Karol G

Medellín, then New York

Carolina Giraldo Navarro was born in Medellín on 14 February 1991, the youngest of three children. She appeared on the Colombian version of The X Factor at 14, studied music at the University of Antioquia, and put out songs sporadically from 2007 without much traction. Universal turned her down, the reason given being that a woman would not succeed in reggaetón, so she and her father booked and promoted her around Colombian venues themselves.

In 2014 she moved to New York to study the business side of the industry, which by her own account restored her appetite for making records. The break came in May 2017 with 'Ahora Me Llama' alongside Bad Bunny, a track that has since passed a billion views on YouTube. Her debut album Unstoppable followed that October and entered the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart at number two.

The records that moved her up a tier

January 2019 brought 'Secreto', the duet with Anuel AA that doubled as the announcement of their relationship, and the album Ocean arrived that May. 'Tusa', with Nicki Minaj, turned into the first of her songs that travelled well beyond Spanish-language radio. Her third album, KG0516, came in March 2021 and topped the US Latin albums chart.

The step change was Mañana Será Bonito in February 2023, the first Spanish-language album by a female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. 'TQG', recorded with Shakira, reached number seven on the Hot 100 and remains her highest-charting single. In February 2024 she won her first Grammy, for Best Música Urbana Album, adding to eight Latin Grammys that include Album of the Year, five Billboard Music Awards and eleven Guinness World Records; the same year Billboard's Women in Music awards named her Woman of the Year.

The touring business grew at the same rate. The Mañana Será Bonito World Tour grossed more than $300 million across 62 shows, which is the number that made a 2026 stadium run across three continents a reasonable proposition rather than a gamble.

Tropicoqueta and the pan-Latin turn

Tropicoqueta, her fifth album, landed in June 2025 and went to number one on Billboard's Top Latin Albums chart. It moved away from the reggaetón-and-trap core towards the wider pan-Latin palette she grew up on: merengue, bachata, bolero, Brazilian funk, mariachi. 'Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido', the merengue single, became the record's most durable song and is now reworked on stage as Dominican bachata.

That album supplied the visual language she is still touring. Its tropical imagery — orange everywhere, feathers, fruit, parrots — is what the stadium production is built from, and the tour takes its name from it.

In April 2026 she headlined Coachella, the first Latina artist to do so. The world tour was announced days later, on 21 April 2026.

No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto

Her sixth album, No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto, was released on 7 August 2026 through Bichota Records and Interscope: fourteen tracks, 42 minutes and 54 seconds, with Drake, Bruno Mars, Judeline, rusowsky and Greg Gonzalez of Cigarettes After Sex among the guests. Edgar Barrera, Tainy, Cashmere Cat, Omer Fedi and Mars himself are among the producers.

She has traced the record to a stretch of solo hiking in Hawaii in late 2025 and describes it as showing 'a more intimate Carolina', working through what solitude looks like inside the machinery of a career this size. The framing she has used is deliberately domestic — 'existing in our room at night, lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to music'.

It debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 with 50,000 equivalent units, her fourth top-ten entry there, and went to number one on both Top Latin Albums and Latin Pop Albums, reaching number three in Spain. The singles were 'Después de Ti' with Greg Gonzalez on 23 April 2026, 'Matadora' on 24 July, and 'Still' with Bruno Mars on 11 August.

Standing, October 2026

The Viajando Por El Mundo Tropitour opened at Soldier Field in Chicago on 24 July 2026, the same day 'Matadora' came out, and ran through North America over the summer and early autumn: Northwest Stadium in Landover on 2 August, Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on album-release day, SoFi on 14 August, Levi's Stadium on 21 August, State Farm Stadium on 29 August, the Alamodome on 2 September, Gillette on 12 September, MetLife on 18 and 19 September, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on 24 September and Reliant Stadium in Houston on 27 September. Hard Rock Stadium in Miami followed on 2 and 3 October, with Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on 9 October.

The itinerary covers 18 countries and continues into Europe and beyond before closing in June 2027, which will make her the first Latina artist to headline stadiums across Europe. Becky G, Greeicy and Elena Rose appear on selected dates.

What happens on stage

The Houston show on 27 September ran to 38 items across five titled acts, including taped interludes, and the structure has held steady from city to city: the Tropicoqueta material and its regional detours first, the heartbreak section from the new album in the middle, then the hits.

Act three is where the new record does its work, and it is also where the guests turn up. At MetLife on 18 September, Tainy, Judeline and rusowsky joined her for 'Bby Wow', the first time all four had performed it together. In Houston on 27 September, Drake came out at the end of their collaboration 'Ahí', then played 'Janice STFU' and 'One Dance' with her dancing alongside him. Becky G took the second verse of 'MAMIII' the same night.

Reviewers have been positive without much reservation. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's DeAsia Paige called the Mercedes-Benz Stadium show both theatrical and empowering and said it turned the building into a Latin musical fantasia; Consequence read the MetLife night as a love letter to Latinidad, heartbreak and the woman behind La Bichota.