3 min readOn Wednesday, ELLE editor-in-chief Nina Garcia sat down with Karol G, ELLE’s most recent cover star, as part of the Playmakers by Telemundo summit, an event put on by Telemundo and NBCUniversal and held at NBC’s Studio 8H, the home of Saturday Night Live. It was a beautiful conversation that flowed between English and Spanish and demonstrated a lovely affection between the two. “When I had the opportunity to celebrate this announcement of your fourth tour, I was like, ‘Yes, let’s do it.’ I’m so excited. I will be there every step, baby!” Garcia said. During the course of their discussion, Karol reflected on being the first Latina to headline Coachella, her upcoming stadium tour, and the way that music can bring people together. Here are five takeaways from the conversation.
Sports and music are intertwined
Launching a stadium tour at the same time that the world is embracing the World Cup feels fitting to Karol. “Stadiums were made to celebrate a goal, but at the same time, it’s beautiful to see that people sing songs in a stadium and to see everyone there is just trying to have a beautiful night, a beautiful moment,” she says. “When [people] are watching a game, there’s so much passion, and then when they sing, there’s so much passion. Sports and music, they’re different languages, but they create the
same emotion.”
Karol headlining Coachella was historic, but it came late
Karol’s 2026 Coachella set marked the first time that a Latina headlined the festival. As
momentous as that was, Karol recognizes that it should have come earlier, something she mentioned to Coachella CEO Paul Tollett after her performance. “[There was] 27 years of not having Latina women in here; it took a lot of time. And he was like, ‘You said that, and you were right. Now I’ve noticed that this is not a trend. This is what people are. You’re here representing a huge community that I wasn’t noticing, and it was beautiful to watch.’ I’m like, ‘Okay.’ So the homework, my assignment, was done.”
Training for her tour has gotten Karol in incredible shape
“I can just call myself a high-performance athlete. It has been like crazy. I literally started creating this tour so long ago, and I wanted to create like actually a crazy spectacle. The stage is huge. We’re going from side to side in the stadium. Dancing, running, at the same time singing. I have a chef that flies with me, and my trainer flies with me. Everything is about recovery, having the endurance, having my body healthy and well-prepared to do three shows in a row. I haven’t done a marathon or something like that, but I would love to try.”
Even with an audience of 100,000, Karol wants to connect with every fan
“Now I miss being in a theater, because people were super close and it was a different feeling. I try to be really honest with my music and, with this show specifically, I’m trying to create a balance in between the spectacle that I want to give and create moments [where] I can really notice the people there. Sometimes we bring fans onstage. It’s beautiful to see that I have people of all ages; we have kids, we have older people. I try to create activities and moments in the show where I can notice more fans.”
Being in the spotlight brings new pressures
“The responsibility of carrying my culture, it’s heavy. I just manage differently the things right now. I used to post everything on Instagram, and it was amazing. I really miss those times. I miss just posting, drinking with my friends, going here, going there, knowing different places. You start just trying to have some moments for you. It’s hard to get the opinion of millions of people all the time. You try to have your voice, but you have media changing the narrative of your stuff, of your relationship with your friends, with your family.”