With her fourth studio album, 'Mañana será bonito', the 33-year-old singer Karol G has made her name go down forever in the music history books: best debut of a Latin female album in the history of Spotify, first Spanish-language album by a female artist to top the Billboard chart, winner of a US Grammy for best urban music album and big winner of the Latin Grammys by winning all three main awards. The final party of a massive tour around the world, held in the capital of Madrid on July 20, 21, 22 and 23, will be no less spectacular: it is the first time that a woman manages to fill four stadiums in the country in a row. A milestone that represents the culmination of a road full of obstacles.Christopher Polk (Billboard via Getty Images)Born in Medellin in 1991, Carolina Giraldo showed from a very young age her great artistic talent and her admiration for artists such as the late Selena Quintanilla. Her father, a professional musician in a cover band, put his career aside and became her first manager. She auditioned for the Colombian edition of 'Factor X' and signed a contract with a small Puerto Rican record label, with little impact. She performed in all kinds of events and distributed her albums in buses, schools and trains, but the industry refused to back a woman singing reggaeton and only offered her work as a songwriter. In 2012, discouraged by her lack of success, she decided to put her career on hold and went to New York to learn English and study marketing. Her father, disappointed that his daughter wanted to throw away seven years of work, stopped talking to her for months. One day, while riding the bus through Manhattan, she came across a poster for a music industry conference in Boston. She attended, was fascinated by what she heard there and returned to Colombia ready to become an international star. Her most recent milestone was singing the Colombian national anthem at the Copa America final between Colombia and Argentina, which was won by Argentina.Omar Vega (Getty Images)Taking advantage of the fact that Medellín was rising as the epicenter of a new style of reggaeton, more open to other sound and lyrical influences, she built a studio in her family home and surrounded herself with budding idols such as a very young J. Balvin, Ozuna or Bad Bunny. Her first album with Universal, 'Unstoppable', released in 2017, finally put her on the map by earning her a Latin Grammy for Best Emerging Artist. Her next album, 'Ocean', would cement that status of 'the next big thing', endowing her with her own personality by singing unabashedly about sex with singles like 'Mi cama' or 'Punto G'. Mike Coppola (Getty Images for MTV)
The real turning point in her career came in the fall of 2019. Making half the world search for the meaning of “tusa,” a Colombian expression that talks about the feeling of sadness at the end of a love relationship, Karol G became the global star she promised to be. For more than a year, this collaboration with Nicki Minaj swept the charts, stages and platforms such as Spotify and YouTube, where it broke viewing records. La Bichota, nickname by which she is popularly known, which also gives title to another of her greatest hits, is already an international mass phenomenon and 'Tusa', the soundtrack of the new decade.Parallel to her meteoric rise, Karol G had a media-intense relationship with Puerto Rican singer Anuel AA, one of the most controversial references of the urban genre. Their romance lasted three years and did not end well, as they have not hesitated to throw all kinds of darts at each other both on and off stage despite the fact that both have started new relationships. In her hit 'TQG', together with Shakira, she sings: “You left saying that you got over me and got yourself a new girlfriend, what she doesn't know is that you are still seeing all my stories.” Karol G is called the “queen of spite” for a reason.Victor Chavez (Getty Images)The pop star is considered one of the leading Latin voices for female empowerment. Her foundation Con Cora, born in 2022, is dedicated to supporting female heads of households, teenage mothers and at-risk youth to provide them with educational, employment and artistic opportunities that will enable them to lead a dignified life. “For many, many years I felt very let down by the fact that I was a woman,” admitted La Bichota upon receiving the Billboard Woman of the Year award in March. “I was met along the way with so many rejections and so many missed opportunities for that reason that I wondered why I wasn't born a man to exploit all of this, that love, that desire and the passion I felt for music, all the desire. It was assumed that because I was a woman I could not make it and for a long time I believed that story, I believed that it was not for me, so many times I was told that I could not make it.”JULIEN DE ROSA (AFP via Getty Images)
Although Karol G has chosen the Real Madrid stadium to end to her world tour, the truth is that the artist, born in Medellin, has figured prominently on the blue-and-red shirts of the club's eternal rival, the Barça. On the occasion of the last Spanish soccer derby held in April, the FC Barcelona players wore the artist's logo on their chest, a white spiky heart with her name inside.David Ramos (Getty Images)Karol G currently maintains a discreet relationship with another urban reference, Feid, also a native of Medellin. Their love was born in the recording studio in 2021, while they collaborated on the single they both have in common, 'Friki', and the couple has remained stable. It was this past spring when they were seen together in public for the first time.Christopher Polk (Billboard via Getty Images)From Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey to Katy Perry and Taylor Swift, the history of pop music would not be the same without the more or less prefabricated or misogynistic rivalries between contemporary divas. One of the most current rivalry, real or not, pits Rosalía against Karol G for the throne of the great queen of Latin music, a clash more motivated by the passion of both 'fans' than by what is publicly expressed by themselves. There are hundreds of tweets that claim that the Colombian star has been copying every musical or aesthetic milestone by the Spanish singer: from the manicure to the choreography or even the staging of her shows. The latest controversy in this regard took place just a few days ago, when many accused Karol G of having been inspired by 'Despechá' for the merengue rhythm of her latest single, 'Si antes te hubiera conocido'. David Becker (Getty Images for LARAS)This 2024 also saw the Colombian singer's acting debut in the Netflix series 'Griselda', about the life of a drug trafficker starring Sofia Vergara. Although she has given no further clues about continuing her career as a performer, she has admitted in several interviews that her personal dream is to explore as many facets of herself as possible and that the acting classes she received for the cameo have helped her feel more comfortable on stage.If there is a fact that indicates without a margin of error that someone is on the crest of the wave at a global level, it is, without a doubt, receiving an invitation to attend the exclusive Met Gala. Karol G debuted this past May on the red carpet dressed as an elf with a Marc Jacobs design marked by volumes, transparencies and rhinestones. Although today brands are fighting over her and thousands of fans copy her characteristic hair color changes -from blue to intense red- this was not always the case. The singer herself admitted that a few years ago no brand wanted to dress her in their latest collections, and that she had to go to the stores herself to create her own outfits.Aliah Anderson (Getty Images)Last year Karol G starred in her first fashion campaign with Loewe for the Paula's Ibiza collection. In the picture, at a fashion show in March 2023 at the Chateau de Vincennes in Paris.Swan Gallet (WWD via Getty Images)
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