Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.In the standing area of the O2 Arena, hazards included being swiped on the head by a Colombian flag (waved by a woman in a yellow hat) and the risk of being stamped on by a short man jumping up and down so he could see over the bristling array of phone screens stretching towards the stage. For fleeting moments, he saw her in the flesh — Karol G, one of the world’s biggest pop stars — before gravity brought him back to earth.The Colombian singer (hence the flag buffeting me) was playing the first of two nights at the 20,000-capacity venue. She is currently on a European arena tour, a shrinkage in scale from the stadiums she plays in Latin America and the US. The most watched artist globally on Vevo last year with 4.7bn views, Karol G has been Spotify’s most popular female Latin artist for each of the past four years, notching up more than 7bn streams in 2023.Her “Mañana Será Bonito” tour is in support of the album of the same name. It opened with a cartoon film on the big screens about a mermaid called Carolina — Karol G is actually called Carolina Giraldo Navarro — whose heart gets frozen. This kitsch Disney knock-off was notable for the identity of its English-language narrator: none other than venerable Hollywood star Morgan Freeman. Then the main attraction materialised on the main platform, to screams and cheers, in a glittery bodysuit that left less to the imagination than it must have taken to design. The Medellín-raised singer, 33, proceeded to put on a highly entertaining arena-pop show. An opening series of reggaeton tracks — the Puerto Rican music style that has crossed over to become a global genre — began with “TQG”, a collaboration with Shakira (whose vocal part was played as a backing track). To reinforce the affinity with Colombia’s previous biggest music export, the next song was called “Besties”.A six-piece band, all female musicians, backed her. Her more earnest exegetes in music journalism like to depict Karol G as a Latinx disrupter in the macho world of reggaeton. The genre is indeed that: the latest album from the genre’s biggest star, Bad Bunny, includes a guest vocalist’s lyric about hitting and spitting on a woman during sex. But the version of female empowerment promoted by Karol G, with its girlish imagery of pink and heart signs set against skimpy outfits and mildly risqué dance routines, is a mix of platitudes and froth. It is hardly a challenge to patriarchy — but it is ideally suited to pop spectacle.A sequence of harder-edged songs performed in front of the open maws of a shiny inflatable shark illustrated the unconvincing “bichota” persona that she has adopted (the term is Spanish slang for a female drug boss). There were ballads sung in a gold ballroom dress and old-school instrumentation of accordion and acoustic guitar for “200 Copas”, a drinking number performed by the singer with glass in hand and cowboy hat on head. The songs were catchy, well-weighted and appealingly sung, with vocals that appeared to be a blend of live and pre-recorded. Karol G was not a flashy singer, but she had an attractive and consistent tone. She and her troupe of dancers made good use of the main stage and a long runway. Her choreographed moves, which she has admitted are not a speciality, were graceful but had a learned quality, which gave her a real-person aura. So did her stage chat, conducted in Spanish. She marvelled at the preponderance of Latin Americans present (almost everyone it seemed) and muddled up which day of the week it was, thinking it was Friday not Tuesday. Fair enough: this fun, fully charged pop show felt like the start of the weekend.★★★★☆karolgmusic.com
