Karol G’s “BbY WOW” Nearly Missed Her Album Before Becoming a Global No. 1

Karol G’s “BbY WOW” is spending a third consecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S. charts. But the song now anchoring her latest album almost didn’t make the tracklist.

In a new interview with LOS40, Karol G said she initially left the collaboration with Spanish artists Judeline and rusowsky off No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto because it felt incomplete. “I didn’t feel like it was finished. It wasn’t going on the album,” she recalled. She had written the song in January with Judeline and her team, but continued hearing a missing element.

While exploring alternative, indie, ambient, and pop-rock sounds during the album’s creation, Karol G became drawn to rusowsky’s music, which she called “the perfect balance” between alternative and urban. She also felt Judeline could bring “something magical” to the track. The two Spanish artists recorded their parts remotely from separate locations in Spain and sent them back just in time. “The moment I received the verses, I published the official tracklist,” Karol G said.

The result has been her fourth No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 and fifth on Global Excl. U.S. Last week, the three performed “BbY WOW” together live for