It’s a Thursday night, and Karol G is lighting up New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium with a blast of fireworks and flames, each burst going off in quick succession. This isn’t the first or last time it happens during the night, or even in the string of opening
bangers — “Latina Forever,” “Un Gatito Me Llamo,” “QLONA.” In fact, the Colombian superstar’s Viajando Por El Mundo Tropitour set includes so many fireworks and blasts of pyrotechnics, you can’t keep count of them. And yet, each time, it jolts the audience into astonishment.
They may have seen a firework show before, but not one like this. A cave-like structure surrounds Karol as she belts song after song, transforming through an array of sparkly outfit changes, and a troupe of dancers gravitate around her. It’s a true spectacle, and one that encompasses just how major this star has gotten since she last filled this stadium in 2023.
“We haven’t seen each other in two or three years, so I expect you guys to bring the house down,” Karol told the MetLife audience at the start of the show. “We came here to sing, to dance, to cry, to scream. We came here to have a chimba time.”
Karol G has been on a historic winning streak pretty much all of her career, but especially in the last couple of years. After she broke records with her Mañana Será Bonito tour and proved her status as Latin pop royalty, she came back with an even bigger project, Tropicoqueta. On that 2025 LP, she used her position at the top to celebrate her deeply Latin roots. In trusting that instinct to stay true to herself, Karol found even more success. This past April, she became the first woman to headline Coachella and earlier this week, the album earned her seven Latin Grammy nominations.
In between promoting Tropicoqueta and planning the Viajando Por El Mundo Tropitour, Karol managed to find the time to release a whole new album — No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto — and release it right smack in the middle of her tour on Aug. 7. To no one’s surprise, this evocative project is having its own moment, too. Back when Karol kicked off the tour in July at Chicago’s Soldier Field, fans could only speculate that a new album was on the way. Now, the moody blue-coded album has become a seamless part of the set.
On Thursday, the new album’s section was one of the highest points of a show filled with peaks, as Karol brought out a handful of special guests to honor her hit song“Bby Wow,” which has topped Spotify’s Global chart for 20 days now, and just entered the Top Ten on Billboard’s Hot 100. First, Puerto Rican superproducer Tainy joined the stage to spin on a makeshift DJ table; he commanded high energy from the crowd as he added his own production touches to the reggaeton track. Then, Karol’s collaborators Judeline and Rusowsky joined her to perform the track live together for the very first time.
Immediately, MetLife stadium turned into an Ibiza nightclub. Pink and blue strobes lit up the stadium, and more fireworks shot up into the sky as Tainy dropped an incredible new beat on the song. The crowd chanted along to each word, gyrating as they sang. Karol and her guests got the perfect view of the party-hard effect of this sad perreo track when the elevated stage they were on slowly raised itself up over the audience. It was a true celebration of “Bby Wow” and its wild success. After Karol and her guests left the stage, giant screens on either side of the stage flashed videos from fans taking part in the song’s viral TikTok dance trend. (So far, it’s soundtracked 7.9 million clips.)
Throughout the night, Karol made sure to show her devoted fans some love. She thanked them for their fan projects where they put lights into balloons; she hugged all of the ones gathered around the B stage; she even complimented concertgoers’ spruced-up outfits from the stage. The audience was full of mostly women, dressed in shades of bright orange and pink, decorating their hair with flowers. Some opted to lean into the rhinestone blue aesthetic of No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto, while others donned impressive guacamaya costumes in a nod to the moment when Karol sings “Papasito” atop a giant stage prop of the colorful bird. It was just one of the ways Karol, and her music, highlighted the many facets of Latinidad.
As she launched into “Ese Hombre es Malo,” a mariachi song she wrote afterbeing inspired by Latin music icon Juan Gabriel and recorded in Guadalajara, Mexico, Karol seemed to address the criticism that came when the track received a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Regional Song. “Regardless of whatever nomination this record has received, it means a lot to me,” Karol said in Spanish. She added, “It’s a record that’s meant to unite my people, my Latin music, all of the countries that I’ve visited that have made me feel like I’m home.”
During a pre-recorded vignette, famed Mexican-American actor Edward James Olmos emphasized Karol’s message of unity in his introduction to Act III. “If Karol has taught us anything tonight, it’s that one can travel throughout the world, but your raices are always in your heart,” he said. “Raise your flags and be proud, because it’s time to celebrate where we come from, the sounds that grew up with us and made us who we are. Enjoy, and long live Latino America!”
Olmos’ words were especially poignant as we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. Till the very last song, the unwavering Latin pride that rang through the stadium was potent, especially at a time when the community needs it most. Earlier in the night, opener Elena Rose shared a story about her crew photographer being detained by ICE during his travel for the show. As the Venezuelan singer spoke, her words resonated with an audience that knows the cruelty of the U.S.’s immigration policies all too well. But Rose used the moment to remind the audience, “There’s nothing more beautiful than being Latino.”
For her final act of the night, Karol emerged to Totó La Momposina’s “El Pescador,” flaunting her cumbia-inspired sleeves. She dove into the last batch of fan favorites, including Mañana Será Bonito deep-cut “Gucci Los Paños,” which she’s only performed a couple of times on the Tropitour, and the merengue song “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido.”
“Louder, louder!” she urged the audience as they belted out every word. “Show me your flags!” Karol wrapped the night with “Provenza,” the 2023 song that arguably kicked off her global dominance. As the crescendoing synths echoed out into MetLife, a glittering kaleidoscope of confetti — and, yes, fireworks — shot into the Jersey sky to meet the cinematic moment.
After a final bow with her dancers, once the lights had already come up, Karol reminded the audience of the silly, lovable person underneath the superstar sheen with one last move. Just when the audience thought Karol had disappeared under the stage, she popped her head in and out of view, cracking up as she wowed them each time. It was a quick game of hide-and-seek — just with an audience of 80,000.
Karol G Viajando Por El Mundo Tropitour Set List
“Latina Foreva”
“Un Gatito me Llamo”
“Oki Doki”
“Ta Ok”
“QLONA”
“S91”
“Tropicoqueta”
“Papasito”
“Amiga Mía”
“Ese hombre es Malo” (with mariachi band, who also performed “Negrita de mis Pesares” and “El son de la negra”)
“Mamiii”
“Te Llevas To”
“Alguien que te Amaba”
“Bby Wow”
“Ivonny Bonita”
“Pineapple”
“Gatubela” (interpolated with “Rompe”)
“Amargura”
“Bandida Entrenada”
“Ojos Ferrari”
“Bichota” (Salsa version)
“Tusa” (Salsa version)
“Coleccionando Heridas”
“Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido”
“Gucci Los Panos”
“200 Copas”
“Provenza”
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