A Colombian woman began her musical career on TikTok and is now going on a world tour: Ela Taubert releases her first album.
Ela Taubert went from singing in the confines of her room to posting anonymous TikTok videos with her music in the background, then winning a Latin Grammy and performing at the 2025 Estéreo Picnic Festival.
When she decided to reveal her face on social media, she won over fans with profound lyrics and romantic dilemmas. Now, she's sharing her debut album, "Preguntas a las 11:11," and excitedly announces her return to Bogotá on November 29th at the Jorge Eliécer Gaitán Theater , one of the stops on her international tour.
Despite this being her debut album, many of her songs have already achieved impressive numbers. For example, on Spotify, "How Did It Happen?" has over 160 million streams , and the version she shares with star Joe Jonas has been listened to by 35 million people on the same platform.
Ela Taubert, Colombian singer. Photo: Universal Music
The tour, which kicks off in Puerto Rico on August 31 and will visit several Latin American cities such as Santiago, Buenos Aires, Lima, Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara, will also feature a special moment for the singer-songwriter, who returns to the place where it all began.
This is what Ela Taubert told EL TIEMPO about her process:
What's it like to be on stage in front of hundreds of people, after coming out of anonymity? It's spectacular. In fact, I said it recently on stage: sometimes the emotion washes over me. Coming home and thinking that I wrote songs in that room… and now I'm here, in front of so many people. It's crazy. I feel so grateful for it.
What motivated you to put a face to your music and publicly embrace those lyrics? When I started uploading videos to social media, I wasn't in Colombia; I was trapped in another country, alone, far from my family. And although it may not seem like it, I'm very shy. So I thought, "I'm in another country. How do I communicate? How do I express myself?"
Social media helped me overcome that fear. At first, I just showed a landscape, and then I said, "What the hell... I'm going to act like a fool, I'll do it well, and it'll be fine." And it was so nice to see that people identified with what I was singing. That was everything to me. That's why I'm here.
Why pop? What was it about that genre that drew you to it? In my house, we've always been huge music lovers. We listened to everything: opera, reggaeton, pop, Afrobeat... everything. But there was something special when I discovered Avril Lavigne, Taylor Swift, Adele, Rihanna... they completely captivated me.
I fell in love with their lyrics, and that's what motivated me to compose and release my own music. I was excited to be able to write those kinds of songs in our language. That became my ultimate dream. So yes, as they say: girly pop. I am girly pop, after all!
Ela Taubert Photo: Courtesy
I overthink everything. I have questions in my head all day long. I've been like that since I was a child. If I have eggs for breakfast, I think, "Why didn't I eat fried eggs?" And so on. At midnight, I'm constantly asking myself questions. So when I write songs, all I can think of are questions.
From those early social media successes, you moved on to the Latin Grammys and collaborating with Joe Jonas. How did you get there? I always say never to say "never" or think a dream is impossible. I have a video of me singing "This Is Me" by Joe Jonas when I was about seven or eight years old.
When I got the Grammy nomination, I started looking for a video to upload and found this one. So I said, "I'm going to send him a message. I want to thank him for inspiring me."
I thought he was very naive, that he'd probably never see it, but I sent it anyway. And he responded! I was in shock, I cried, I called my mom, my team. Then we met in New York and said, "Let's do this." He agreed to sing my song, and all the teams got to work. That's how we managed to surprise the audience at the Grammys.
What has it been like to combine that global panorama with your Colombian touch? It's always been very important to me to take my country, my city, my way of speaking, my culture with me. I left Bogotá very young, around 18, and I promised myself I'd never leave that behind.
When I started finding my sound, I thought about something that's been with me my whole life: my butterfly. For me, every time I see one, it's a sign. And when I traveled, the topic of Colombian butterflies always came up.
So I decided that would be my symbol, my way of telling where I come from and sharing how special our country is. I always try to include a little bit of Colombia in every song.
We also recently saw you sharing the stage with Morat. How do you manage to make your way in such a closed industry, especially in pop? I strongly believe in "God's coincidences," in putting energy and love into what you do. Since I was little, I dreamed of Morat, of singing with them, of meeting them. And I think dreaming is very important, but you also have to work hard and be persistent.
When you're clear about that, things inevitably start to happen. And that's what I tell those dreaming at home: you have to be persistent, keep moving forward. Things do happen.
María Jimena Delgado Díaz
eltiempo
