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Bad Gyal

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Bad Gyal
Farelo in February 2018
Born
Alba Farelo

1997
Vilassar de Mar, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
Alma materUniversity of Barcelona (no degree)
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • producer
  • disc jockey
Years active2016–present
FatherEduard Farelo i Nin
Musical career
Genres
Labels

Alba Farelo (born 1997),[1] better known as Bad Gyal, is a Catalan-born singer, songwriter, disc jockey and producer from Vilassar de Mar, Spain. Her music interpolates various genres in the urbano umbrella genre including dancehall, trap, dance and hip hop. Farelo rose to fame in 2016 after posting a music video of her covering "Work" by Rihanna in the Catalan language.[2] After becoming viral she began a serious musical career as an independent artist and released a mixtape, Slow Wine, later that year. Throughout the years, Bad Gyal has developed a cult following especially after releasing her most iconic single to date "Fiebre", who has been described by the youngsters as the "soon-to-be modern hymn of Spain".[3] She signed a record deal with Interscope in 2019.[4]

Early life

Farelo was born in Vilassar de Mar, Spain, the eldest of five children,[5] daughter of the actor and dubbing actor Eduard Farelo.[6][7] He worked for international productions such as The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. After taking selectividad, 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, adapting the lyrics to a mixture of Catalan, Spanish, and English.[8] 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 friend group. 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", "No Pierdo Nada" among other songs produced by Fake Guido.

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, with producer Pablo Martínez. The mixtape was released on November 11, 2016. It received generally favourable critics thanks to its innovative sound. Mondo Sonoro stated: "with this project Bad Gyal stands out from the disruptive base rag to embrace what she always considered her musical origins: Jamaican music. Much closer to Kingston than to Atlanta, Farelo has easily slipped through the musics of his fellow generations and added "pegones beats". Bad Gyal started to raise online. Through that era she hit a page on several professional music magazines and websites including Pitchfork and Fact Magazine, who named her song, "Jacaranda" their number 1 single of 2017.[9] After releasing the mixtape's debut single "Fiebre", the singer started to grow exponentially in the areas of El Maresme, Barcelonès and other points of Catalonia and Spain. Throughout the years, the song has developed a cult following 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.[10][9][11] 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.[12] The mixtape was produced by Jam City, Dubbel Dutch, DJ Florentino and Spanish musician El Guincho. It spawned many singles including "Blink", "Candela" and "Internationally". The last one was included in the digital soundtrack of the first season of the Netflix teen drama series Élite and was featured in an episode. To promote the album, she took part of international festivals such as SXSW and Lollapalooza and toured once again the United States. During winter season she embarked on her first Asian tour, which visited countries like Japan, China or the Philippines. She also released "Open the Door" featuring Jamaican singer Govana, "Yo SIgo Iual" and "Unknown Feeling".

2019-present: Steps as a signed artist

Formerly signed with the production company Canada Editorial, in April 2019 it was announced Farelo had signed with Interscope Records and Aftercluv.[13] The next month she was featured in Spanish Vogue.[14] As a signed artist, she moved to a more mainstream field with her first release as a signed artist being the long-anticipated track "Santa María" featuring Jamaican dancehall-reggae artist Busy Signal. It was released in parallel with "Milionària" by Rosalía, in which some called "the biggest musical weekend celebration in Catalan recent music memory".[15] It reached the fourteenth position on the PROMUSICAE chart and was later certified gold.[16] A couple weeks later she released its B-side track, "Hookah", which also entered the chart. 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 and Ceremonia, among others. In October 2019 she collaborated with Spanish urbano artist Omar Montes on "Alocao", which eventually became huge in Spain and selected parts of Latin America. The song peaked number one in Spain for several weeks and was certified four times platinum for selling over 160,000 copies.[17] In December, she released her biggest commercial solo track to date "Zorra", which peaked at number two on the PROMUSICAE chart and was certified platinum in Spain. Bad Gyal offered two major solo sold-out concerts at Razzmatazz and another sold-out one at La Riviera.[18] The Soundsystem show was expected to begin a major Spanish and Latin American leg starting March 8, 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 November. The tour was scheduled to end with a special concert at Barcelona's Sant Jordi Club, a smaller venue alongside the Palau Sant Jordi, Spain's largest and most recognisable indoor arena, on November 27, 2020.[19] It sold out in a couple days but had to be postponed a whole year.[20] Nevertheless, despite the pandemic, Farelo was featured on "Tu Eres Un Bom Bom" alongside Panamanian rapper Kafu Banton.[21] It would later be remixed in collaboration with Puerto Rican singer Guaynaa.[22] Bad Gyal also released "Aprendiendo el Sexo" in July, with a music video produced by Canada and filmed at the luxurious W Hotel Barcelona.[23] 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.[24] Bad Gyal is scheduled to release an EP in January 2021 with her latest releases including the controvertial Rauw Alejandro "Zorra" remix.[25][26]

Discography

Albums

  • Slow Wine Mixtape (2016)
  • Worldwide Angel (2018)

Singles

  • "Jacaranda" (2017)
  • "Nicest Cocky" (2017)
  • "Blink" (2018)
  • "Candela" (2018)
  • "Internationally" (2018)
  • "Más Raro" (2018)
  • "Open the Door" (with Govana and DJ Papis) (2018)
  • "Yo Sigo Iual" (2018)
  • "Unknown Feeling" (with Qraig Voicemail) (2018)
  • "Santa María" (with Busy Signal) (2019) No.14 Spain
  • "Hookah" (2019) No.55 Spain
  • "Zorra" (2019) No. 2 Spain[27]
  • "Aprendiendo El Sexo" (2020) No.29 Spain
  • "Blin Blin" (with Juanka) (2020)

Guest Artist

  • "Commotion (album track)" (with LOWLIGHT and Demaro Small) (2017)
  • "Tra" (with Soto Asa) album track (2018)
  • "Por Ti" (with Florentino) (2018)
  • "Tu Eres Un Bom Bom" (with Kafu Banton) (2020) No. 9 Spain[28]
  • "Alocao" (with Omar Montes) (2019)[29] No. 1 Spain[27]

Tours

Headlining

  • Bad Gyal SoundSystem (2019–2020)[30]

References

  1. ^ Lines, Esteban (13 April 2018). "La cantante Bad Gyal presenta sus nuevas canciones". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Trap catalán: los orígenes del fenómeno musical Bad Gyal". En Blau. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  3. ^ Diez-Garde, Jose Luis (28 November 2019). "Bad Gyal, la bomba sexual que quiere el trono de Rosalía" [Bad Gyal, the sex bomb that wants Rosalía's throne]. La Razón (in Spanish). Retrieved 17 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ "Bad Gyal da el salto a una multinacional y firma por Interscope y Aftercluv". jenesaispop.com (in Spanish). 2019-05-01. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  5. ^ Martin, Felicity (2 August 2018). "A Little Bit International: Bad Gyal Interviewed". Clash Magazine. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  6. ^ Joshi, Tara (23 February 2018). "The Catalan reggaeton queen growing angel wings". Dazed. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  7. ^ Sherburne, Philip (October 5, 2017). "Bad Gyal Is a Rihanna-Loving Dancehall Badass From Barcelona". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  8. ^ Aroesti, Rachel (5 July 2018). "Bad Gyal: 'Young people feel really represented by reggaeton'". the Guardian. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  9. ^ a b Sherborne, Philip (1 March 2018). "Bad Gyal: Worldwide Angel Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  10. ^ "Bad Gyal - Access All Areas". FACT Magazine. 9 September 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  11. ^ "Bad Gyal presenta en Estados Unidos su nuevo disco recopilatorio". La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 29 January 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  12. ^ Myers, Owen (Summer 2018). "The dazzling melancholy of Bad Gyal's dancehall-inspired party music". The Fader. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  13. ^ Madeleine, Fernando (30 April 2019). "Bad Gyal Signs With Interscope and Aftercluv: Exclusive". Billboard. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  14. ^ Blanco, Eva (May 2019). "Bad Gyal: "Todo lo decido yo..."" [Bad Gyal: "Everything I decide..."]. Vogue.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  15. ^ Busquets, Jordi Pueyo; Pous, Ariadna (2019-07-04). "Rosalía canta en catalán en su nueva canción 'Milionària'". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  16. ^ "Rosalía suma su cuarto top 1 en España con 'Milionària'; Bad Gyal, top 14 con 'Santa María'". jenesaispop.com (in Spanish). 2019-07-16. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  17. ^ "BAD GYAL AND OMAR MONTES TEAM UP ON STEAMY NEW RECORD "ALOCAO" – Skope Entertainment Inc". Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  18. ^ "Bad Gyal: El underground es el nuevo mainstream". Qualsevol Nit (in Spanish). 2019-12-04. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  19. ^ Yolanda Martín (2020-03-09). "Bad Gyal pondrá fin a su gira en el Sant Jordi Club de Barcelona en noviembre". Thunderstroke (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  20. ^ "El concierto de Bad Gyal se aplaza hasta noviembre del año que viene". MondoSonoro (in Spanish). 2020-11-06. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  21. ^ "Tu eres un Bom Bom, el nuevo pelotazo de Bad Gyal". Neo2 Magazine (in European Spanish). 2020-04-10. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  22. ^ "Guaynaa se suma a Bad Gyal & Kafu Banton en BOM BOM". Periódico Digital Centroamericano y del Caribe (in Spanish). 2020-05-17. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  23. ^ "Bad Gyal retoza con su chico en un hotel de lujo en 'Aprendiendo el sexo'". jenesaispop.com (in Spanish). 2020-07-29. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  24. ^ "Bad Gyal : concierto en streaming 5G con "Vodafone yu Music Shows" 15 diciembre, 2020". Qué! (in Spanish). 2020-12-15. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  25. ^ LOS40 (2020-11-20). "Bad Gyal: "No tiene sentido cantar una canción de empoderamiento femenino escrita por un hombre"". LOS40 (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-01-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ "El puertorriqueño Rauw Alejandro colabora en remezcla de española Bad Gyal • Hola News". Hola News. 2021-01-22. Retrieved 2021-01-23.
  27. ^ a b "Top 100 Canciones: Semana 51". Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  28. ^ "Top 100 Canciones: Semana 16". Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  29. ^ "Alocao - Single de Omar Montes & Bad Gyal en Apple Music". iTunes. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
  30. ^ Ibanez, Claudia (10 March 2020). "Bad Gyal prepara el mayor concierto de su carrera, ¡y será en Barcelona!" [Bad Gyal is preparing the biggest concert of her career, and it will be in Barcelona]. Time Out Barcelona (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 March 2020.


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