In her new Complex cover story, Karol G opened up about the exact moment she found inspiration for her new album, Tropicoqueta. Her goal for the project was ambitious, creating “the greatest Latina album in history.” What began as a spark on the dance floor grew into Karol G’s most ambitious project yet.
Tropicoqueta is a 20-track journey through Latin America’s stories and rhythms. But her cover story doesn’t just touch on the music. She talks about the importance of symbolism that reclaims power, her goals for Tropicoqueta, and more. Here are 10 takeaways from the cover story that show how Karol G is pushing herself further than ever with Tropicoqueta.
After a session with self-help author Robin Sharma, Karol G journaled her vision to create “the greatest Latina album in history” with intention, manifestation, and self-reflection, setting the tone for her most ambitious project yet. “The world and universe and God showed me that I can get to places that I never thought I would,” she said.
The origin of Tropicoqueta came from Karol’s experience during a party hosted by soccer stars Luis Suárez and Lionel Messi, where she watched how people came alive as they danced to cumbia music from Uruguay and Argentina. That’s why each track on the album pays homage to different Latin American genres.
The joy and cultural pride that Karol witnessed on the dance floor sparked such a pivotal realization for her that it made her want to create an album that represented a variety of cultures.
She purposely structured Tropicoqueta as a 20-song journey through the continent, weaving different genres of music together, such as ranchera, dembow, bachata, and Argentinian cumbia. It’s Karol G’s most culturally expansive and personal project to date, an intentional celebration of Latin American music, showcasing her exploration of a diverse range of genres beyond her usual reggaetón. This celebration of genres allows her to showcase her versatility and connection to her roots.
Karol G was inspired by seeing fans from all different places and identities, waving flags and embracing their cultural identity at her concerts. Tropicoqueta reflects her bigger desire to inspire and educate younger generations of Latines on their cultural heritage, while offering diaspora audiences a powerful sense of connection and pride.
“I was like, maybe I’ll do a song for every single genre that represents our Latina community,” she said.
Karol explicitly emphasized the leadership role that she took in the album’s production, arrangement, and instrumentation, which counters perceptions that her male collaborators are the ones driving the creative force behind her work.
“My participation as a producer is super important to me, because every sound is something that I was like, I want this melody with a violin, or I want this melody with a guitar, with a drum, with a piano. I’m involved in almost all of the tracks,” she said.
She noted how people sometimes think her male producers are just giving her beats, when that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
“Every single instrument that is on this album has come from what I’ve listened to all my life, and it’s meant to be there for a reason.”
The snake featured in the cover shoot is reinterpreted as a symbol of resilience and transformation, which aligns with the album’s themes of Latin empowerment for not only Karol herself, but the community as a whole.
“People interpret snakes as revenge, kind of an evil element. But for our ancestors, it was like resilience, changing, even eternity,” she said.
On previous albums, such as Mañana Será Bonito, themes of heartbreak being processed through compartmentalization were showcased, however Tropicoqueta highlights all of the different aspects of emotion: love, joy, vulnerability, and pain are processed in a transparent and unapologetic way.
Karol G’s new relationship with Salomón Villada Hoyos, better known as Feid, stemmed from the Medellín musician opening for her on tour. However, Karol G is keeping this love story to herself.
“I have a really healthy relationship—I don’t want to get back to a place where everyone is talking about my personal life,” she said. “I’m in a really great spot in life. It’s crazy at the same time, because sometimes we can’t see each other, but then when we get together it’s really deep and really special.”
Karol G’s artistic career reflects a long journey of overcoming industry skepticism and sexism. In her Netflix documentary Mañana Fue Bonito (Tomorrow Was Beautiful), Karol G admitted that early in her career she wished, at times, to have been born a man. But she eventually doubled down on overcoming the industry’s misogyny and breaking records as a woman.
Before landing on the final concept for Tropicoqueta, Karol G contemplated doing an all-English album, but shied away from it, realizing that an all-English album doesn’t align with her, the music she listens to, and most importantly, her heart.
With the focus of her previous music being on reggaetón, Karol G used Tropicoqueta to explore more than one genre, providing a song for nearly every region of Latin America.
