How Karol G Is Shaking Up the Reggaeton World One Music Video at a Time

The reggaeton singer's "Mi Cama" remix featuring Nicky Jam and J Balvin recently got her her very first #1 on Billboard's Latin Rhythm Airplay chart last week. The track is also hovering near the top of the Hot Latin Songs chart too, where Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber's "Despacito" has dominated since January.

"I feel like we're doing something very big," Karol told TooFab on Thursday while promoting her partnership with Ciroc's Summer Colada. "As a girl in this industry, we didn't have many opportunities, so now we're crossing this line and I feel like I have a big responsibility for my Latina people, my reggaeton people, my urban people."

"There are many thing happening for me at this time," she said of her latest single rising up the charts. "Sometimes I have to stop and think, hey, you have to celebrate. I have been in this industry for like 13 years, but this year, it's huge for me. I feel very grateful about everything."

All it takes is a look at her YouTube page to see how much she's really blown up recently. Her video for "Mi Cama" has racked up nearly 370 million views since May. The clip for her collaboration with Mau y Ricky, Becky G, Leslie Grace and Lali, "Mi Mala"? Another 100 million. And "Pineapple," which dropped in May, has over 140 million plays.

So, what's the secret to their success?

"For me, it's like a realness," she explained. "I just want to show what I have, I am a girl, a very positive girl and I think the world needs more of that, more positive vibes, more sabor, more happiness and more flavor. I'm me in my videos. Normally, I write the stories about my videos and I just want to show what I have inside of myself, so I think it's the realness, that's my little secret."

Her latest video dropped just this week, showing her dancing alongside Pitbull, El Chombo and a green alien for a remix of the 1998 single "Dame Tu Cosita" (below). El Chombo's song found new life earlier this year after a video of the same green alien dancing to it went viral.

Karol told TooFab she was thrilled to get to collaborate with Pitbull on the track. "Pitbull is a huge person around the world, he's a huge singer," she explained. "All the people, Spanish people, people that speak english, whatever they speak, everybody knows Pitbull."

And while hits like "Despacito," Cardi B's "I Like It" and Beyonce's duet on J Balvin's "Mi Gente" all found crossover success this year, that's not something Karol G has her mind set on right now. For her, it's important to stick to her roots.

"I did the remix of 'Find You with Nick Jonas, but for me, at this time, it's most important to show that I'm a Latina girl, I speak Spanish, I sing Spanish," she said. "But maybe in the future, of course, I want to make a crossover. If you know Shakira, Shakira is from my country, she's around the world and everybody knows her around the world and I want to do that too. Maybe in the future, now I'm focused on my Spanish music."

She's also focused on her partnership with Ciroc, Diddy's liquor brand with Diageo, which she seems as another big step for Latina artists.

"This is opportunity to show we're getting different ways now, we're getting different opportunities, different moments, different partnerships, different brands looking at us," she said of being one of brand's first female ambassadors. "I feel like we're doing very big things."