reaction among its followers.
"I don’t like being treated as a woman, just so you know. I truly swear it; that’s another thing no one knows," the singer stated during the interview.
Musteerifa, whose real name is Yaira Mustelier Laime and hails from Guantánamo, explained that she internally sees herself as a man and that her friends and partner call her by her last name, never by her first name.
"My friends call me Musta, Mustaliel, they don't call me by my name," she pointed out, adding that she herself encouraged this usage in her environment to prevent being called Yaira.
To describe how she feels, the singer used the term "therian," albeit in a loose and analogical way: "I consider myself a very complicated person, just like a therian; you understand, I don’t want to be any animal, but I do want to be a man."
Therians are individuals who identify psychologically or spiritually with a non-human animal, a concept that emerged in online communities in the 1990s and went viral on social media during 2025 and 2026.
Musteerifa does not use the term in its literal sense, but rather as a metaphor to explain that her internal identity does not align with how she is perceived from the outside.
The singer also revealed that her daughter is the only close person who knew this aspect of her and that she treats her in a masculine way: "My daughter does call me wrong, I can mess with my daughter's mind," she said with a laugh.
When the interviewer mentioned that she saw her as a woman, Musteerifa responded calmly and without annoyance, reaffirming her stance: "I see myself as a man, I don't see myself as a woman."
These statements add to those made in April 2025, when she publicly came out as a lesbian in April 2025, becoming one of the few artists in the Cuban urban genre to do so.
In September 2025, the singer confirmed her relationship with the Cuban dancer Yazzira Durán, known for her appearances in music videos by Bebeshito, 6ix9ine, and Lenier, including the song "Habla Toro".
Musteerifa is one of the most talked-about emerging figures in the Cuban rap and reggaeton scene, with tracks like "Las Ganas", which has nearly four million views on YouTube, and has received support from genre figures such as Oniel Bebeshito.
"I believe that a person is not defined by the sex they are attracted to, but by who they are, what they do, and what they believe," the artist declared in April 2025, a statement that takes on new significance in light of her most recent revelations.
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