KAROL G

Colombia's Karol G ranks among the most commercially dominant and decorated vocalists in contemporary Latin music, fusing reggaeton with pop and dance-tinged R&B. Repeated team-ups with urbano figures such as Nicky Jam, Anuel AA, Bad Bunny, J Balvin, Maluma, and Pitbull routinely landed inside the Billboard Top 100, while the corresponding videos accumulated hundreds of millions of views. Although she put out her debut single at age 16 in 2007, the following ten years proved difficult because reggaeton remained overwhelmingly male-dominated. Only after surpassing a billion YouTube views and hundreds of millions of streams did she issue her first album, Unstoppable, in 2017. Two years later she reached genuine superstardom through number-one singles including “Tusa” with Nicki Minaj, “China” alongside Anuel AA, Daddy Yankee, Ozuna, and J Balvin, and “Ocean,” the title track from her sophomore release that peaked at number 22 on the Billboard 200. Throughout 2020 she maintained an almost nonstop chart presence via joint releases such as “Enjoy Yourself” with Pop Smoke and “Follow” with Anuel AA, plus solo cuts like “Ay, Dios Mío!” and “Bichota.” March 2021 brought her third studio album, the chart-topping KG0516. Her fourth project, 2023’s Mañana Será Bonito, elevated her further, collecting multiple Grammy wins that extended into 2024.

Carolina Giraldo Rivera was born in Medellín, Colombia, in 1991 and displayed an early fascination with music shaped by her father’s career as a working musician. After finishing high school she enrolled in music studies at the University of Antioquia. Her initial national exposure arrived in 2010 when she appeared on Colombia’s edition of The X Factor, titled El Factor X. Two years later a duet with Colombian reggaeton artist Reykon on the single “301” raised her visibility further. In 2013 she issued her first solo single, “Amor de Dos,” which featured Nicky Jam. Additional singles that gained traction included “Ricos Besos,” “Manyana,” and “Ya No Te Creo.” She followed with the Daniel Echavarria-produced track “Casi Nada” in 2016. The next year, “Ahora Me Llama,” a collaboration with Bad Bunny, became a breakout hit and appeared on her debut full-length, Unstoppable, released in October 2017, which reached number two on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart.

Early 2018 saw the release of the provocative single “Mi Cama.” Another track, “Punto G,” arrived in 2019, earned the Premio ASCAP award for Best Song, and received three nominations at the Billboard Latin Music Awards. In April 2020 Karol G and Anuel AA unveiled the joint single and video “Follow,” filmed during their Miami quarantine; the clip amassed 20 million views within its first four days. “Ay, Dios Mío!” followed in July 2020, climbing to number five on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart and surpassing 400 million views on its video. She also joined the Jonas Brothers on “X,” which debuted over the closing credits of their documentary Happiness Continues; the corresponding video was assembled from iPhone footage each artist recorded separately. Later that year she contributed to Pop Smoke’s Top 40 single “Enjoy Yourself.” Although “Ay, Dios Mío!” charted in more than a dozen countries, it did not enter the U.S. Hot 100; its video nevertheless exceeded 400 million views. Additional 2020 collaborations included the number-three “Carmelo” with Ozuna and Myke Towers, while the anthemic “Bichota,” issued in December, also peaked at number three on Hot Latin Songs and accumulated nearly 700 million views.

On February 2, 2021—sixteen days before her thirtieth birthday—Karol G released “Location” featuring Anuel AA and J Balvin; the video surpassed 130 million views in its opening month and the song reached number five on Hot Latin Songs. Her third album, the Grammy-nominated KG0516, titled after the date she signed her first record contract, arrived in late March and was co-produced with Ovy on the Drums. The sixteen-track set contained her Latin Grammy-nominated “Tusa” with Nicki Minaj and most of the preceding year’s singles, alongside six new solo performances and ten new collaborations with Mariah Angeliq (“El Makinon”), Ozuna (“Odisea”), Nathy Peluso (“Gato Malo”), Yandar & Yostin (“Sola Es Mejor”), and Ludacris and Emilee (“Beautiful Boy”). With KG0516 Karol G became the first female Latin artist to debut a Spanish-language album simultaneously at number one on both the global streaming and Top Latin Albums charts. The “El Makinon” video logged 28 million views in three days.

Her momentum persisted into 2022 with the Becky G collaboration “Mamiii” and her own single “Provenza,” both reaching number one on multiple charts. Further joint releases with Maldy (“Gatúbela”), Romeo Santos (“X Si Volvemos”), and Ovy on the Drums (“Cairo”) preceded her fourth studio album, Mañana Será Bonito, which arrived in February 2023. The project captured Album of the Year at the Latin Grammy Awards and was followed later that year by the club-oriented mixtape Mañana Será Bonito: Bichota Season. One year after its release, Mañana Será Bonito earned the Grammy for Best Música Urbana Album. By the close of 2024 Karol G had added several more Top Ten Latin hits, among them the Tiësto collaboration “Contigo” and “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido,” which topped Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart and reached number one in multiple countries. She also peaked at number four on the Latin chart with “+57,” a track uniting her with Feid, DFZM, Ovy on the Drums, J Balvin, Maluma, Ryan Castro, and Blessd.