* En anglais uniquement
Catalan/Spanish singer Alba Farelo (aka
Bad Gyal) uses a blend of trap, reggaetón, and dancehall to write songs about youth and sexuality. She found mainstream success in 2016 when her cover version of
Rihanna's "Work" became an online hit, paving the way for her debut mixtape, Slow Wine. In 2019 she inked a deal with Interscope, resulting in the release of the EP
Warm Up in 2021.
Born in 1997 in Vilassar de Mar, Farelo was the eldest of five -- her father, Eduard Farelo, was a renowned voice actor who would often overdub popular films in Spanish. Despite what might have been perceived as an advantage, Farelo was keen to carve out her own path, which she did by releasing a homemade video of herself covering
Rihanna's "Work" in 2016; the track used a mixture of Spanish and Catalan and was subsequently titled "Pai." She was still attending university, with a side job at a call center, when the video went viral; this spurred her on to release a mixtape later the same year, titled Slow Wine. She was later signed to Canada/Pure Records, which released the single "Jacaranda" in 2017. The following year, Farelo released her second mixtape, 2018's World Wide Angel, which featured a slew of producers including
Jam City,
DJ Florentino,
Dubbel Dutch, and
El Guincho. She signed with Interscope the following year, and in 2021 she issued the EP
Warm Up, which included the hit "Blin Blin (feat.
Juanka)." ~ Liam Martin