{"id":1234802586,"date":"2023-08-14T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=1234802586"},"modified":"2025-11-12T12:27:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T17:27:06","slug":"karol-g-bichota-season-unreleased-music-feid-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/karol-g-bichota-season-unreleased-music-feid-interview-1234802586\/","title":{"rendered":"Karol G Bet on Herself and Won"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\n\tLeer en espa\u00f1ol<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\tO<\/span>\n<\/span>\nn the last day of June, about 15,000 fans have braved dense New York City smog to worship at the altar of Karol G<\/a>. At Rockefeller Center, a massive crowd assembles for the superstar\u2019s debut on the Today<\/em> show, dressed in Colombian levanta-cola<\/em> (butt-lifting) jeans and the lemon-yellow jerseys of Los Cafeteros, the country\u2019s national soccer team. There\u2019s even a little girl sporting a black crop top emblazoned with Karol\u2019s moniker, \u201cBichota.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tInside 30 Rock, the greenroom feels like an extended-family function: A dozen or so managers, assistants, and makeup artists are talking over one another, swarming around Karol and cracking jokes as they touch up her look for soundcheck. It is 5 a.m., and most of us have slept only three hours, but Karol, 32, is bright and animated, possessing an enviable bubbliness, the kind that only someone who is accustomed to waking at these hours has. Outside, I\u2019d overheard a fan say that La Bichota is probably still asleep. When I recount this information to Karol, she just laughs. \u201cI didn\u2019t sleep at all!\u201d she exclaims in her canta\u00edto paisa<\/em> accent, a smile across her face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n
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\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\nChrome Body Armor by KWK by Kay Kwok. Leather bra and panty by Zana Bayne.<\/span><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\tKarol\u2019s aunt, whom she briefly lived with as a teen, has come all the way from Long Island to support her niece \u2014 wearing a T-shirt decorated with the artwork from Karol\u2019s recent album, Ma\u00f1ana Ser\u00e1 Bonito<\/a>,<\/em> of course. She brought Colombian empanadas from a bakery in Hempstead for Karol\u2019s team, but is surprised that there isn\u2019t anywhere to warm them up (\u201cYou can\u2019t eat cold empanadas!\u201d she gripes, the t\u00eda<\/em> energy reaching Guinness World Records<\/em> levels).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAfter a quick soundcheck, Karol returns to the greenroom to change into her costume: a white maxi skirt, a long-sleeve mauve crop top, and thigh-high hot-pink platform boots. A tiny braid and a collection of silver charms frame her heart-shaped face, while a heavy cross, bejeweled with magenta gemstones, clings to her neck. Backstage, the head of security walks over and says that there are so many people outside that the NYPD has called for backup; apparently, some fans who didn\u2019t make it into the plaza are stuck on Fifth Avenue, trying to rush the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAll morning, rumors have circulated that Karol has surpassed the attendance number that Harry Styles set when he performed on Today<\/em> last summer. As the morning unfolds, the speculation seems like it could turn into fact: Today<\/em> staff members believe she\u2019s eclipsed not just Styles, but also what they think is the show\u2019s all-time attendance record, set by Ricky Martin in 1999. At one point, Al Roker emerges from a random door in a baby-blue pinstripe suit: \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been this crazy since Ricky Martin!\u201d he squawks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIt is almost too<\/em> on-the-nose that Karol might have broken the attendance record of an artist who laid the groundwork for her own ascent into the mainstream. Along with heavyweights like Bad Bunny and J Balvin, Karol is part of a new generation of Latin American and U.S.-born Latinx artists infiltrating the American pop market and rewriting age-old scripts about language barriers and marketing practices. Too often, their commercial achievements have relied on feel-good narratives of cultural affirmation that excise the racial, linguistic, and geographical specificities of Latinx experiences, reifying the notion that we are all one people. At the same time, Karol\u2019s ability to set a new record challenges a xenophobic fiction the Anglo music industry has perpetuated for too long: the lie that Spanish-language music is niche, unpopular, and unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tSince she released her first album six years ago, Karol has endeared millions of listeners across the globe with the cool, crowd-pleasing fluidity of her songs. Her music glides through ripples of reggaeton, Afrobeats, dancehall, and trap, and with sunny, radio-friendly melodies, she sings universal stories of heartache, betrayal, and triumph. Her songs feel equally suited for moonlit beachfront perreos<\/em> as they are for glitzy club outings \u2014 and coming from a woman, they offer a brief respite from the male perspectives on conquest and sex that monopolize reggaeton. That recipe has fueled a whirlwind year for Karol, catapulting her to a new level of fame over the past few months. In March, Ma\u00f1ana Ser\u00e1 Bonito<\/em> became the first Spanish-language album by a woman to hit Number One on the Billboard<\/em> 200, and it\u2019s currently the highest-selling Latin album released this year. This summer, one of her tracks was featured on the Barbie<\/em> soundtrack<\/a>. She became the first Latina to headline Lollapalooza, and recently launched a massive stadium tour through the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIn August, she unveiled the companion album to Ma\u00f1ana Ser\u00e1 Bonito<\/em> \u2014 a personal manifesto called Ma\u00f1ana Ser\u00e1 Bonito (Bichota Season).<\/em> Karol is still processing all the milestones. \u201cI imagined that I was going to accomplish a lot of things in my life, but really, I never imagined it\u2019d be to the point that it is today. To reach so many people, touch so many people in so many different aspects \u2014 it still blows my mind,\u201d she says. \u201cLife has shown me that so many things are possible. I have 10 times more ambition and vision than what I imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAfter an hour or so, Karol finally emerges from the greenroom. She exits backstage and walks into the marbled lobby of 30 Rock, where she\u2019ll enter the plaza through a pair of golden double doors. Her team clusters around her in a circle to shelter her from passersby snapping photos, and for a moment, she turns around and hides her face into a wall where no one can see her. Out of nowhere, her t\u00eda slides up next to me and murmurs, \u201cIf I\u2019m her aunt and I\u2019m nervous, imagine what she must be feeling!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tEventually, Karol turns around, high-fives everyone in her crew, and steps out into the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\nBlack mesh top by Natalia Fedner. Chocker by Bootzy Couture. Black leather gloves by Kristina K.<\/span><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\tK<\/span>\n<\/span>\narol G is running on confidence these days, and after spending five minutes with her, you will<\/em> be charmed. She might win you over with how she giddily stamps her feet and squeals \u201c\u00a1Que chimba<\/em>!\u201d (Colombian slang for \u201cThat\u2019s awesome!\u201d) when she\u2019s excited about a new song, which has already occurred at least three times. Maybe she\u2019ll delight you after she whispers a joke about an overly thirsty fan into your ear. She might enchant you when, after singing a line from Bichota Season,<\/em> she laughs off the male fragility of a former lover. Or perhaps she\u2019ll do it with her overwhelmingly good manners. I mean, not every celebrity offers to order you room service because you didn\u2019t have time to eat lunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThat charisma is on full display the day before her Today<\/em> show appearance. Karol answers the door of her suite at the luxe Hotel Barri\u00e8re Fouquet\u2019s New York, appearing in a white terry-cloth robe with her hair damp from the shower. Her baby-pink locks are the latest curatorial choice in a rotating, rainbow-hued color wheel that\u2019s included electric blue and cherry red during her past two album cycles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tInside the suite, dusty rosewood panels line the walls, and a matching velvet couch flanks a massive vanity mirror, where Karol\u2019s makeup artists surround her. Suitcases packed with eyeshadow palettes, blow-dryers, and clothes cover the floor like jigsaw chunks, but I find a spot on the sofa and plop down while Karol changes into a sleeveless pink hoodie and acid-wash army-green cargo pants. Her luggage is plastered with stickers of the cutesy cartoons that appear on the cover of Ma\u00f1ana Ser\u00e1 Bonito<\/em>; a stuffed toy of the redheaded mermaid from the album artwork perches on a chair in the corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tKarol is taking it easy after spending four hours posing for her official Madame Tussauds wax figure yesterday. I ask if she can approve the final version, because sometimes the sculptures aren\u2019t exactly faithful renditions. She says she can, and hesitates a second before mentioning the notorious Cristiano Ronaldo statue that went viral in 2017 as a worst-case scenario. She pulls up an image of the work on her phone and shows it to everyone in the room, giggling impishly at the poorly rendered likeness of the soccer star. But within seconds, she recovers, remembering she\u2019s a global pop star who\u2019s supposed to be polite and poised. \u201cI\u2019m so sorry,\u201d she says, chuckling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\tKarol pulls up a chair in front of me, ready to unveil Bichota Season.<\/em> It\u2019s a new set of songs, but it\u2019s loosely connected to Ma\u00f1ana Ser\u00e1 Bonito, <\/em>which was the kind of breakup album that captured every messy, complicated stage of uncoupling: the sleep-deprived nights you spend scrolling through old photos, wishing they were still yours; the epiphanic realization that your suffering isn\u2019t permanent; the parties you crash with your girls in search of relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tMa\u00f1ana Ser\u00e1 Bonito<\/em> chronicled her public separation from her former fianc\u00e9, Puerto Rican rapper Anuel AA, in 2021. Karol says the failed engagement \u2014 and the experience of processing it through the album \u2014 was emotionally taxing. The Colombian artist isn\u2019t known for making intimate music, but Ma\u00f1ana Ser\u00e1 Bonito<\/em> was steeped in the belief that vulnerability could offer a sense of autonomy. \u201cThe two weeks before the album came out, I couldn\u2019t sleep, I couldn\u2019t eat,\u201d she says. \u201cBeing so exposed in my music was very psychologically heavy.\u2026 Imagine something like this happening, and you have to tell millions of people what happened to you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe fallout of the relationship was bitter and resentful, sparking dialogues<\/a> and think pieces<\/a> about toxic masculinity and misogynoir, due in part to Anuel\u2019s petulant online antics and fans\u2019 anti-Black comments about his subsequent partner, the Dominican singer Yailin La M\u00e1s Viral (they have since parted ways). More recently, Anuel has resorted to tagging Karol in Instagram posts, seemingly mocking her song with Shakira, and taunting her at his concerts. At an awards show in June, he wore a T-shirt that read \u201cYou\u2019re with Feid, but you know that you\u2019re mine,\u201d a reference to her rumored relationship with the Colombian reggaeton artist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tBut while Ma\u00f1ana Ser\u00e1 Bonito<\/em> was about healing from the painful dissolution of a relationship, Bichota Season<\/em> takes on a different approach. Here, Karol is ready to move on from heartache, welcoming an uncompromising new era. To Karol, Bichota Season<\/em> represents both a personal credo and a temporal directive, declaring emancipation in the wake of romantic collapse. \u201cI go over the strange moments, the crazy moments, the difficult ones in my head,\u201d she says. \u201cThe moments where I felt, \u2018I\u2019m dying and I won\u2019t be able to deal with this.\u2019 It\u2019s what I had to go through to get to today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\nChrome Body Armor by KWK by Kay Kwok. Leather bra and panty by Zana Bayne. Shoes by Grounds.<\/span><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\t \u201cS91,\u201d<\/a> the first track released from Bichota Season,<\/em> was initially meant to be part of Ma\u00f1ana Ser\u00e1 Bonito.<\/em> \u201cS91\u201d includes a spoken sound bite of Karol reading Psalm 91, a mantra of power in her family. \u201cMy mom would say that it was a prayer of protection \u2014 that nothing could touch us,\u201d she explains. The song didn\u2019t fit with the rest of the album, but it also didn\u2019t quite work as a bonus track on a deluxe edition. \u201cIf I had included [\u201cS91\u201d on Ma\u00f1ana Ser\u00e1 Bonito<\/em>], when people listen to the whole album, the narrative would have been lost,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tSo instead, Karol used that song as a blueprint and dreamt up the Bichota Season<\/em> universe. In a sense, the album is much more confrontational, projecting a liberated future that still requires claws. Its title invokes the bad-bitch nickname she adopted in 2020 after releasing a song of the same name, though it originally refers to a Puerto Rican slang term meaning \u201ca female drug lord.\u201d In the past, the moniker has garnered some criticism from fans, who suggest that repurposing the word for empowerment erases the violence and struggle surrounding the term\u2019s true context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tKarol says Bichota Season<\/em> is about regaining \u201cself-confidence\u201d and \u201cgetting rid\u201d of fear. \u201cIt\u2019s about a woman who feels proud of where she is, of everything she had to go through. Of never abandoning herself, of always having an internal voice that told her, \u2018Go, you can do this.\u2019\u201d She adds that there\u2019s a message of self-worth here, too. \u201cThey teach us it\u2019s wrong to celebrate ourselves for something we have. And it\u2019s not. We have to be the first ones to give ourselves credit.\u201d She thinks about how she\u2019s worked through her own fears and hardships. \u201cA lot of things that don\u2019t scare me have happened in my life,\u201d she continues. \u201cI\u2019m not scared anymore, because I know I overcame them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tKarol hands me her silver AirPods Max, which are encrusted with crimson rhinestones in the shape of the mermaid doodle from the cover art of MSB.<\/em> She looks at me apprehensively, clearly nervous to play these songs for someone outside of her team for the first time (I hear her tell her publicist that she\u2019s curious about what I am writing in my notes as I listen). Before she presses play on her phone, she issues an important statement of intent about the album: \u201cIt\u2019s about my achievements and my successes as a person, but also in my career \u2026 the mental freedom I have to experiment with things in life no matter what \u2014 without thinking about it too much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tKarol G Talks About Selling Out Stadiums and Wanting to Be a Mom One Day\t\t\n\t\n<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n
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\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tKarol G Brings Her Stadium Show to the 2023 VMAs, Takes Home Award With Shakira\t\t\n\t\n<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n
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\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tBest Music of 2023: Staff Picks\t\t\n\t\n<\/h3>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe opening guitar strums of \u201cMi Ex Ten\u00eda Raz\u00f3n\u201d filter into the headphones, Karol\u2019s warm voice layered on top. A clatter of digital and acoustic drums cuts into the melody, kicking the song into high gear. It\u2019s pure Selena, an electro-Tejano lament that feels lifted straight from Amor Prohibido.<\/em> The Selena tribute is no surprise: Karol has a tattoo of the Tejana icon, along with Rihanna and her own face, on her forearm, forming a holy trinity of bichotas. \u201cThere was a long time in my life where I was super obsessed with her, and I would cry because I knew I was never going to meet her,\u201d she says. She especially admires her impact as a barrier-blurring, bicultural renegade. \u201cI\u2019ve seen interviews where Beyonc\u00e9 talks about her. Any artist, no matter their fame, knows who she is and recognizes her. It doesn\u2019t matter if they speak English or Spanish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe lyrics are sly and pointed: \u201cMi ex ten\u00eda raz\u00f3n<\/em>\/Dijo que no iba a encontrar uno como \u00e9l<\/em>\/Y me llevo uno mejor<\/em>\u201d (\u201cMy ex was right\/He said I wasn\u2019t going to find one like him\/And I ended up with someone better\u201d). It is seemingly a rejoinder to Anuel\u2019s recent single, \u201cMejor Que Yo,\u201d in which he assures an ex that she won\u2019t find anyone like him. But Karol is plangent and clear in this retort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tNow I know exactly what she means when she says it\u2019s bichota season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\tK<\/span>\n<\/span>\narol G became a star across Latin America back in 2017, after releasing her debut album, Unstoppable.<\/em> With the follow-ups Ocean<\/em> and KG0516,<\/em> she gradually built a reputation as a fan favorite in the world of pop reggaeton. In 2019, Karol got a fresh boost with \u201cTusa,\u201d her hit with Nicki Minaj, which has been streamed half a billion times in the U.S. alone. Karol was a household name across Latin America at that point, but Ma\u00f1ana Ser\u00e1 Bonito<\/em> kicked off a whole new chapter of success after it amassed a pile of historic accolades, including the unprecedented Billboard<\/em> 200 debut. \u201cIt\u2019s the start of some really chimba<\/em> things for me and my future,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tFor Bichota Season,<\/em> she worked primarily with producer Sky Rompiendo, a fellow paisa<\/em> who built his career making beats for J Balvin in the infancy of Medell\u00edn\u2019s reggaeton movement. There are also credits from MAG, the Dominican and Puerto Rican executive producer of Bad Bunny\u2019s Un Verano Sin Ti,<\/em> as well Edgar Barrera, the Grammy-winning songwriter who has penned hits for m\u00fasica Mexicana idols like Grupo Frontera, Fuerza Regida, and Christian Nodal. There are some provocative collaborations, too \u2014 one track with corridos tumbados man-of-the-moment Peso Pluma and another with Dutch EDM tycoon Ti\u00ebsto. She\u2019s also got two tracks with high-femme R&B vamp and fellow Colombian Kali Uchis: The first is a bouncy reggae breeze that appears on Bichota Season,<\/em> and the second is an old-school reggaeton heater that Karol says may come in October. \u201cWe\u2019ve spent a year and a half talking about this. We\u2019ve seen each other, gone to the studio together; she\u2019s been at my house, I\u2019ve been to her house. But Kali is like me, we\u2019re like \u2018zero pressure,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cWe made a ton of songs, and she would tell me, \u2018I don\u2019t like that one,\u2019 and I\u2019d tell her, \u2018I\u2019m not feeling it either.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\nChoker by Bianca Armer. Bracelet by DEFA\u00cfENCE<\/span><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\tBut it\u2019s the final song she mentions that is the juiciest: She tells me about a track she\u2019d been working on called \u201cVerano Rosa,\u201d which Feid had planned to jump on. \u201cIt\u2019s a song about heartbreak, which is the best part of it all,\u201d Karol says, grinning. She doesn\u2019t explicitly confirm the relationship, but the comment feels like a surreptitious acknowledgment that something<\/em> is going on between them. Later, in the rush to leave the hotel for her rehearsal at the Today<\/em> show, I accidentally pick up the wrong phone off the couch, thinking it\u2019s mine. It\u2019s actually Karol\u2019s, and the background is a candid shot of Feid, slightly sunburned and smiling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tUltimately, \u201cVerano Rosa\u201d was never finished. Karol wasn\u2019t able to complete it, partly because it took her time to find the right collaborator. \u201c[Feid] says, \u2018I know you\u2019ve thought of thousands of people and no one fits but \u2026 are you gonna let me get on that song?\u2019\u201d Karol recounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe two artists had known each other from Medell\u00edn, but they hadn\u2019t really kept in touch. \u201cThere was a long time when we didn\u2019t speak to each other, and I barely knew anything about him,\u201d she says. But when Feid started to break out of their hometown and chart across Latin America, Karol invited him to open her 2021 Bichota Tour. They previously collaborated on a song called \u201cFriki,\u201d which became a hit in Colombia. Yet Feid has unlocked a new level of fame in recent months \u2014 especially after his chart-busting hit with Puerto Rican rapper Young Miko, \u201cClassy 101,\u201d which recently made its Hot 100 debut. \u201cYou go and put on the radio [in Colombia], and it\u2019s like, \u2018Can we get permission for anyone else\u2019s songs to play?\u2019\u201d jokes Karol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tKarol has had Bichota Season<\/em> on repeat lately, and on the car ride to the Today<\/em> show\u2019s rehearsal, she queues up a couple of different tracks from the project. You can tell that she is thrilled about these songs, and ready to unleash them into the world. At one point, she puts on \u201cBichota G,\u201d an irascible trap song complete with gunshot sound effects, and a display of Karol\u2019s ability to actually rap.<\/em> When her song \u201cOki Doki\u201d comes on, she starts singing the lyrics, her index finger wagging in the air: \u201cNo me digas puta\/El error fue tuyo y la vida es m\u00eda<\/em>,\u201d (\u201cDon\u2019t call me a whore\/The mistake was yours and life is mine\u201d). Some of Karol\u2019s best songs are these kinds of battle cries \u2014 manifestos that don\u2019t deny the hurt, but inch toward recovery and independence. And as a woman who\u2019s spent a lifetime dealing with puerile man-children, the line cuts deep, so I tell Karol it\u2019s extremely relatable. \u201cThey really start to say those things about you, as if you were the messy one!\u201d she exclaims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$ <\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\tBut embracing both sorrow and fearlessness is something rarely afforded to women in reggaeton. Karol has struck a protean balance; her music pushes against the binary demand for either sentimentality or aggression, pursuing full spectrums of complicated, imperfect emotion. In a genre where women have historically been reduced to uncredited chorus girls or sexual servants, Karol doesn\u2019t fall into either role. \u201cSince we\u2019re little, at home, they tell us, \u2018Don\u2019t carry that, that\u2019s for men,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cAnd they start showing us \u2014 incorrectly \u2014 where we belong, where we don\u2019t belong, what we can do, what we can\u2019t do. When in reality, we can do everything.\u201d Karol sees the work she\u2019s been doing, alongside other women artists, as a step forward. \u201cWe are all paving the way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tBichota Season<\/em> bears a crucial message: Flattening yourself in service of a lover is an ugly, painful kind of concealment. Sometimes, living inside the textures of desolation can guide you back to yourself and your power. \u201cI swear to you, even in the moments when I\u2019ve been super mega in love, I still make music about heartbreak,\u201d says Karol. \u201cYou can put on the saddest songs in the world, and it\u2019s as if you were killing yourself, but really, you\u2019re healing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\tT<\/span>\n<\/span>\nhe residents of Medell\u00edn have long been beleaguered by stereotypes of violence and crime, but as it often happens, that myopic view has never told the full story. Instead, Karol says, her childhood was full of joy. She was spared from Medell\u00edn\u2019s darkest years of narcoterrorism in part because she was born two years before Pablo Escobar\u2019s death. She grew up in a middle-class home and had a massive extended family. Her father, Juan Guillermo Giraldo Ram\u00edrez, has 13 siblings, and many had three or four children. \u201cIn Medell\u00edn, people are super family-oriented,\u201d she explains. \u201cYou spend holidays, Sundays, and weekends with your parents, your grandparents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tShe developed an early connection with music, thanks in part to her dad. Juan Guillermo played in a band in his free time, performing all kinds of music \u2014 rock, salsa, ballads. She would sometimes sing with him at special events. Still, at school, she was shy, and often relied on her older sister to speak up for her. \u201cThat confidence was given to me at home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhen she was 14, her father suggested she try out for the Colombian version of X Factor.<\/em> She says she made it past the first three rounds of auditions, joining 10 other semifinalists after 50,000 people tried out. But she was eliminated before reaching the final competition. Still, Juan Guillermo was adamant that his daughter had a gift, and Karol was determined to pursue music. In 2006, she signed a record deal with Puerto Rican label Diamond Music, releasing a handful of tracks that never really took off, and her father ended up buying out the contract two years later. She was frustrated by the failures, and almost decided to give up on music altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIn spite of the adversity, Karol remembers that time fondly, especially because of her family\u2019s unconditional support. She and her parents would hand out CDs wherever they could \u2014 schools, universities, clubs, subway cars, buses. Or she\u2019d go to the city center, where she brought her music to street vendors in the hopes they\u2019d include her songs on the bootleg reggaeton compilation CDs and flash drives they hawked. \u201cThey\u2019d sell, let\u2019s say, something like Reggaeton Hits.<\/em> So it\u2019d be Wisin y Yandel, Daddy Yankee, and one Karol G, who no one knew,\u201d she says, snickering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIn 2008, Karol landed a meeting with Universal Music Latino, which offered her a deal as an in-house songwriter. But she was certain she wanted a career as a proper solo act, so she turned it down. Feeling lost and defeated, she went to New York to study marketing and live with her aunt on Long Island. One day while commuting, she spotted an ad for the Boston Music Conference. She decided to attend the industry event out of curiosity. It reinvigorated her, motivating her to return to music with renewed discipline. She packed her bags and went back to Medell\u00edn, where she took courses in composition, music theory, and voice at the University of Antioquia for five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t $\"\"$ \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\nChrome Body Armor by KWK by Kay Kwok. Choker by Bianca Armer<\/span><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\tKarol had grown up listening to reggaeton, obsessed with Boricua legends like Ivy Queen and Wisin y Yandel, along with genre-defining mixtapes like El Chombo\u2019s Cuentos de la Cripta<\/em> series. But by 2013, when she had returned to Medell\u00edn, reggaeton was taking a different racial and geographical shape. The metropolis had become a nucleus for a new reggaeton sound, first pioneered by artists like Fainal y Shako, Reykon, and Golpe a Golpe. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say, \u2018I want to be like Lady Gaga\u2019 in interviews,\u201d she remembers. \u201cI\u2019d say, \u2018I dream of being like Fainal y Shako.\u2019 That\u2019s how big they were.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThen a younger generation of producers and artists, including J Balvin, Maluma, Sky Rompiendo, and the Rude Boyz, started to remake the genre, giving it a high-gloss, synth-forward, radio-ready veneer \u2014 a reinvention that has become a flashpoint for critiques about reggaeton\u2019s whitewashing and dilution into mediocre pop music. Karol says that Medell\u00edn producers didn\u2019t have the necessary drum kits or sample packs to make reggaeton in the more hard-hitting Puerto Rican tradition, so they invented their own style. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have the sounds, the files, none of what they had,\u201d she explains. \u201cWe\u2019d try to make it so it sounded similar, but with what we had.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThat conversation about Medell\u00edn has intersected with a broader racial reckoning in reggaeton, due in part to industry-wide missteps when it comes to acknowledging racism \u2014 Karol included. In 2020, she faced backlash from fans after she tweeted a photo of her dog during the George Floyd protests with the caption: \u201cThe perfect example that Black and White together look beautiful.\u201d The statement was ridiculed for being tactless, and Karol later issued an apology in which she said, \u201cI recognize that the way I expressed myself was not right.\u201d In 2021, she told Rolling Stone<\/em>: \u201cI\u2019m aware that I will never be able to talk about these causes in a way of experience, but I can better educate myself in these topics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIt wasn\u2019t until Karol met her longtime producer Ovy on the Drums that she really started cultivating her signature style. Ovy says he\u2019d been called in to help with her 2013 single with Nicky Jam, \u201cAmor de Dos,\u201d and he went to Karol\u2019s house one day to deliver the final product. Ovy overheard Karol talking about how she needed a DJ to accompany her at shows, and thinking he could take advantage of the opening, suggested himself \u2014 even though he had no idea how to DJ. \u201cHe says that, and I turn around, like, \u2018You\u2019re a DJ?\u2019 \u2018Yes, I\u2019m a DJ for some people in Medell\u00edn.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018So you\u2019re gonna leave those people in Medell\u00edn for me?\u2019 Horrible!\u201d She laughs it off now: \u201cMy first reaction was like, \u2018Who is this? And why did he insert himself into this conversation?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cWe didn\u2019t really get along at first,\u201d Ovy said in a video interview. \u201cShe didn\u2019t really like that I was so forward at that moment.\u201d But Karol gave him a chance. Ovy borrowed a sampler from a friend and learned how to DJ for one of her gigs the following day. After earning more of her trust, Ovy suggested they work on a song together, which became \u201cRicos Besos.\u201d Karol was immediately impressed. \u201cIt was like he took a chip from my brain,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was exactly what I wanted for the song, and that\u2019s what has always happened with Ovy.\u201d Ovy shares the feeling. \u201cThe chemistry was born in the first song,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s always been a fluid energy between us.\u2026 Musically, I\u2019ve given her my best and she\u2019s given me her best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t $\"\"$ \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t<\/figcaption>\n\n\t\t\t\nChrome Body Armor by KWK by Kay Kwok. Leather bra and panty by Zana Bayne.<\/span><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\tSoon, the pair started collaborating as a bona fide producer-singer team, similar to fellow Medell\u00edn-based duos J Balvin and Sky Rompiendo, or Nicky Jam and Saga WhiteBlack. They holed up in Ovy\u2019s father\u2019s apartment to record, using mattresses to soundproof the room. Eventually, they built a makeshift studio at Karol\u2019s house, with the help of some cousins, Karol\u2019s father, and friends; at one point, they even laid bricks themselves. \u201cWe\u2019d make music every day,\u201d remembers Ovy. \u201cI\u2019d arrive at Karol\u2019s house at eight or nine in the morning, and I\u2019d leave at 2 a.m.\u2026 Sometimes it\u2019d be so late; I\u2019d be so tired. And I\u2019d sleep at her house.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tKarol and Ovy have been working together for a decade now \u2014 he produced a few tracks on Bichota Season.<\/em> He says that she\u2019s interested in more than just making hits. Her vision is more holistic. \u201cShe\u2019s a woman who has it figured out. She\u2019s always thinking about innovating, about doing something different. Not just musically, but in her image,\u201d he explains. \u201cWhen we finish a song, she sees possibilities that you never saw.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAnd, of course, he points out how magnetic she is. \u201cShe can have a million problems,\u201d he says. \u201cBut you\u2019re always going to see her with a smile, always with a good attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\tT<\/span>\n<\/span>\nhat energy radiates from Karol when she\u2019s onstage at the Today<\/em> show. During a break in the performance, she joins the hosts to greet her fans, calling them her \u201cdream come true,\u201d the tooth gem in her incisor glinting in the sunlight. The audience members, sporting white, Feid-style sunglasses and traditional Colombian vueltiao<\/em> hats, holler with glee, spilling out onto the plaza. This might as well be at an arena show. When the tenebrous opening notes of \u201cTQG\u201d hit, the screams become deafening. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna sing this one real loud, right from here,\u201d says Karol, pointing to her heart. I look at the crowd, some yelling at the top of their lungs, others chins\u2019 quivering as tears well up in their eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAlmost as soon as she gets offstage, Karol has even more to do: First, she\u2019s shuffled off to do a rapid-fire interview called \u201c8 Questions Before 8 a.m.\u201d Then there\u2019s an in-studio interview, this time with the hosts of the Today<\/em> show. After that, some social hits. Then a third interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tBut eventually, it all catches up to her. After the on-camera conversation with the hosts, she heads back to the greenroom for a short break. It\u2019s been a hectic few hours, and she\u2019s been holding back tears of joy this whole time, never pausing to digest the magnitude of this moment. Once she arrives in the greenroom, she covers her face with her hands and begins to cry. The room hushes. Through breathy sobs, she begins to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cSo many good things come to us. I think it\u2019s so crazy,\u201d she says, her voice trembling. \u201cBeyonc\u00e9, Shakira, Rihanna, Ricky Martin have been some of the artists [they\u2019ve had here], and they tell you that you broke attendance records. It\u2019s something you don\u2019t believe; it feels like it\u2019s a lie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tKarol\u2019s t\u00eda gently steps in to console her. \u201cBut mami, you\u2019ve really fought so hard for this. All of you have worked hard,\u201d she says, gesturing to everyone in the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tKarol lifts her face out of her hands and wipes the tears from the creases of her eyes. You can practically see the spunk returning to her cheeks. \u201cI\u2019m very happy. Let\u2019s go for more,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re doing something special, and I don\u2019t mean just me. Many Latino artists are making a massive effort for our community. It\u2019s really big what\u2019s happening, because they didn\u2019t expect that. They didn\u2019t expect that because they don\u2019t understand that Latinos stand up for Latinos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tOne of her managers agrees, his voice breaking. \u201cYou see these things and you\u2019re like, \u2018One day, one day.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201cOh, no, everyone is gonna start to cry,\u201d says Karol, and the room bursts into laughter. In the corner, another member of Karol\u2019s team yelps, \u201cSomeone tell a joke!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhen she\u2019s done weeping, Karol walks toward a nearby monitor replaying her performance of \u201cTus Gafitas.\u201d The camera scans across the crowd, fans beaming and bopping along to every word. Karol shrieks, elated by what she sees onscreen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\u201c\u00a1Que chimba!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\t
Production credits<\/p>\n\t
Production by RHIANNA RULE<\/strong>. Photography direction by EMMA REEVES<\/strong>. 3D typeface by TOM COBEN<\/strong>. Hair by JOERI ROUFFA<\/strong> for THE WALL GROUP<\/strong>. Makeup by ALEXANDRA FRENCH<\/strong> for FORWARD ARTISTS<\/strong>. Nails by EMI KUDO <\/strong>for A-FRAME AGENCY<\/strong>. Tailoring by HUGO<\/strong>. Photography Assistance by LAURA BERROU<\/strong> and JJ GEIGER<\/strong>. Styling Assistance by RAUL MAGDALENO<\/strong> and JORDAN SHAFFER<\/strong>. Production assistance by DOUG STUCKEY<\/strong> and MIKEY DE VERA<\/strong>. Photographed at SMASHBOX STUDIOS.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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