Karol G may have kicked off her headlining set 30 minutes late on Sunday night — which is early for those familiar with the spatial-temporal concept known as “Latino Time” — but it made her display on the main stage no less monumental.

“I’m Carolina Giraldo Navarro from Medellín, Colombia, and today, I am the first Latina woman to headline at Coachella,” she told the crowd, decked in the red, blue and yellow colors of the Colombian flag.

Yet it was not just a celebration of Karol’s country people; but a musical welcome wagon, extended from Latin America to the rest of the world.

“Forever wild, forever free … Latina foreva,” she recited from backstage, kicking off her set with the slinky reggaeton number of the same name — exalting the primordial goddess that lives inside every Latina. Andean pan flutes trilled as she and her backup dancers surfaced in glittering Stone Age club looks, undulating seductively from cave to cave, in a paleolithic apartment complex that recalled “The Flintstones.”

Karol was quick to welcome the first of her guest stars that night: Mariah Angeliq, the Miami-born reggaeton chanteuse who emerged to sing the 2021 single “El Makinón,” a bass-thumping song about breaking all the rules with your bestie. Recalling the sapphic undertones of the original video — Miami’s answer to “Thelma & Louise” — Karol slid her hands seductively along Angeliq’s body, eliciting screams from her audience.

“Are you as nervous as I am to be here?” asked Karol. Cameras cut to her fans, some of whom were shown sobbing on the jumbotron, wearing traditional Colombian Vueltiao hats and waving their flags with glee. After a mambo-fied performance of her title track from her 2025 album, “Tropicoqueta,” she perched atop a ginormous macaw to serenade the crowd with her bilingual merengue romántico, “Papasito.”

A squad of female mariachis in blue soon proceeded to walk down the runway, ushering in her ranchera ballad, “Ese Hombre Es Malo.” She gave thanks and recognition to the Mexican community and followed with her second duet of the night: the mariachi-assisted reggaeton kiss-off track, “Mamiii,” with L.A.’s homegrown diva Becky G.

“¡Que viva Mexico, que viva Colombia! Y a todos nuestros inmigrantes, ¡[los] queremos mucho!” said Becky.

Karol deployed a burlesque striptease in silhouette — a move she adopted during her residency last year at the famous Parisian cabaret, Crazy Horse. This steamy number gave way to a feverish performance of her song with Maldy, “Gatúbela,” which she finessed with a chrome Barbarella look, then a perreo-fueled breakdown to Daddy Yankee’s 2005 banger, “Rompe.” The legendary Puerto Rican MC Wisin gave Karol a breather by storming the stage and regaling his millennial fans with 2000s reggaeton burners like “Pam Pam” and “Rakata.”

And though she made her name as a reggaeton artist, and delivered reverent takes on Latin American heritage sounds in “Tropicoqueta,” Karol made an unprecedented pivot in her discography on Sunday night with a surprise guest.

Of all the Latino collaborators she could have welcomed to the stage, any music critic would be hard-pressed to suspect it would be El Paso dream-pop star Greg Gonzalez: lead singer and guitarist of Cigarettes After Sex. With his guitar in hand, and reverb cranked up to 11, Gonzalez joined Karol in debuting their spectral new shoegaze ballad, “Después de Ti,” which was steeped in yearning and performed entirely in Spanish.

Things would soon get positively feral as Karol’s backing rock band, composed entirely of women, shredded through the outro of the song “TQG,” giving it a heavy metal edge. Karol then dialed it back to 1993 by putting her own spin on the patriotic song “Mi Tierra,” as written by Cuban singer Gloria Estefan.

With this, Karol identified herself not just as a “first Latina to,” but as part of a lineage of Latinas who’ve left their mark on pop music. Estefan notably opened many doors for Latina musicians — most famously Karol’s Colombian pop predecessor Shakira — to excel in the United States and beyond.

“When [Coachella’s parent company, Goldenvoice] first invited me, I was like, ‘I can’t believe that I had this opportunity, because there’s a lot of artists that couldn’t perform there, even having legendary songs,’” Karol told The Times in December. “That’s why I decided I’m gonna celebrate the songs that opened the door for me. It was a way for me to honor what all the different artists did for me to be there.”

Just before closing Sunday night’s performance, Karol imparted a few words of reflection on her history-making headlining set — one that took 27 years for the festival to see through. “I’m very happy and very proud about this, but at the same time, it feels late!”

Karol also added a few words of solidarity with Latinos in the United States. She’d recently come under fire in the media after telling Playboy that she’d been warned not to speak out against the immigration raids in the United States — echoing the anxieties shared by many other foreign artists living and touring stateside. “Because if you say the thing, maybe the next day you’ll get a call: ‘Hey, we are taking your visa away.’ You become bait, because some people want to show their power,” she told journalist Paola Ramos.

In the same spirit as Bad Bunny, who emphasized global solidarity in the face of repression during his Super Bowl halftime show, Karol chose to go high on Sunday night — and ultimately led with love.

“This is for my Latinos that have been struggling in this country lately,” she told her fans. “We stand for them. I stand for my Latina community. I am very proud because this brings out the best in us: unity, resilience and a strong spirit. We do this because we want everyone to feel welcome to our culture, so I want everyone to feel proud of where you come from.

“Don’t feel fear — feel pride!” she added.

Due to the strict Sunday night time constraints, Karol cut her song “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” midway — leading her band to swap the congas for a blood-pumping EDM mix of her 2021 song, “Provenza,” spinning her sweet nothings into a desert party rock anthem.

A barrage of fireworks lit the sky, as well as the faces of fans at the barricades, who brandished flags from their respective homes across Latin America and the Caribbean — Puerto Ricans, Argentines, Guatemalans, Mexicans and Colombians, united in the groove.

Consider “Karolchella” the latest flag planted by Latinas in our quest for world domination.

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