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On June 20, Karol G released her latest single, Si antes te había conocí (If I Had Met You Before). A perfect merengue for the summer that, as the Colombian explained on social media, “represents the flavor not only of a country, but of our Latin community around the world… Joyful, happy, contagious. I can’t wait for you to dance to it too.”

In less than 24 hours, the song entered Spotify’s Global Top. Two weeks later it was ranked 10th on that ranking and had accumulated more than fourteen million views on YouTube. In one month, the platform already placed it as one of the undisputed candidates to become the song of the summer, in our country and abroad.

But the phenomenon we are experiencing with La Bichota’s new song is not new: in the summer of 2022, the release of Despechá by Rosalía also achieved record numbers: it went straight to number 7 on the Spotify Global list and within 24 hours it was in the top 1 of the most viewed videos in music trends on YouTube. In addition, as Motomami celebrated on her networks, this June 6 her song reached one billion views.

Is ‘If I Had Met You Before’ a plagiarism of ‘Despechá’?

As soon as the Colombian singer’s new merengue became available on platforms, a new controversy ignited the networks due to accusations of plagiarism.

Certainly, the sound of Si antes te había conocí and Despechá are very similar —however, both are merengues—, although the lyrics have nothing to do with each other: in the first, the singer speculates about a love that could not be, and in the second, Rosalía sings about resentment after a breakup. “You could say that it is strange that a star the size of Karol G —four Bernabéus, remember— releases a song similar to Despechá. But Rosalía also released a bachata with The Weeknd, after Ateo by C. Tangana and Nathy Peluso and today… Who remembers who came first, the chicken or the egg?” they recalled on the music website Jenesaispop.

But in addition to musical issues, Karol G seems to replicate some resources, such as laughter and the “eh-eh-eh” of the final part, and the video of the song also recreates a summery, colorful and beachy setting —the one for Despechá was filmed on a beach in Mallorca—.

The debate intensified when many interpreted a post on Instagram by the Catalan singer as a dig at La Bichota. In it she appeared giving the finger while Despechá was playing.

“A Spanish girl comes to fight for a Latin rhythm? Don’t fuck with me.” “Come on, you’re European, you didn’t invent anything, merengue is LATIN!!!!.” “Motomami is upset because she already thought she owned merengue.” These are some of the comments with which Karol G’s fans defend her from accusations of plagiarism.

A long history of rivalry

But this is not the first time that La Bichota has been “suspected” of copying or being inspired too much by Rosalía, and not only on a musical level, but also aesthetically and stylistically.

In 2020, when Karol G released the remix of Karamelo alongside Ozuna and Myke Towers, many paid attention to how similar her voice was to Rosalía’s, since the effects of the autotune were the same.

Further debates arose over stylistic aspects such as nails and hair.

Rosalía has made her special, daring and risky manicures one of her trademarks. Well, the Colombian was also seduced by them and it is said that she even visited the Catalan’s favourite salon on a trip to Barcelona, Dvine Nails.

Let us remember that in the song Aute Cuture he says “Dvine’s nails have already been copied”, which was interpreted as a direct allusion to the Colombian.

The same thing happened with the hair.

Karol G has worn it in all colors —brown, blue, green, pink, blonde…—, but on August 8 she debuted a new look with her hair dyed red. Just a few days earlier, on August 2, the Malamente singer had gone on stage with that same hair color.

Other hairstyles were also put on trial, such as the ponytails, some flamenco poses, especially those in the Tusa video, and even the way of writing their names, in capital letters, and some of the photos that the Colombian uploads to Instagram —or the filters— because Rosalía had already done it before. Only admiration and respect

And while the legend about this enmity grows, the two artists, the two biggest Latin stars of the moment, do not speak out, at least not explicitly, about the relationship or bad relationship that unites them.

Yes, in 2021, Karol G spoke about it in an interview: “I have to be honest, we are not the closest artists. I am friends with other female music artists and with her it is something like colleagues in the industry, but I feel, or at least I believe, that there is an admiration from each of us towards the other and a respect for what we do.”

Months later, many media outlets speculated about a possible collaboration between them, given what could have been an approach through social media when Rosalía commented on a post by Karol G wishing her luck at Coachella on March 27, 2022.

On March 28, the Medellín native returned the gesture with a story in which she appeared listening to the Catalan singer’s song Sakura.

The last time the two artists met was at the MET Gala in May, and Motomami, when asked about La Bichota’s presence at the party, referred to her as a friend: “I have too many friends here, so I’m happy to come here and share with all of them. But yes, Karol is here, Benito is here, and I’m very happy to be here.” [Bad Bunny] He is around here, a lot of friends, really.”