Happy Bichota season to those who celebrate, because Karol G just made her VMAs debut with a glimmering performance of her bad bitch anthem, “Oki Doki.” The Colombian singer pulled all the stops to bring her record-breaking album to life on the VMAs stage—even if it meant taking a break from her successful tour.

2023 mtv video music awards show
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Karol, who recently collaborated with Video Vanguard recipient Shakira on “TQG,” is nominated for three awards at this year’s ceremony, including Artist of the Year. She made history with her album Mañana Será Bonito when it was released in March 2023. It became the first number one all-Spanish-language album by a female artist on Billboard’s Hot 200 albums chart and is the highest-selling Latin album of 2023.

The album, which was inspired by her breakup with Puerto Rican singer Anuel AA, helped Karol during her healing process because she let her guard down with her lyrics. The “Mi Ex Tenía Razón” singer revealed that being vulnerable in her music took a toll on her mental health ahead of Mañana Será Bonito’s release.

“The two weeks before the album came out, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t eat,” Karol G told Rolling Stone. “Being so exposed in my music was very psychologically heavy.…Imagine something like this happening, and you have to tell millions of people what happened to you.”

The extended version of her album, Bichota Season, includes more tracks that lean into the liberation she felt after her breakup.

“[On Bichota Season] I go over the strange moments, the crazy moments, the difficult ones in my head,” she explained. “The moments where I felt, ‘I’m dying and I won’t be able to deal with this.’ It’s what I had to go through to get to today.”