AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Colombian singer Karol G has a new album out. It's called "Tropicoqueta." The cohost of NPR's Alt.Latino podcast, Anamaria Sayre, has been listening to it, and she says Karol G went for a sort of Pan-Latin sound with this album. Here's Anamaria in conversation with NPR's Andrew Limbong.
ANAMARIA SAYRE, BYLINE: Traditionally, what it meant to be, quote, "a Pan-Latin artist" or a big pop star in the Spanish language space, it was to kind of create this very, like, general, pop Latin sound. And what she has tried to do on this record is to create, yes, a sound for all of Latin America, but by actually zeroing in, track by track, song to song in different geographical and musical traditions.
ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: Let's shout out some tracks. Yeah, what do you got here for us?
SAYRE: We can look at this incredible track, "Tropicoqueta," which is literally the title track of the album.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TROPICOQUETA")
KAROL G: (Singing in Spanish).
SAYRE: Within the track itself goes from what is a mambo to a dembow to finally turning it into a merengue. I mean, it's explosive within the track itself.
(SOUNDBITE OF KAROL G SONG, "TROPICOQUETA")
SAYRE: If you look at "Ese Hombre Es Malo," that's a beautiful, very traditional, Mexican, like, epoca de oro, big sound.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ESE HOMBRE ES MALO")
KAROL G: (Singing in Spanish).
SAYRE: Latin America is really becoming very obsessed and also celebratory of its traditional sound.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ESE HOMBRE ES MALO")
KAROL G: (Singing in Spanish).
SAYRE: What she's doing is actually going to Cuba. She's going to Puerto Rico. She's going to the Dominican Republic. She's going to Mexico. She's not just using Colombian traditional sounds. And I think the question a lot of people are going to ask is, is she capitalizing on that or paying homage to it?
LIMBONG: As she's bouncing around between these different musical traditions, you know, she's been the subject of some criticism for, let's call it, like, cultural appropriation in the past, right? Has that come up with this record?
SAYRE: I think it's definitely going to be a conversation. And when we talk about the question of appropriating in music, it's a tricky one - right? - because music is...
LIMBONG: It's music, yeah.
SAYRE: ...Inherently, you know, something that always comes from something else. I think the better question is often to ask whether it's fully capitalizing on something that is not yours or it's something that feels maybe a little bit inauthentic to you. I think the question of authenticity is an interesting one. She did say that during her experience touring her last record, she did feel this experience - right? - of seeing how people would look at her from all different parts of Latin America and say, wow, you feel like a piece of home for me. And she really wanted to embody that. She wanted to embody being that unifying figure. As people from Latin America, from all parts of Latin America, we're really excited about each other's music right now - each other's traditional music. I think that's the more important sentiment to me.
LIMBONG: So Anamaria, if we want to go out on one song that kind of sums up this album, what do you think we should go out on?
SAYRE: OK, so Brazil is like its own little island in Latin America. They have these massive superstars, and they listen to their own music, and they promote their music. It's like its own self-sustaining cultural system. And she started her song "Bandida Entrenada" with Portuguese.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BANDIDA ENTRENADA")
KAROL G: (Singing in Portuguese).
LIMBONG: So I imagine people in Brazil are going flip out.
SAYRE: Oh, they're going to go absolutely...
LIMBONG: (Laughter) They're going to go, like, bonkers.
SAYRE: ...Insane. I already - I looked up - I knew - like, I know how the Brazilian fans are. And I looked at the lyric video, and people were like, viva Brazil, already.
LIMBONG: (Laughter).
SAYRE: Like, they're obsessed with it. But it just shows - right? - like, she's like, even Brazil, you're not being left out. I'm taking you on this journey. It's Latin America united forever. Let me do some funk. Let me sing in Portuguese. It's really, really emblematic of what she's trying to do here.
LIMBONG: Nice. That's NPR's Anamaria Sayre, cohost of the Alt.Latino podcast. Anamaria, thank you so much.
SAYRE: Thanks for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BANDIDA ENTRENADA")
KAROL G: (Singing in non-English language).
CHANG: Music from Colombia's Karol G. Her new album is called "Tropicoqueta."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BANDIDA ENTRENADA")
KAROL G: (Singing in non-English language). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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