Kei Linch Releases “Tuya,” Her First Solo Song After La nena tiene una estrella
Kei Linch is following one of the most visible stretches of her 2026 with something deliberately more intimate.
The Colombian artist has released “Tuya,” her first solo single following La nena tiene una estrella, trading the scale of festival stages for a reggae-inflected love song that began with little more than her voice and a ukulele. The release arrives just days after Linch opened for South Korean group Stray Kids in Bogotá and performed on Festival Cordillera’s main stage, extending a run that is putting her in front of increasingly diverse audiences.
Written by Kei Linch and produced by Jocsan La Loquera, “Tuya” centers on a relationship that has technically ended but never completely disappeared. Its acoustic origins remain central to the record even as the arrangement expands into reggae, giving Linch room to approach heartbreak without turning the song into a conventional breakup anthem.
For Linch, that stripped-back starting point was important.
“‘TUYA’ is a song that holds a special place in my heart,” she said in a statement accompanying the release. “Besides being a very personal song, it is the first one I’ve written accompanied only by my ukulele.”
That simplicity represents an interesting turn after La nena tiene una estrella, the 2026 project that pushed Linch’s musical identity beyond a strict rap framework. The project incorporated different sounds while balancing themes of vulnerability, ambition and identity — an expansion Linch herself has discussed as part of understanding the visibility and pressure that have accompanied her growth.
“Tuya” doesn’t abandon that experimentation. Instead, it brings it down to a smaller scale.
For an artist whose foundation is closely connected to Bogotá’s rap scene, moving naturally between hip-hop, R&B, reggae and acoustic songwriting can be more significant than simply chasing another genre crossover. It suggests Linch is building her next phase around versatility without separating herself from the writing and personality that established her in the first place.
The timing strengthens that argument.
On September 9, Linch appeared at Bogotá’s Vive Claro Distrito Cultural on the bill with Stray Kids, NEXZ and Bad Milk. Three days later, she opened the Cordillera stage at Festival Cordillera at 2:15 p.m., beginning a lineup that later featured Dread Mar I, Fobia, Andrés Calamaro and Beéle.
Those bookings put Linch in front of audiences that do not necessarily originate from the same musical ecosystem. A K-pop stadium audience and Festival Cordillera’s broad Latin alternative crowd represent two very different rooms. For a developing Colombian artist, moving between them while releasing music that stretches beyond a single genre is an opportunity to broaden recognition without requiring a complete artistic reinvention.
That may be the more important story behind “Tuya.” Latin music’s current generation increasingly operates outside the rigid genre categories that once separated rap, urbano, Caribbean rhythms, alternative music and pop. Linch’s progression fits that environment, but her approach feels less like a calculated crossover than an extension of songwriting. The ukulele came first; reggae became the vehicle around it.
Her live calendar continues this weekend. Linch is scheduled to perform Saturday, September 19, alongside rapper Top Boy and additional guests at the #YoMeSumo concert at Bogotá’s Royal Center, an event supporting reconstruction efforts in Buenaventura and Chocó.
As she moves beyond La nena tiene una estrella, the question is no longer simply what Kei Linch sounds like within Colombian rap. “Tuya” opens a more interesting possibility: how wide can that sound become while still remaining recognizably hers?
“Tuya” is out now on digital platforms. Follow LaMezcla.com and the LaMezcla Music App for more new Latin music, emerging artists and releases shaping the next wave of the culture.
