Judeline Is Swimming In Art For Her Next Era — Exclusive

How is Judeline commemorating the biggest year of her career? By getting right back in the studio, of course. Even when the 23-year-old Spanish singer is trying to process her whirlwind summer — which she partially chalks up to Mercury retrograde — she’s already thinking about what comes next. Just weeks ago, she secured her first ever entry on the Billboard Hot 100 and her first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart with Karol G’s “BbY Wow,” an R&B-meets-dancehall track she co-wrote and features on alongside Rusowsky. And yet, when we chatted in late August, Judeline (born Lara Fernández Castrelo) had just left her studio session in Madrid in a rush in order to make our call. “I was finishing little things, but I’m done for the day,” she tells NYLON, nearly out of breath.

If you don’t know her name yet, you will soon — along with “BbY Wow,” Judeline co-wrote four songs on Karol G’s new album, No Me Arrepiento de Sentir Tanto, including the opening track “Te Llevas To” and the Oklou-produced “Final Feliz.” She’d received co-signs from artists like Rosalía, Bad Bunny, and J Balvin in the past, but when Karol requested her vocals on “BbY Wow,” Judeline sprinted to the nearest studio in her hometown, which just so happened to be behind a fried-fish shop. Now, she’s just wrapped her first headlining tour after two years on the road. To put her rise to stardom into perspective: In 2024, Judeline played London’s The Lower Third for a room of 250 people, while her final show on Sept. 5, 2026, saw her performing for 26,500 spectators at Plaza Mayor de Valladolid in Spain.

To put a capstone on her whirlwind summer, NYLON chatted with the burgeoning Spanish superstar exclusively about working with Karol G, saying goodbye to tour, and finding inspiration in the culture she missed while on the road.

We’re coming on the tail end of what has been a huge summer for you. Take me through it all. How has it been? What have you been up to? How have you been celebrating?

It has been crazy, honestly. There was this, how do you say, retrograde Mercury? I never heard of it, but for the first time, I searched it because it was affecting me a lot. With this, I had a sad time in the summer. I was very sad, feeling very low, and I didn’t know why. Then out of nowhere, the craziest thing in the world happened. [There’s been] so much up and downs this summer. It started so weird, and now it’s ending in the craziest way. I’m feeling great. It has been like a dream. I can’t believe it.

Has there been a highlight for you?

I’ve been with my friends in Ibiza, and I had a lot of fun, but of course, Karol [G] is the craziest thing this summer.

You’re having a huge moment with the song “BbY Wow” and the album, which you helped work on. How did this collaboration come about?

I was writing for Karol in February. We shared beautiful moments, and I helped her write “BbY Wow.” It was supposed to be a song for her and only her, and the song was so cool when we were doing it in the studio. Then she was about to release the album, and she called me two weeks earlier or something like that, and she was like, “Baby, I think I really want you in the song. I want you and Rusowsky in the song. Let’s do it, please. I need you. I need you. I want this.” I talked to Rusowsky and we were super down. Of course, she's so iconic and so amazing. We did the song in two days. I did my verse, Rusowsky did his, and the song was out a week later.

What was going through your mind when she asked you to be on the song?

I was grateful and surprised. I was about to meet my friend in my hometown in my village, and she FaceTimed me, and she was like, “I need you to go to the studio now.” I was like, “Oh, f*ck. Where do I go to a studio in my hometown? I don’t know a studio here.” I was on vacation, but I found this place in the city. From the outside, it looks like a fried-fish place, but then you go to the back and you open the door and it’s a studio. I recorded my verse there; it was really funny.

The song earned you your first entry onto the Billboard Hot 100. How did that feel?

I don’t know, I think I’m not conscious yet. In my mind, I’m like, “No, I don’t care that much about numbers.” But then when you have the numbers, when these things happen, it feels so good and so rewarding. Both me and Rusowsky, we’ve been working so hard for so long, and it’s very rewarding to be like “This finally happened.”

I’m excited for what is going to come and super grateful for Karol, because I know the amount of doors that are open now for me and all the things that are about to come thanks to her. I’m super, super grateful and excited about the future right now.

Have you been in touch with her since the song has started taking off?

We talked to each other, and she told me that she was so happy to share that with me. We talked and celebrated on WhatsApp. She’s a sweetheart and working with her has been amazing.

Do you get to be in the studio with her while she records? What do your writing sessions with her look like?

We were in Malibu in February. We were there for two days, and it was amazing, really organic. We were there making the ideas from scratch with Tainy, with Rusowsky, with [Andrés Jael Correa] Rios, and we had so much fun. She was recording her verse there. She’s such a good singer. We were doing the lyrics and the melodies together, and it was great vibes. Four of the songs are in the album, so it turned out really cool.

What have you learned from working with Karol?

She’s so professional. She was preparing herself for Coachella during those days, and she was waking up so early, doing all the rehearsals, then coming to the studio. I was like, “Damn.” Only people with that mentality can do that. She is addicted [to working nonstop] and so, so, so professional. I was shocked about the amount of work and discipline she had when she was preparing for Coachella and also doing the songs. It was very, very inspiring.

What are your plans for the rest of the year in terms of concerts and touring?

I’m finishing my tour. I’m having the last show of the tour this week, which I’m very excited about, because I’ve been touring for three [or] four years. With this album, we’ve been doing it for two, almost three years. It has been more than 100 [shows], so I’m tired. I can’t wait to stop the tour, rest, make music, go to the studio, and get inspired. I need that right now. I need to release music and connect with my art and get ready for the next era, which I don’t know what it’s going to be, but I’m going to train right now. I need some training.

How does ending the tour feel? That must be kind of crazy.

It’s kind of sad because it changed so much. We started with little venues, like 300, 700, 900 people. We started like that, and then little by little, we made an arena with 14,000 [people]. The show evolved a lot, and I’ve grown so much. I became an adult during this tour. A lot of things happened. It’s a good vibe, it’s beautiful, but I’m excited for the new era. I’m already feeling like I really need new things and new stuff and get inspired and write and express myself in the studio, which is actually my favorite thing more than performing. I love performing, but I love the studio more.

What have you been working on?

I’m letting myself be free in the studio and be open and just feel what I need to feel and express. I’ve been really open. Right now, it’s important for me to have no pressure for myself and just enjoy art and feel connected to art. I’m trying to watch a lot of movies, listen to a lot of albums that I didn’t have time to listen to. I’m trying to read books, go to museums. I’m really trying to swim in art, literally, all I can to get inspired for this next era. It’s going to take time, but I feel like something changed in me, and that is showing off in the studio.

Besides Karol, you've also received co-signs from major artists like Bad Bunny and Rosalía. What goes through your mind when you get this approval from these huge stars?

It's crazy. I was such a small artist. I was doing music for two years; I had no listeners at all. Then randomly, I was on this playlist on Bad Bunny's profile, and then I was in the Rosalía one. It was huge for me, and it was big, big support for how small I was at that time. You need that respect and that little punch to keep going.

It gave me a lot of opportunities. A lot of producers and people in the industry wanted to help me, and it opened a lot of doors for me. I’m super grateful for [Bad Bunny] and for Rosalía for supporting me when nobody did.

You’re about to close this chapter of your tour, and you’ve reached a new peak of your career. What do you have in store for us in 2027?

Oh, my God, I don’t know. This is crazy, of course, but I just take it as the beginning of what I want to do. I really want to eat life right now and do my work as good as I can do it. I try to bring the best songs and art I can and get better every day, I guess.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.