Bad Gyal Is Rallying The Girls for A New Era of Big Femme Energy

After spending nearly a decade generating buzz with mixtapes and singles, Bad Gyal is ready for her next big move. At the beginning of the year, the Barcelona-based star released her debut album La Joia, which is Catalan for the “The Jewel.” On the adventurous LP, she explored genres like dancehall, reggaeton, Brazilian funk, and house music while subverting the male-dominated urbano space with big femme energy.

“I like the concept that a jewel comes from a dirty, hard space, but then you work on it, you cut it, and it turns into something beautiful and shiny,” Bad Gyal tells Rolling Stone. “That was the same with the process of creating this album and trying to make the songs the most perfect that they could be.”

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Last year, Bad Gyal extended her reach beyond Spain when Karol G featured her on the song “Kármika” with Jamaican icon Sean Paul. She also scored her first global hit with the alluring “Chulo,” where she flipped the male gaze of urbano the other way around. Puerto Rican rapper Young Miko and Dominican provocateur Tokischa joined on a remix of the song; Brazilian superstar Anitta also teamed up with her for  the baddie anthem “Bota Niña.” Now Bad Gyal is getting the blessing of reggaeton pioneer Ivy Queen on the “Perdió Este Culo” remix.

“I feel like the more women there are, the better,” she says. “At the end of the day, each woman has her own identity and her own way to say her things. It’s great that we have this space. Every year, I feel like we’re more free to do whatever we want to do.”

To bring her 2000s-inspired fantasy of urbano to life, Bad Gyal enlisted the help of producers like reggaeton pioneer Nely “El Arma Secreta,” hip-hip staple Scott Storch, and Rosalía’s frequent collaborator El Guincho. This month, she’ll take the album on the road with concerts in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and at Chicago’s Sueños Music Festival. While speaking to Rolling Stone, Bad Gyal broke down six songs from La Joia and explained how she put together the bold project.

“Perdió”

Ivy is a super important artist for me and being able to collaborate with a legend like her on “Perdió” has been incredible. That song is like a way to express the empowerment that you feel when you remove something from your life that wasn’t working, that was taking a lot of your energy, and that wasn’t giving you happiness. It wasn’t giving you peace. I feel that her verse gives the song even more power. It takes it to another level. She always goes hard. She was the only person who could make this song bigger. Ivy is an idol for my entire generation. I love seeing how my work is able to inspire artists as influential as her.

“Chulo Pt. 2”

“Chulo” was a song that I dropped by myself at first. I remember watching Tokischa’s Instagram and seeing her post a lot of stories with the song. Later, I met Young Miko in Las Vegas and she told me she was obsessed with the song, so I thought it would be perfect to put them both on the remix. The reaction from the audience was amazing. The numbers say everything. It was one of my biggest songs this past year. It charted on the U.S. charts, which is the first time that something like that happened in my career. I’m super grateful to Miko and Tokischa because I feel like the three of us together made that possible.

“Bota Niña”

I made that song like three years ago. I remember I was in the studio with El Guincho working on ideas and I was super obsessed with brega funk at that time. I heard the melodic loop and thought it was perfect to make a brega funk song. I recorded the whole song with that loop and we later talked with Gabriel do Borel, who is one of the most important funk producers in Brazil. We asked him to do the drums because we wanted the right sound. Gabriel talked with Anitta and showed her the songs that I did with him and she loved “Bota Niña.” It was a great surprise. She was texting me and asking me if she could jump on the song and I was like, “Of course! You are the queen of Brazil and no one would do this song better than you.”

“La Que No Se Mueva”

Tommy Lee Sparta is amazing. He’s one of my favorite artists and I’m super happy with the vibe of the song. I feel like it has a dancehall vibe and he’s 100 percent himself in the song. That’s what I wanted to have on this album, his authenticity. I really love dancehall. I get really inspired by that genre because I feel like it gives me an energy that I’ve never felt from listening to other types of music. It puts me in my mood.

“Give Me”

I had already worked with Nely “El Arma Secreta” and Scott Storch separately. I did a lot of work with Nely for years and then a little later I met Scott. I already had two songs out with Scott. It was amazing to experience the fact of putting them together in the studio, a legend of reggaeton and a legend of hip-hop. It’s an experience that every songwriter would like to be able to live.

“Sexy”

I always feel like I’m an artist for the gay community. I have a couple of songs that were big for the gay community like this one. I’m super grateful for them. They are always super supportive. They’re my most intense fans. They’re the ones that celebrate me the most. I appreciate it. I know the energy is intense because they love me so much. They’re my biggest supporters. I wouldn’t be where I’m at right now without them.

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