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On April 12, Colombian superstar Karol G will add another accolade to her roster: she’ll become the first Latina to headline Coachella. It’s not the first time she’s made history (she was also the first Latina artist to headline a global stadium tour), and it likely won’t be the last. But taking the festival stage this spring, in this political climate, Karol knows how much is riding on her performance. 

“When I received the call, I felt like a huge weight fell on me. They called me and told me—in Spanish—that I was going to be the first Latina to close the festival,” Karol told Playboy in the interview for her Spring 2026 cover shoot. “I feel very blessed to be part of a generation that is trying to change the narrative and raise our voice for the community.”

Speaking to writer Paola Ramos, Karol opened up about the honor and the thrill of the milestone performance, and the heaviness of being a Latina on a U.S. stage right now.

“When I’m about to walk onstage, my body feels different, my mind feels different. I stop thinking from humility and start thinking: I earned this, this is mine. Everything becomes a superpower,” she said. 

But at the same time, she knows what’s at stake, performing in a country where non-white immigrants, and Latino people in particular, are now heavily targeted by ICE. “I think the word Latina carries a lot of weight right now,” she said. “Over the past year, everything I’ve done has come with that sense of responsibility, to show up for my community and express what I feel. There’s definitely a frustration at times because you feel like you can’t do everything, but you try to do what you can from your position.”

What Karol can do is use her voice, and she’s weighing what she might say. 

“I feel a responsibility to make sure that what I do actually has an impact,” she said. “I don’t want to just say ‘ICE Out’ and have nothing come from it.” Before speaking out, Karol said she has to consider “real boundaries and responsibilities,” and the possibility that her team won’t be thrilled if she says “ICE Out” during Coachella. But, will she? 

“I’m probably going to go a little harder than that,” she said. “I just want to represent my community. But what I’m telling you is that, as a human being, I want that to mean more. I’m not saying that I’m not going to do it; what I’m saying is that I would do it and will do it with my soul. But I want to sit down and understand, in my head: Here’s what that meant.”

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