KG0516

Though its title reads like an airline flight number, KG0516, the name of Colombian singer and songwriter Karol Gs 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, 2017s Unstoppable and 2019s 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 shed 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 sets 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 Dejalos 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 albums 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 Bunnys 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. Kings 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 urbanos boundaries, blending them into the pop multiverse, only to bring the albums many dimensions to heel under reggaetons dominance. ~ Thom Jurek

ジャケがややお下品なせいか実際のフィジカル盤では素っ気ない黒ケースで隠されておりますが……コロンビアの人気者の、ついに全米ラテン・チャート首位まで登り詰めた3作目。ニッキー・ミナージュを交えた一昨年の"Tusa"から"Ay, Dios Mio!"、そしてアヌエルAA+Jバルヴィンとの"Location"など前作『Ocean』以降のヒットを網羅し、オヴィ・オン・ザ・ドラムスのブーミンなレゲトンでほぼ全編を押し切っています。近年はポップ・スモークやジョナス・ブラザーズまで共演の幅を広げていただけに別の予想もできたものの、このキャッチーでセクシーなダラ聴き対応マナーはやはり格別。イーヴィ・クイーンやザイオンも動員したウィシン&ヤンデル×ニッキー・ジャムとの"Leyendas"なんて00年代マナーもアリ!
bounce (C)轟ひろみ