Karol G may have finished her Mañana Será Bonito tour in July, but she just made one last important stop: “Fortnite.”

The “Provenza” singer’s five-part interactive concert premiered in Epic Games’ hugely popular title on Friday afternoon, taking her colorful, doodle-filled world to a whole new level.

“When I first heard about the possibility of collaborating with Fortnite, I didn’t hesitate,” says Karol G, the headliner of the fifth season of the Fortnite Festival. diversity exclusive. “As a video game fan, I’ve always admired the incredible universe of ‘Fortnite.’ This partnership presented us with the opportunity to create something unique – an immersive experience that my fans would love, while also sharing my music with an audience that may not know me. So when the opportunity arose to be a part of Season 5, I jumped at the chance because it felt like a natural extension of my creative expression.”

The virtual concert, which will be playable until August 26 at 12 p.m. ET, brings key moments in Karol’s story to life through her chart-topping music. “She’s obviously an incredible artist and is setting so many records across the industry,” says Emily Levy, director of strategic partnerships at Epic Games, of welcoming the singer to “Fortnite.” “What’s really unique about this concert is that it tells the story of Karol’s life and career in a narrative, interactive, and fantastical way.”

Take, for example, the opening scene, where players are thrown into a busy subway. “The impetus for us to bring that subway scene to life was that Karol rediscovered her love of music and reinvested herself in her musical career while on a subway in New York City,” says Levy.

Karol worked hand-in-hand with Epic on her concert and in-game visuals, serving as the de facto “creative director” for the partnership. “It’s important to me and my team that every collaboration we have feels organic and contains a part of my essence. To create this immersive experience and make fans feel like they’re at one of my concerts, we paid attention to every detail so that each look truly reflects my style and the energy I bring to my performances,” she says. “The setlist includes songs that are not only fan favorites, but also ones that have special meaning in my life.”

While the Epic team considered recreating Karol’s tour sets, it decided to use its Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) to create a distinctive, creative virtual experience. “If you’ve been to Karol’s international stadium tour, you’ve seen her perform on a giant shark,” Levy says. “We could have brought a shark to life, and she could have performed on it. But what’s unique about ‘Fortnite’ is that we can also do so much more. We can do things that would never have been possible in the physical world.” Dozens of neon green sharks swim through the air as players race down a wild water slide.

Karol is in good company as a headliner of the Fortnite Festival, joining previous acts The Weeknd, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish and Metallica. “These different partnerships allow players to have an increasingly diverse imagination,” Levy says. “At this point, ‘Fortnite’ is so much more than a game. It’s an ecosystem of experiences for a variety of different types of players who come to ‘Fortnite’ to do a variety of different things, whether it’s playing ‘Battle Royale,’ playing on the main stage or the Battle Stage, playing within the larger ‘Fortnite’ ecosystem, playing ‘Lego Fortnite.'” Or even streaming music.

This year, Luminate Data found by analyzing select “Fortnite Festival” tracks that the songs saw an average increase of 8.7% in on-demand audio streaming following their announcement, with some hits like Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” and NF’s “The Search” each increasing by a whopping 23%. “This means that Fortnite is driving new forms of music experience, both in-game and off-platform,” Levy says.

Fortnite Festival, still in its first year, builds on Epic Games’ ability to highlight artists in innovative ways. That’s why Eminem’s longtime manager Paul Rosenberg was eager to bring Slim Shady to the platform late last year after seeing Travis Scott’s collaboration with the game. “I started to really look into it and saw the huge platform behind it and the power it had over fans, players and gamers,” he said. diversity in 2023.

“One of my goals with this collaboration was to reach new audiences and give them an exclusive glimpse into my world,” says Karol. “I’ve been amazed by the incredible response we’ve received from fans around the world. It’s been a rewarding experience to receive messages and read on social media how people are discovering and connecting with my music for the first time. This is a testament to the incredible work Fortnite has done in creating a global community and increasing the popularity of Latin music.”

Levy and her team at Epic are betting that more musicians like Karol will see Fortnite as an extension of their artistic abilities. “We hope our artist partners start to think of Fortnite as another stop on their tour when they think about their releases. How can Fortnite play an important role in a release cycle?”