Colombian singer Karol G has welcomed a new stage in her musical career with the album “Tropicoqueta,” where she has not only displayed her talent, but also a celebration of her Latin roots through explosive sounds and collaborations.

On the occasion of the release of her fifth studio album, host Zane Lowe traveled to Valledupar, Colombia for an intimate chat for Apple Music in which the artist spoke about the inspirations and creative process behind this project. In addition, she reflected on her mental health journey and what awaits her professionally and personally in the coming years.

According to Karol G, “Tropicoqueta” is the result of her love for the Latin community and the elements that comprise it. Although I'd dreamed of paying tribute to her for years, it was during her 2022 Coachella performance that this desire became impossible to ignore.

“My show is about 60 or 70 minutes long, and I dedicated 15 minutes to paying tribute to my Latinx community, singing songs by Celia Cruz, Shakira, Selena Quintanilla, Ricky Martin, 'Despacito.' All these artists who, for me, gave me the opportunity to be on that stage.

And that day was, like, my biggest manifestation of saying, 'I'm going to be a representative of my culture.' So this is the moment. That's the moment where it all started. And all day long with my team, I was dreaming of a moment where I could create an album full of different things. Different things, different sounds. It's going to be difficult. It's going to be a challenge. Because you don't have just one... If you listen to it, it's... You're on a plane going everywhere. It's a journey through all the places,” he highlighted.

For Carolina Giraldo Navarro, the artist’s real name, this is her most personal and complex project, which is why she considers it the trigger of a “before and after” in her career.

“Before, I did things on the fly, you know? I just took advantage of opportunities. But this album was created from scratch. So I’m creating everything from scratch. My tour,everything. So I have the opportunity to study what I really want to learn, for... For everything that's to come, I'm going to be the best version of myself for myself. For how I want to see myself. So I think after this, I'll be ready to take the next step and explore all the different things in my life,” she told Zane Lowe.

It's this dedication and state of vulnerability that gave Karol G a different taste in her mouth regarding the release of “Tropicoqueta”: “I think for me, delivering this album to my team was the hardest part. I made a lot of changes to the dates. I created a very personal relationship with this album because I really enjoyed creating it. You know? When you have something that you love so much that you're not able to put it out for people to judge and talk about,” the famous woman highlighted.

“It's difficult. For me, putting this album out and having people judge it, even though they don't have time to understand why I made the songs, why I chose this path, is difficult because I love it so much. I don't want anyone to touch it and ruin it, you know? But that's how it is. You know? It's what you have to do, because if I don't put the music out, how am I going to continue spreading the blessings of everything? ” she questioned about it.

Karol G also spoke about the story behind the title of her new album, arguing that it is the fusion of the two most important elements of her musical proposal: self-confidence and her love for tropical sounds:

“I think I'm kind of a person in each album. So for this one, I felt like there were a lot of congas in the songs. A lot. I think the main character is the congas. And it's very tropical, you know? That sound is super tropical. And I thought, 'How can I find my way to have this name in this tropical world?'” For us, 'coqueta' is that flirtatious girl who is very sure of herself, so I just added 'tropical' at the beginning and came up with this new name for my album that I think perfectly expresses the world we're in," she reiterated.

Finally, the Colombian emphasized that, once again, love is the main driving force behind her career: "Love is approached in a different way than my last album, because on my last album I think I was protecting myself a lot and I talked about love with a lot of fear. Without any confidence. But on this album, love is present in the biggest way. Even if you love someone you can't be with, you're going to sing about it without... you know? Without fear, without shame, without anything. Everything on this album, every song, is approached in a specific way," the music star concluded.