We've all heard of Taylor Swift, but who is Colombian singer Carol G?
Although in recent years Swift has dominated the headlines and the number of concert tickets sold, the videos of the 33-year-old Latin American pop star are actually the most viewed on the Internet.
These are the data of Vevo, an American multinational video hosting service and the main supplier of official music videos on YouTube.
Karol Dji's videos were listened to the most in the last four years, from 2021 to 2024.
This year, Carole G's videos have been viewed 3,5 billion times, followed by Colombian Shakira with 1,96 billion views, and Swift in third place with 1,95 billion views.
Who is Karol G and what has fueled her success, which has seen her sell out four concerts in July at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, as well as shows in stadiums across the United States (US) in 2023?
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She was born in Medellin, a city in the northwest of Colombia in 1991 and her full name is Carolina Hiraldo Navarro.
She wanted to be a singer since she was little, and when she was 14, she appeared in the Colombian version of the talent show X Factor in 2005.
She was not immediately successful, but by 2014 she had moved to the US to live with her aunt in New York, where she learned English and earned money as an unskilled worker.
At that time, she almost gave up on music, but her father convinced her that she could succeed.
During her time in the US, Karol G attended a music business conference in Boston, which she says helped her understand how the industry works.
Her first single Now He Calls Me, created in collaboration with Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny, became a hit and was released in 2017.
In the same year, her first studio album was released Unstoppable.
Since then, the hits have continued, and her album from 2023, Tomorrow will be nice, is the first album by a female singer with all the songs in Spanish, which reached the top of the American album charts.
Karol Ji's musical style is often described as "reggaeton".
It is a combination of hip-hop with Latin American and Jamaican music, and the singing and rapping is usually performed in Spanish.
Although widely rumored to be both hard-working and ambitious, Rocio Guerrero, head of Latin music at the music listening platform Amazon Music, says that the singer, as well as Latin music in general, was greatly helped by the increase in streaming, both music and accompanying videos.
"Music streaming has democratized the music scene," Guerrero says, explaining that it's made it possible for Latin music, which isn't broadcast on mainstream radio stations, to travel the world.
"The radio stations were local, but with the help of streaming we gathered all that audience (around the world).
“It provided more opportunities to showcase more Latin songs and artists.
"Carol G is a perfect example of this evolution," he points out.
Today, more than a third of Latin music is listened to outside of Latin America on the Amazon Music platform.
In the last three years alone, the number of listeners of Karol Ji has increased by more than 250 percent.
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Meanwhile in the US, Latin music is the fastest-growing genre, with its value in concert venues set to reach a record US$2023 billion in 1,4, according to data from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The share of streamed music was 98 percent.
A album Tomorrow will be nice, published by Karol Ji in 2023, is this year the fourth most listened to in the world on Spotify, one of the largest music streaming providers.
This contributed to the increased interest in her Mañana Será Bonito 2023-2024 world tour. during which she sold out all the concerts.
The value of sold tickets is 307 million US dollars.
Although that's quite a bit compared to the $2 billion earned by Taylor Swift's Eras tour, Carole G set a record among Latin female artists.
Carlos Balado, a professor at the OBS Business School in Barcelona, analyzes the economic impact of music concerts.
He says that both Carole G and Taylor Swift have grown in popularity because they perform live.
"There is a growing trend that concerts are part of people's normal consumption," he adds.
Lejla Kobo, director of Latin/Spanish content at the American music magazine Bilbordu (Billboard), known for its music charts, says that Karol G contributed to the popularity of Colombian music.
"I think that music is the greatest ambassador of Colombia. I really mean it," she says.
"And Karol G reached out to female fans of Latin singers who really didn't have anyone like her.
"They wanted someone they could relate to, who was fun, sexy, had cool songs, and who wasn't too glamorous.
"Reggaeton is great for dancing, it's receptive, it appeals to young people," adds Kobo, who is also the author of a book on Latin music.
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Although she has won numerous awards and critical acclaim, she also has objections to Karol Dži's music.
Some people consider her lyrics too vulgar, and she is also the target of critics because of the song she called "bug", which is a slang term for a big brute or a boss, and is often associated with drugs and crime.
She claims to have given the word a new meaning to express empowerment.
On the other hand, those who support her say that in the lyrics, instead of singing about women and objectifying them, Ji sings on their behalf.
According to a celebrity wealth estimation website, Celebrity Net Worth P, Carol G's net worth has skyrocketed to $25 million by 2023, and has likely increased significantly since her recent tour.
She also earns income through cooperation with the shoe manufacturer Crocs, a sportswear brand Kappa, vodkom Smirnoff, and a Spanish fashion brand Loewe.
Her name also appeared on the front of FC Barcelona's jersey as part of a partnership between the football club and the music streaming platform Spotify.
"She is expanding her business ventures.
"She's very bright, curious, always wanting to grow and very aware that it's not all about music," Kobo says.
Karol Ji's business ventures are managed by her company Girl Pover Inc, which is also in charge of her charitable foundation With Cora.
The foundation tries to improve the lives of poor women and children throughout Latin America by providing educational scholarships to teenage mothers, supporting girls who want to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, providing financial assistance to children's soccer teams, and projects to reintegrate female prisoners.
Karol Ji started her own publishing house in 2023 bug, in order to have more control over her own music, which is then distributed and promoted by the American company Interscope, part of the giant Universal Music Group.
Despite its worldwide success, there are markets where it has not yet penetrated, such as the United Kingdom (UK) where it is still not widely known.
Britain is home to a small but rapidly growing Latin American diaspora.
However, Amazon Music's Guerrero thinks it's only a matter of time before Karol G manages to conquer the UK market.
"It will happen, it's just a matter of time," she says.
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