Karol G’s Media Snub at Paris Fashion Week Highlights a Bigger Problem: Are Latin Artists Still Underestimated?

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On July, 2025, Colombian global star Karol G appeared front and center at Paris Haute Couture Week, attending the Schiaparelli show. Sitting alongside international icons such as Dua Lipa, Cardi B, and Hunter Schafer, her presence made waves in the Latin world—and was glaringly overlooked elsewhere.

When some media posted about the fashion week’s most notable front-row guests, they tagged everyone except Karol G. The omission sparked a social media storm. Ricky Martin quickly called them out on one of the publications, commenting: “Excuse me, but who are the ladies sitting next to @karolg???”

Actors and artists like Eiza González also condemned this action. The moment revealed a deeper issue: even at the heart of global fashion, there are situation where Latin artists are keep being under-recognized.

 

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Una publicación compartida por LOS40 USA (@los40usa)

The truth is, Karol G’s omission from media coverage simply makes no sense. She made history in 2023 when Mañana Será Bonito became the first all-Spanish-language album by a woman to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, later earning her the 2024 Grammy for Best Música Urbana Album—making her the first woman to win in that category. Her duet “TQG” with Shakira became a Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, and she was named Billboard’s Woman of the Year in 2024—the first Latina to receive the honor.

Her Mañana Será Bonito tour broke records as the highest-grossing Latin female tour in history (in 2024), with over 2.3 million tickets sold and more than $307  million in revenue, contributing to a lifetime gross surpassing $400 million. Beyond music, Karol G starred in the Netflix documentary Tomorrow Was Beautiful, launched her own label Bichota Records with Interscope, and has once again shaken up the global charts with her latest studio album, Tropicoqueta.

Are Latin artists still undervalued in the United States?

Despite record-breaking numbers, Latin artists remain undervalued in U.S. music charts. In 2024, Latin music generated $1.4 billion in the U.S.—an 18% increase over its previous peak in 2005, according to the RIAA. A staggering 98% of that revenue came from streaming. A Luminate mid-2024 report showed Latin music grew 15.1% year-over-year in U.S. on-demand audio streams. Artists like Karol G, Bad Bunny, and Peso Pluma consistently rank among the top 200 most-streamed in the country. But these numbers don’t seem to translate to equal chart representation.

There’s also a market segmentation where Latin music gets boxed into specific categories, making it harder to reach a broader audience. For example, artists like Carín León have criticized how their music is labeled—not as regional Mexican, but simply Mexican Music. Additionally, industry biases and structures favor certain genres and artists, which limits Latin music’s visibility and recognition on mainstream U.S. rankings, despite its popularity.

This limited chart presence parallels concerns about Latin artists’ inclusion in major U.S. award shows like the Grammys, where nominations for Latin artists remain scarce.

While there’s been analysis on gender gaps within Latin music itself, there’s far less discussion about the anglo-centric bias that overlooks Latin and Hispanic performers.

In that context, Pitchfork offered a compelling critique after the 2022 Latin Grammy nominations. They pointed out that the main Grammy Awards still lack song categories for Spanish-language music, which seems «absurd» in a singles-driven industry, especially in urban music. The common excuse is that “they have their own awards show,” but that’s exactly the problem: separating Spanish-language music into a separate ceremony “others” it and implies it’s somehow lesser.

They question why Miami is treated as a separate industry hub, unlike Atlanta, New York, or Los Angeles, and who benefits from this division—it certainly isn’t the artists. Ignoring the complexities of “Latin” categories that sometimes include European artists, the critique highlights the absence of Black artists in key urban genre nominations, despite the genre’s origins in Black Caribbean communities. In 2022, no Black artists were nominated for Best Urban Music Album; instead, nominees included J Balvin, Karol G, Kali Uchis, and Bad Bunny, showing a lack of real racial diversity in the genre.

The critique also notes how urban music—a diverse and wide-ranging genre—has been oversimplified and boxed in, leading to the exclusion of important artists. While the Latin Grammys have added categories like Best Reggaeton Performance and Best Rap/Hip-Hop Song, urban artists often get left out of the main nominations, even as their popularity is showcased during the ceremonies.

This points to a bigger problem of «racial diversity» at the Grammys, known as #grammyssowhite. It’s hard to celebrate the inclusion of Spanish-language music at the biggest Anglo music awards when the industry leaders themselves don’t fully acknowledge their diversity issues. Moreover, the Academy treats music from outside the Americas even more inadequately, grouping artists from around the world into a few limited categories that don’t reflect their diversity or global impact.

This situation doesn’t seem likely to improve anytime soon, especially with anti-immigration policies like those from the Donald Trump era, which have already affected the Latin music community and its fans in the U.S.

A growing body of analysis, including the 2025 PRISA Audio report, shows that Latin artists are welcomed into the mainstream only when they conform to dominant, English-speaking norms. When they lead with Spanish-language music, Latin American identity, or regional aesthetics—as Karol G proudly does—they are more likely to be omitted.

Her snub in Paris wasn’t just a one-off error. It’s a reflection of systemic bias, where media outlets continue to view Latin excellence as peripheral—even when it’s sitting front row.