Karol G’s Beautiful Tomorrows
A new documentary about the Colombian superstar puts the gutting work of touring stadiums on display
I love big pop stars, in part, because of the spectacle. I’ll go to shows in dank warehouses or dusty basements until the day is long, but given the opportunity (read: a ticket that is cheap or free), I will even see massive pop tours by artists whose music I don’t particularly like. I’m like a baby or a bird, simply enamored with big-ass productions and flashing lights. I also love watching the fans—the way they dress to see their favorite artist, the way a group of friends screams along in the aisles, the way a person weeps upon hearing their favorite song. Pop musicians serve as critical-mass vessels for emotions people might articulate, and even the most average, reasonable fans can imprint their feelings upon the sheer bigness of a pop production—big songs, big iconography, just big.
In Latin pop right now, there is no bigger woman artist than Karol G, the sweet-faced Colombian whose terrific 2023 album Mañana Será Bonito drew on the Bichota’s transformation out of a shitty relationship. Mañana incorporated styles like reggaetón, Norteño, and dembow to break all sorts of records: It became the first all-Spanish album by a woman to debut atop the Billboard chart and led to the highest-grossing Latin tour by a woman ever. A new Netflix documentary, Karol G: Tomorrow Was Beautiful, follows Mañana’s trajectory from creation to stadium tour.
