KG0516

Though its title reads like an airline flight number, KG0516, the name of Colombian singer and songwriter Karol G's third album, actually signifies the date she signed her first record deal on May 16, 2006. She spent a decade as a guest and backing vocalist before "Ahora Me Llama," with Bad Bunny, launched her solo career. Her previous albums, 2017's Unstoppable and 2019's Ocean, were successful commercially, but served primarily as showcases for her singles. At the end of 2019, Karol G and Nicki Minaj delivered "Tusa" -- certified platinum 28 times -- the first step on the winding musical road that led to the kaleidoscopic KG0516.
Here Karol G proves that everything she'd previously released was indeed preamble. For the first time she serves as a co-producer alongside her longtime collaborator Ovy on the Drums. She co-wrote 15 of the set's 16 songs. The lone exception, set-closer "Leyendas," offers tribute to reggaeton innovators including Ivy Queen, Wisin & Yandel, Zion, Nicky Jam, and Alberto Stylee, all of whom appear on it. It contrasts the other bookend, set-opener "Déjalos Que Miren," a bumping, infectious fingerpopper with a lyric delivery structure that subverts pop conventions. The pre-release hits are all here: the solo "Ay Dios Mio!" and "Bichota," and the smash "Location," with Anuel AA and J Balvin. That said, they are part of the album's context and not merely its calling cards. "El Makinon," a collaboration with 19-year-old Florida newcomer Mariah Angeliq, is an anthemic collision of vintage reggaeton with futurist urbano. "200 Copas," co-written with Ovy and corrido tumbado progenitor Danny Felix, marks her first entry into Mexican Regional Music and works beautifully. Karol G and Camilo deliver "Contigo a Voy Muerte," a laid-back, acoustically driven trap jam whose expressions of love and devotion bridge obsession. She also rocks a passionate, hooky, heartbroken bachata with the killer "El Barco, a true set highlight. Add the collision of urbano and modern country on "Location" and a nearly unprecedented diversity emerges to stand alongside Bad Bunny's adventurous left-field sojourns, but hers is more organic. "Gato Malo," a co-written duet with Barcelona-based Argentine singer Nathy Peluso, weaves lithe strands of tango and flamenco through funky trap. "Sola Es Mejor," featuring Colombian reggaeton duo Yandar & Yostin, remakes their 2005 hit, subsequently acknowledging their primary influence in bringing reggaeton to Medellin. "Beautiful Boy" (featuring Ludacris and Emilee) offers Ben E. King's timeless single as breezy, acoustically flavored Latin soul saturated in jagged trap beats and elegantly layered atmospherics. In sum, KG0516 establishes Karol G as a visionary; she pushes hard at urbano's boundaries, blending them into the pop multiverse, only to bring the album's many dimensions to heel under reggaeton's dominance. ~ Thom Jurek