# Tropicoqueta
**Tropicoqueta** is the fifth studio album by the Colombian singer [Karol G](https://www.edgepedia.org/karol-g), released on 20 June 2025 through the Bichota label and billed by her record company as her most intimate, theatrical, and daring project to date[1](https://www.universalmusic.com.br/2025/06/20/karol-g-inicia-nova-era-com-o-lancamento-do-album-tropicoqueta/) • [2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/karol-g-tropicoqueta/). Across 20 tracks, the album sets aside the pop-reggaeton mode that made the singer's name and moves through the tropical, folkloric, and regional sounds of Latin America, from merengue, salsa, and bachata to ranchera, cumbia, and Brazilian funk[3](https://los40.com/2026/06/20/tropicoqueta-de-karol-g-cumple-un-ano-pero-ahora-que/) • [4](https://apnews.com/article/d96172870cb59df26f415c05b20940a0). Karol G described the record as "a love letter to who we are," and has called it "the album of my dreams"[1](https://www.universalmusic.com.br/2025/06/20/karol-g-inicia-nova-era-com-o-lancamento-do-album-tropicoqueta/) • [5](https://www.upcoming100.com/interview-detail.php?interview_id=886%2Fkarol-g-calls-her-latest-work-the-album-of-her-dreams%2F).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Artist / release | Karol G, fifth studio album, released 20 June 2025[1](https://www.universalmusic.com.br/2025/06/20/karol-g-inicia-nova-era-com-o-lancamento-do-album-tropicoqueta/) |
| Label | Bichota; Pitchfork catalogs the genre as Pop/R&B[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/karol-g-tropicoqueta/) |
| Length | 20 tracks[3](https://los40.com/2026/06/20/tropicoqueta-de-karol-g-cumple-un-ano-pero-ahora-que/) |
| Genres | Latin urban music fused with merengue, salsa, bachata, technocumbia, vallenato, ranchera/mariachi, cumbia, dembow, and mambo[4](https://apnews.com/article/d96172870cb59df26f415c05b20940a0) |
| Guests | Thalía, Marco Antonio Solís, Feid, Manu Chao, Eddy Lover, Greeicy, and Mariah Angeliq[1](https://www.universalmusic.com.br/2025/06/20/karol-g-inicia-nova-era-com-o-lancamento-do-album-tropicoqueta/) |
| Latin Grammys | "Coleccionando Heridas" nominated for record and song of the year; "Ese Hombre Es Malo" nominated for best regional Mexican song[4](https://apnews.com/article/d96172870cb59df26f415c05b20940a0) |
| Tour | Promoted through the Tropicoqueta Tour, which El País called her largest United States tour, closing in October 2026[6](https://elpais.com/us/entretenimiento/2026-10-16/karol-g-finaliza-su-gira-mas-grande-en-estados-unidos-y-afianza-su-posicion-en-el-pais.html) |
## Concept and origins
**The idea** came, Karol G told Complex, at a party hosted by the footballers [Luis Suárez](https://www.edgepedia.org/luis-suarez) and [Lionel Messi](https://www.edgepedia.org/lionel-messi), where guests danced to the cumbia styles of Uruguay and Argentina. "Everyone was super happy because it represented those places," she said. "So I was like, Maybe I'll do a song for every single genre that represents our Latina community"[7](https://www.complex.com/music/a/tova-golland/karol-g-tropicoqueta-album-references). The Spanish radio station LOS40 read the album as a declaration of intent: rather than follow trends, Karol G wanted to create them by reviving the [Latin pop](https://www.edgepedia.org/latin-pop) sounds that topped charts in the 1990s, wrapped in a telenovela-style narrative in which she is the protagonist[8](https://los40.com/2025/06/20/critica-de-tropicoqueta-karol-g-monta-su-propia-telenovela-un-viaje-que-busca-crear-tendencia-con-sonidos-de-los-90/).
Two historical anchors shape the album. The first is Colombia's recording history as traced by Pitchfork's reviewer: the label Discos Fuentes, founded in [Cartagena](https://www.edgepedia.org/cartagena) in 1934, whose founder Don Antonio Fuentes scouted the coasts and countryside for Black, Indigenous, and rural talent, and whose 1961 compilation series *14 Cañonazos Bailables* united a variety of genres under the umbrella of "tropical" music. Karol G has cited *14 Cañonazos*, which she calls "one of the first playlists that existed in music," as the idea behind the album[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/karol-g-tropicoqueta/) • [9](https://www.europafm.com/noticias/musica/showgirls-latinas-abuela-karol-revela-secretos-creacion-tropicoqueta_202508116899d04d8180495aa515be75.html). The second is the *vedetes*, the Latin American women performers who were both icons and controversy in their day, whom the album's imagery recasts as figures of freedom and audacity[1](https://www.universalmusic.com.br/2025/06/20/karol-g-inicia-nova-era-com-o-lancamento-do-album-tropicoqueta/). She has also named the Spanish singer [Rocío Dúrcal](https://www.edgepedia.org/rocio-durcal), known across Latin America for her ranchera recordings, as a key influence[10](https://los40.com/2025/08/13/karol-g-confiesa-que-artista-espanola-le-inspiro-para-componer-tropicoqueta-una-grande-de-espana/).
## Musical range
NPR's Anamaria Sayre, cohost of the Alt.Latino podcast, described the album's method precisely: where the traditional pan-Latin pop star blended a general Latin sound, Karol G zeroed in track by track on specific geographical and musical traditions, taking in Cuba, Puerto Rico, the [Dominican Republic](https://www.edgepedia.org/dominican-republic), and Mexico beyond her own Colombian repertoire[11](https://www.vpm.org/npr-news/2025-06-30/tropicoqueta-review/).
- **Puerto Rican reggaetón.** "LATINA FOREVA" is an early-2000s-styled homage inspired by [Nina Sky](https://www.edgepedia.org/nina-sky) and [Ivy Queen](https://www.edgepedia.org/ivy-queen), sampling [Don Omar](https://www.edgepedia.org/don-omar)'s "Dile" and the rhythm of N.O.R.E.'s "Oye Mi Canto"[7](https://www.complex.com/music/a/tova-golland/karol-g-tropicoqueta-album-references).
- **Dominican merengue and dembow.** The pre-released merengue "Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido" became one of 2024's most played songs in the Spanish-speaking world and was still in Spain's top ten a year after release; "Un Gatito Me Llamó" is a dembow with modern touches such as phone-chirp counter-rhythms[12](https://jenesaispop.com/2025/06/23/501889/karol-g-tropicoqueta/) • [7](https://www.complex.com/music/a/tova-golland/karol-g-tropicoqueta-album-references).
- **Mexican ranchera and mariachi.** "Ese Hombre Es Malo" is a slow ranchera ballad recorded with a 57-piece Guadalajara orchestra, inspired by Juan Gabriel and evoking Rocío Dúrcal[7](https://www.complex.com/music/a/tova-golland/karol-g-tropicoqueta-album-references).
- **Colombian cumbia, vallenato, and technocumbia.** "Cuando Me Muera Te Olvido" interpolates George Michael's 1984 melody "Careless Whisper" into a technocumbia; "No Puedo Vivir Sin Él" is an accordion-laced vallenato[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/karol-g-tropicoqueta/).
- **Cuban mambo and cabaret.** The title track shifts from mambo to dembow to merengue within one song, and the album's teaser used Dámaso Pérez Prado's "Mambo No. 5" as a nod to Cuban cabaret culture[11](https://www.vpm.org/npr-news/2025-06-30/tropicoqueta-review/) • [7](https://www.complex.com/music/a/tova-golland/karol-g-tropicoqueta-album-references).
- **Brazil.** "Bandida Entrenada," produced by Tropkillaz and sung in Portuguese, was aimed at strengthening her commercial position in the Brazilian market[13](https://elpais.com/us/actualidad/2025-06-28/karol-g-canta-en-ingles-en-jimmy-fallon-cual-es-la-situacion-de-la-musica-latina-en-estados-unidos.html) • [11](https://www.vpm.org/npr-news/2025-06-30/tropicoqueta-review/).
The album also crosses languages and eras. It opens with "La Reina Presenta," in which Thalía, an icon of Latin pop, greets Karol G over a reference to her own 1995 hit "Piel Morena"[14](https://ediciones.laprensa.hn/media/pdfs/LP2025-06-21-gOy0CxxA300F.pdf) • [8](https://los40.com/2025/06/20/critica-de-tropicoqueta-karol-g-monta-su-propia-telenovela-un-viaje-que-busca-crear-tendencia-con-sonidos-de-los-90/). "Papasito" is Karol G's only song in English, which she performed on *The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon* in June 2025[13](https://elpais.com/us/actualidad/2025-06-28/karol-g-canta-en-ingles-en-jimmy-fallon-cual-es-la-situacion-de-la-musica-latina-en-estados-unidos.html).
## Production and reception
Karol G described taking control of the whole creative process, from the first writing sessions through production and performance[1](https://www.universalmusic.com.br/2025/06/20/karol-g-inicia-nova-era-com-o-lancamento-do-album-tropicoqueta/). Live instrumentation is a stated marker of the record; critics noted real instruments played in the studio, and Pitchfork framed the project as returning to urbano's analog beginnings, "less drum packs, more congas"[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/karol-g-tropicoqueta/) • [12](https://jenesaispop.com/2025/06/23/501889/karol-g-tropicoqueta/). The production roster includes Edgar Barrera, Ovy on the Drums, Tainy, Tropkillaz, Leo RD, and [Pharrell Williams](https://www.edgepedia.org/pharrell-williams), who produced the bachata "Ivonny Bonita" with the trumpeter Arturo Sandoval on trumpet and piano[15](https://enlatinidad.com/culture/karol-gs-tropicoqueta-a-review/) • [16](https://www.universalmusic.it/popular-music/album/tropicoqueta_37993027854/).
Critical response was divided along a single axis: ambition versus execution. Pitchfork's Tatiana Lee Rodriguez, reviewing on 3 July 2025, called Tropicoqueta Karol G's most expansive and most researched body of work, a reverent tribute to generations of Latin music and the Latina entertainers who performed it[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/karol-g-tropicoqueta/). Rolling Stone, quoted by [The Week](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-week), described "a bright compendium of 20 songs, all pulling from different parts of Latin-pop history"[17](https://theweek.com/culture-life/music/lorde-barbra-streisand-karol-g). The Spanish site jenesaispop rated it 5.9 out of 10, praising "LATINA FOREVA" and "Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido" but judging the melodies written by Karol G and her regular collaborators, Edgar Barrera at the head, to sound too much like recreations[12](https://jenesaispop.com/2025/06/23/501889/karol-g-tropicoqueta/). Some Spanish-language commentary went further; a September 2025 opinion piece in [El País](https://www.edgepedia.org/el-pais) questioned whom the album's visual language was made for, contrasting it with [Bad Bunny](https://www.edgepedia.org/bad-bunny)'s self-directed imagery[18](https://elpais.com/america-colombia/2025-09-13/la-mirada-ajena-de-karol-g.html).
## Commercial and touring record
According to a LOS40 retrospective on the album's first year, the record broke streaming records and won major awards, with "Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido" among its lasting hits[3](https://los40.com/2026/06/20/tropicoqueta-de-karol-g-cumple-un-ano-pero-ahora-que/). At the Latin Grammys it drew nominations for "Coleccionando Heridas," her duet with [Marco Antonio Solís](https://www.edgepedia.org/marco-antonio-solis), for record of the year and song of the year, and for "Ese Hombre Es Malo" as best regional Mexican song[4](https://apnews.com/article/d96172870cb59df26f415c05b20940a0).
The Associated Press listed Tropicoqueta among the reference points of the 2025 Latin album wave that included Bad Bunny's *Debí Tirar Más Fotos*[19](https://apnews.com/article/a9afd2a0f4a3c27e22e2f83fef884f75). The Grammy.com review placed it in the same roots-first company, noting that its folksier side recalls the way Bad Bunny and Cuco both turned to the music they grew up with for deeply personal 2025 statements[20](https://qa.grammy.com/news/karol-g-tropicoqueta-new-album-review-takeaways). Karol G toured the album on the Tropicoqueta Tour; at a July 2026 Toronto stop a fan broke onto the stage and grabbed her before security intervened, an episode El País covered in a wider piece on toxic fan behavior[21](https://elpais.com/gente/2026-08-22/cuando-el-fenomeno-fan-se-vuelve-toxico-de-la-agresion-a-karol-g-a-las-criticas-a-ariana-grande-y-el-review-bombing.html). The Guardian's review of the tour's New Jersey stadium stop described a show built around the album's pan-Latin camp, with Karol G performing the title track in a full-feathered headdress over Pérez Prado's "Mambo No. 5"[22](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/sep/18/karol-g-concert-review-new-jersey).
## Place in Karol G's catalog
Tropicoqueta followed the 2023 album *Mañana Será Bonito* and its companion *Bichota Season*, which Pitchfork characterized as diaristic breakup records, and marked a pivot toward roots and theater[2](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/karol-g-tropicoqueta/). Karol G's next studio album, *No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto*, released in August 2026, moved away entirely from the Caribbean aesthetic of Tropicoqueta, which jenesaispop read as the closing of that era[23](https://jenesaispop.com/2026/08/08/528521/karol-g-arrepiento-critica/). An El País retrospective characterized the Tropicoqueta concept as a love letter to coastal Colombian culture whose most exoticized elements faced the international market[6](https://elpais.com/us/entretenimiento/2026-10-16/karol-g-finaliza-su-gira-mas-grande-en-estados-unidos-y-afianza-su-posicion-en-el-pais.html).
## References
1. [KAROL G Apresenta "Tropicoqueta", Universal Music Brasil (20 June 2025)](https://www.universalmusic.com.br/2025/06/20/karol-g-inicia-nova-era-com-o-lancamento-do-album-tropicoqueta/)
2. [Tatiana Lee Rodriguez, "Karol G: Tropicoqueta Album Review," Pitchfork (3 July 2025)](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/karol-g-tropicoqueta/)
3. [Laura Coca, "'Tropicoqueta' de Karol G cumple un año, pero... ¿ahora qué?" LOS40 (20 June 2026)](https://los40.com/2026/06/20/tropicoqueta-de-karol-g-cumple-un-ano-pero-ahora-que/)
4. [Associated Press, "Karol G, Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso, Rosalía and Drexler are the most nominated for the Latin Grammys"](https://apnews.com/article/d96172870cb59df26f415c05b20940a0)
5. [Upcoming100, "Karol G calls her latest work the album of her dreams"](https://www.upcoming100.com/interview-detail.php?interview_id=886%2Fkarol-g-calls-her-latest-work-the-album-of-her-dreams%2F)
6. [El País, "Karol G finaliza su gira más grande en Estados Unidos" (16 October 2026)](https://elpais.com/us/entretenimiento/2026-10-16/karol-g-finaliza-su-gira-mas-grande-en-estados-unidos-y-afianza-su-posicion-en-el-pais.html)
7. [Tova Golland, "The Genres and Artists Karol G References on 'Tropicoqueta'," Complex (20 June 2025)](https://www.complex.com/music/a/tova-golland/karol-g-tropicoqueta-album-references)
8. [Alberto Palao, "Crítica de 'Tropicoqueta'," LOS40 (20 June 2025)](https://los40.com/2025/06/20/critica-de-tropicoqueta-karol-g-monta-su-propia-telenovela-un-viaje-que-busca-crear-tendencia-con-sonidos-de-los-90/)
9. [Europa FM, "Karol G revela los secretos de la creación de 'Tropicoqueta'"](https://www.europafm.com/noticias/musica/showgirls-latinas-abuela-karol-revela-secretos-creacion-tropicoqueta_202508116899d04d8180495aa515be75.html)
10. [LOS40, "Karol G confiesa qué artista española le inspiró para componer 'Tropicoqueta'" (13 August 2025)](https://los40.com/2025/08/13/karol-g-confiesa-que-artista-espanola-le-inspiro-para-componer-tropicoqueta-una-grande-de-espana/)
11. [Andrew Limbong and Anamaria Sayre, "Tropicoqueta Review," VPM/NPR (30 June 2025)](https://www.vpm.org/npr-news/2025-06-30/tropicoqueta-review/)
12. [Jordi Bardají, "Karol G / Tropicoqueta," jenesaispop (23 June 2025)](https://jenesaispop.com/2025/06/23/501889/karol-g-tropicoqueta/)
13. [El País, "Karol G canta en inglés en Jimmy Fallon" (28 June 2025)](https://elpais.com/us/actualidad/2025-06-28/karol-g-canta-en-ingles-en-jimmy-fallon-cual-es-la-situacion-de-la-musica-latina-en-estados-unidos.html)
14. [La Prensa (Honduras), weekend edition (21 June 2025)](https://ediciones.laprensa.hn/media/pdfs/LP2025-06-21-gOy0CxxA300F.pdf)
15. [En Latinidad, "Karol G's Tropicoqueta: A Review" (19 July 2025)](https://enlatinidad.com/culture/karol-gs-tropicoqueta-a-review/)
16. [Universal Music Italia, Tropicoqueta tracklist and credits](https://www.universalmusic.it/popular-music/album/tropicoqueta_37993027854/)
17. [The Week, "Music reviews: Lorde, Barbra Streisand, and Karol G"](https://theweek.com/culture-life/music/lorde-barbra-streisand-karol-g)
18. [Vanessa Rosales Altamar, "La mirada ajena de Karol G," El País (13 September 2025)](https://elpais.com/america-colombia/2025-09-13/la-mirada-ajena-de-karol-g.html)
19. [Associated Press, "AP's top albums of 2025"](https://apnews.com/article/a9afd2a0f4a3c27e22e2f83fef884f75)
20. [GRAMMY.com, "KAROL G's 'Tropicoqueta' Is A Love Letter To Latin America: 5 Takeaways"](https://qa.grammy.com/news/karol-g-tropicoqueta-new-album-review-takeaways)
21. [El País, "Cuando el fenómeno fan se vuelve tóxico" (22 August 2026)](https://elpais.com/gente/2026-08-22/cuando-el-fenomeno-fan-se-vuelve-toxico-de-la-agresion-a-karol-g-a-las-criticas-a-ariana-grande-y-el-review-bombing.html)
22. [The Guardian, "Karol G review: pan-Latin camp and fireworks in New Jersey" (18 September 2026)](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/sep/18/karol-g-concert-review-new-jersey)
23. [jenesaispop, "Karol G / No me arrepiento de sentir tanto" (8 August 2026)](https://jenesaispop.com/2026/08/08/528521/karol-g-arrepiento-critica/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Albums and recorded releases › Studio albums › Latin albums*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license