Alba Farelo i Solé (born 7 March 1997), known professionally as Bad Gyal, is a Spanish singer, songwriter,
DJ and model. Known for her distinctive overall use of
Auto-Tune, Bad Gyal has developed a strong
cult following
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
ever since her musical career began in 2016 with her interpretation of
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...
's "
Work" in the
Catalan language. She then continued to make music as an independent artist, releasing records like "Indapanden", "
Jacaranda" or "Fiebre". Bad Gyal later released two mixtapes: ''
Slow Wine Mixtape
''Slow Wine Mixtape'' is the debut mixtape by Spanish singer Bad Gyal. It was released on 9 November 2016 independently. It was presented with two singles: "Mercadona" and "Fiebre". It includes collaborations with Ms Nina and Elvis KNK. Regard ...
'' (2016) and ''
Worldwide Angel'' (2018), which consecrated her as an emerging artist within the Spanish urban scene.
Farelo signed
Interscope
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Musi ...
and
Aftercluv
Universal Music Latin Entertainment, a division of Universal Music Group, is a record company specialized in producing and distributing Latin music in Mexico, the United States, and Puerto Rico. UMLE includes famous Latin music labels such as Uni ...
a year later and saw mainstream acclaim with songs like "Santa María", "
Zorra" or "
Alocao
"Alocao" is a song by Spanish singers Omar Montes and Bad Gyal. It was released as a single by Universal Music Group on 24 October 2019. The song debuted at number one in Spain, becoming Montes' and Bad Gyal's first number-one song in the count ...
", the latter becoming the
number-one song in Spain in 2019. 2021 saw the release of her first project as a signed artist ''
Warm Up'', as well as ''
Sound System: The Final Releases''.
Other ventures of Bad Gyal besides music include fashion and modelling. She made her modelling debut at
Andrés Sardá
Andrés Sardá is a Spanish lingerie brand created by Andrés Sardá Sacristán. Today, Sarda's daughter, Nuria Sardá, is creative director of the brand. The brand has a store located in Madrid, on Don Ramon de la Cruz Street, and over 400 m ...
's Spring/Summer 2022 show at
Madrid Fashion Week. As for social activism, Farelo has been an advocate for
gender equality,
LGBT rights and
social justice.
Early life
Alba Farelo i Solé was born on 7 March 1997 in
Vilassar de Mar, Barcelona. The eldest of five children, Farelo is the daughter of , a voice actor
who worked for international productions such as ''
The Lord of the Rings'' and ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
''. After taking , Farelo studied a degree in
fashion design at the
University of Barcelona. While attending university and working at a call centre, she released "Pai" in April 2016, an adaptation of "
Work" by
Rihanna
Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...
in the
Catalan language.
She stated that she never meant for that song to become viral and that she just did it to create a funny memory with her group of friends. However, with that video Farelo became one of the first artists to sing typically Latin music genres in Catalan and was named one of the biggest musical promises in Spain after the
cover was picked up by a local radio. While working in a bakery in her hometown, she decided to drop out of college to pursue a serious career in the music industry. She began as an independent artist singing covers and playing music in nightclubs in the
province of Barcelona. She later became more interested in producing her own music and, with the money she made out of these gigs, she rented recording studios for limited hours and hired some producers. She would then release "Indapanden" and "No Pierdo Nada", among other songs produced by Fakeguido.
Career
2016–2018: ''Slow Wine Mixtape'' and ''Worldwide Angel''
"Pai" gained popularity on
YouTube, and was picked up by a local radio, which led to the creation of a mixtape, ''
Slow Wine Mixtape
''Slow Wine Mixtape'' is the debut mixtape by Spanish singer Bad Gyal. It was released on 9 November 2016 independently. It was presented with two singles: "Mercadona" and "Fiebre". It includes collaborations with Ms Nina and Elvis KNK. Regard ...
'', with producer Pablo Martínez. The mixtape was released on 9 November 2016. Through that era, she hit a page on several professional music magazines and websites including ''
Pitchfork'' and ''
Fact
A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...
''. ''Fact'' named her song "
Jacaranda" the number 1 single of 2017. After releasing the mixtape's debut single "Fiebre", Bad Gyal started to grow exponentially in the areas of
El Maresme, Barcelona, and other points of Spain. Throughout the years, the song has developed a
cult following
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
and has been catalogued as a must play at clubs and music festivals. As "Fiebre" was having a lot of success, she was offered many record deals, which she turned down after some legal advises by lawyers and her dream to continue as an independent artist. The success of the mixtape and its critical acclaim led Farelo to perform at several festivals in Iceland and Japan, as well as the Red Bull Music Academy Festival in Los Angeles, and
Sónar in Barcelona. In late 2017 she also toured Mexico and the US.
In February 2018, she released her second mixtape to critical acclaim, which she titled ''
Worldwide Angel''. The album was licensed and distributed with
Canada Editorial. The mixtape was produced by
Jam City, Dubbel Dutch, Florentino and
El Guincho. It spawned many singles including "
Blink
Blinking is a bodily function; it is a semi-autonomic rapid closing of the eyelid. A single blink is determined by the forceful closing of the eyelid or inactivation of the levator palpebrae superioris and the activation of the palpebral portio ...
", "Candela" and "Internationally". The last one was included in the digital soundtrack of the first season of the
Netflix teen drama series ''
Élite
In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...
'' and was featured in an episode. To promote the album, she took part of international festivals such as
SXSW
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...
and
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...
and toured once again the United States. During winter season she embarked on her first Asian tour, which visited countries like Japan, China and the Philippines. She also released "Open the Door" featuring Jamaican singer Govana, "Yo Sigo Iual" and "Unknown Feeling".
2019–2021: Commercial breakthrough and ''Warm Up''
Formerly signed with the production company
Canada Editorial, in April 2019 it was announced Farelo had signed with
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...
and
Aftercluv Dance Lab
Universal Music Latin Entertainment, a division of Universal Music Group, is a record company specialized in producing and distributing Latin music in Mexico, the United States, and Puerto Rico. UMLE includes famous Latin music labels such as Uni ...
. The next month she was featured in Spanish ''
Vogue''. As a signed artist, Farelo moved to a more mainstream field with her first release being the long-anticipated "Santa María" featuring
Busy Signal. It was released in parallel with "
Milionària
"Milionària" is a song by Spanish singer Rosalía. It was released on 3 July 2019 by Columbia Records as a song from her first extended play, ''Fucking Money Man'' (2019). "Milionària" is the first song that the singer has released in Catalan. T ...
" by
Rosalía, in which some called "the biggest musical weekend celebration in recent Catalan music memory". It marked Farelo's first charting song in Spain. It was later certified gold. A couple weeks later she released its B-side track, "Hookah", which peaked at 55 in Spain. During the summer she embarked on her third solo tour Bad Gyal Soundsystem, which visited many festivals including
Sónar,
Jameson Urban Routes,
Hellow,
Arenal Sound ''Arenal'' may refer to:
People with the surname
*Concepción Arenal (1820–1893), Spanish feminist writer and activist
*Electa Arenal (1935–1969), Mexican muralist
*Luis Arenal Bastar (c. 1900–1985), Mexican painter, engraver and sculptor
...
and
Ceremonia, among others. In October 2019 Farelo collaborated with
Omar Montes
Omar Ismael Montes Moreno (born 22 June 1988) is a Spanish singer and media personality who became known for his appearances in reality shows such as '' Mujeres y Hombres y Viceversa'', ''Gran Hermano VIP'', and ''Supervivientes'', as well as ...
on "
Alocao
"Alocao" is a song by Spanish singers Omar Montes and Bad Gyal. It was released as a single by Universal Music Group on 24 October 2019. The song debuted at number one in Spain, becoming Montes' and Bad Gyal's first number-one song in the count ...
", which eventually became huge in Spain and selected parts of Latin America. The song peaked at number one in Spain for several weeks and was certified five times platinum. Two months later, she released her biggest commercial solo track to date, "
Zorra", which peaked at number two and was certified three times platinum in Spain. Bad Gyal offered two major solo sold-out concerts at
Razzmatazz
Razzmatazz or Razzamatazz may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Razzmatazz'' (American TV series), a 1977–1982 news and entertainment program for teens and young adults
* ''Razzmatazz'' (British TV series), a 1981–1987 children's music show ...
and another sold-out one at
La Riviera. The Soundsystem show was expected to begin a major Spanish and Latin American leg starting 8 March 2020, but could only do three shows due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Appearances at festivals like
Estéreo Picnic and
Primavera Sound were cancelled while the whole tour was postponed to 2021.
During the pandemic, Farelo was featured on
Kafu Banton's "
Tú eres un bom bom
"Tú eres un bom bom" (Spanish for "you are a bom bom") is a song recorded by Panamanian singer Kafu Banton, released for digital download and streaming on May 24, 2019. It was written by Kafu Banton, DJ Blass and Mista Greenzz, and produced by ...
", which would later be remixed in collaboration with
Guaynaa. She also released "Aprendiendo el sexo" later on, with a music video produced by
Canada and filmed at the luxurious
W Hotel Barcelona. In November, she paired with Juanka and released "Blin blin" to commercial success and the acclaim of the general public. The track became viral in her home country and had a significant use on
TikTok. She also partnered with
Vodafone and offered a unique virtual concert.
Bad Gyal released her first extended play ''
Warm Up'' on 19 March 2021 with her latest releases including the controversial
Rauw Alejandro "Zorra" remix and the YouTube censored "Pussy". The EP peaked at 5 in Spain. She also collaborated with clothing brand
Bershka and released an exclusive clothing line. On 25 June, she collaborated with
Mariah Angeliq and
María Becerra on "Bobo", which sampled
TLC's "
No Scrubs
"No Scrubs" is a song recorded by American girl group TLC as the lead single from their third studio album, ''FanMail'', on February 2, 1999, by LaFace Records and Arista Records. The song was written by producer Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, forme ...
" and sparked controversy due to similarity with Luchy DR's "Bufón". As tour season came to an end, Farelo published "Flow 2000" as well as the three-side single ''
Sound System: The Final Releases'' featuring songs she had been performing live for years yet remained unreleased. She parallelly released "A la mía" exclusively for the ''
Grand Theft Auto Online'' radio station
Motomami Los Santos hosted by
Rosalía and
Arca.
Awards and nominations
Discography
Mixtapes
Extended plays
Singles
As lead artist
As featured artist
Other charted songs
Guest appearances
Videography
Music videos
Television
Tours
Headlining
* Slow Wine Tour (2017)
* International Bad Gyal Sound System (2019–2021)
* La Joia Tour (2022)
References
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{Bad Gyal
1997 births
21st-century Spanish women singers
21st-century Spanish singers
Dancehall singers
Feminist musicians
Interscope Records artists
Living people
LGBT rights activists from Spain
People from Vilassar de Mar
Reggaeton musicians
Spanish electronic musicians
Spanish feminists
Spanish pop singers
Spanish women singers
Spanish women singer-songwriters
Universal Music Latin Entertainment artists
University of Barcelona alumni