The conciliatory and healing tone of Mañana Será Bonito (2024) is long gone. Karol G goes all out in her new album No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto, available since August 7. A 180-degree turn from the joy, performative explosiveness, and folk revival in Tropicoqueta (2025). Carolina Giraldo — the name behind the stage name — tears herself apart in different ways in this new work that reflects the different stages of a breakup. And it is her first full-length release after the end of her relationship with Colombian singer Feid, after three years of dating.
Although it seemed that Karol was going to return to hard reggaeton with previews like the remix of AltaFarra by La Obsesión Factory — which ultimately did not make it onto the album — and MATADORA, a nasty reggaeton, the truth is that the general line of the album is far from sounding at parties. No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto mostly reflects sadness, nostalgia, and resentment, although it also explores a common contradiction in many breakups: the desire to return, to have another chance, and to imagine a different future.
The nostalgic style of this work was already evident in the days before with the preview of the cover: Karol, under a blue halo, was reduced to shining tears framing the album’s name. A cover criticized, by the way, for its resemblance to Britney Spears’ In the Zone.
The breakup with Feid over experimental beats
Throughout No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto, it can be seen that Karol did not want to simplify her work to sad mainstream music, but rather aims to take a few more steps. First, by complicating the production process, with raw lyrics over urban bases, samples you would never imagine in songs to cry to (as in the case of Move Ya Body by Nina Sky and Jabba in Bby WOW, the collaboration with Judeline and rusowsky). Or style shifts like in Te Llevas To, which starts with a nostalgic line but with an accelerated beat that degenerates into repetitive chants over a dembow drop that strongly recalls Bad Bunny’s style and where Tainy’s hand is noticeable.
In this sense, the Puerto Rican artist plays an important role in the production of several songs on the album, in the same way as the inseparable producer of the Colombian, Ovy on the Drums, and other big names like Sky Rompiendo or Edgar Barrera, one of the most awarded Latin music composers and producers, as well as one of the people responsible for the global rise of Mexican music, although on this album he produces the ballad Después de Ti and the painful cumbia Alguien que te amaba, the hardest heartbreak song on the album. It is directly aimed at Feid, where Karol sings: “You broke all the promises of this love, and the pink summer (the name of her last collaboration with the Colombian artist) is now a winter.”
The participation of French artist Oklou, known for her dreamy and futuristic style music, stands out in Final Feliz. Undoubtedly, it is one of the most heartbreaking tracks on the album, where Karol seems to surrender to the possibility of having a happy ending without the partner who left. It also references Feid, which aligns with what she herself told Rosalía in one of the LUX Tour confessionals, where she pointed out that the person she was with stood her up at the airport. In the song, she sings: “I kissed you on the lips that time in LAX, but I didn’t know it was going to be the last time.”
In the experimental aspiration perceived, the participation of Spanish artist Judeline is key on the album. Not only lyrically, as she is present in the composition of several tracks on the album (such as Te Llevas To, Final Feliz, MATADORA, and, of course, her own collaboration), but Karol adopts a style similar to the author of BODHIRIA in several songs. The Colombian artist is an admirer of the emerging urban scene booming in Spain, which also explains the addition of rusowsky.
On the other hand, one of the criticisms of the artist on social media has come from the participation of Israeli-origin producer Omer Fedi, who has previously collaborated with artists like Sam Smith, Kim Petras, Kid Laroi, or Justin Bieber, among others. His father, Asher Fedi, was one of the most successful and respected percussionists in Israel, but they moved to Los Angeles when Fedi was 16 years old.
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The claim of a global status
Although Karol has tried to elevate her work by trying to differentiate herself with the aforementioned elements, the artist has not wanted to leave behind the possibility of claiming her well-deserved global status. And Karol is, right now, along with Shakira, the Latin female artist with the most reach and demand internationally, being one of the most recognized faces of the new generation alongside Bad Bunny.
That is why the international collaborations in No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto play a central role here, not only as a sign of versatility but also of exclusivity. Karol has Drake sing in Spanish (with quite improvable diction, which sometimes clashes, as in his collaboration on Gently with Bad Bunny, which strays from the fluency he showed in MIA) on a track where he does not lose hope of finding attraction in another person again. Still, the artist asks him for time, as she has “a broken heart.” A song that somewhat recalls the style of orióN by Boza and Elena Rose.
The Toronto rapper repeats the verses he already sang in his song New Bestie, from his album MAID OF HONOUR, where he said he “wanted a Latina, a Latina like Karolina,” with a questionable exoticization. Zecca, one of the most powerful producers in the Argentine scene, participates in part of the production.
Then Bruno Mars makes Karol G sing in English on Still, where both cling, wounded, to heartbreak, swearing they could love the person they long for “even with a broken heart.” Mars, who had already ventured into different Latin music genres in The Romantic, referenced the possible collaboration with Karol last April when he shared his song Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido in stories.
The album closes with what was the first preview of the album, Después de Ti, the collaboration with Greg Gonzalez, from Cigarettes After Sex, with whom the artist began to have contact after confessing he was one of her favorite artists in an interview with Selena Gomez. Months later, the Medellín native wrote to Gonzalez saying she had written a song and wanted him to produce it, something the artist normally would not do, but made an exception as a fan of Karol.
Thus was born the first song dedicated to Feid that was made public for the first time at Coachella. “It’s just that after you my life ended / I don’t learn to live without your company (…) This is not being sad, it’s wanting to die,” the artist sings here. Verses that undoubtedly allow visualizing the evolution of Karol’s lyrics at different points of the breakup.
No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto will not be eligible for the Latin Grammys as it was released late (although Tropicoqueta will be, and is one of the favorites), but it will surely have a talked-about role in next year’s awards, because it will leave no one indifferent.