If you haven’t heard of Valé yet, you’re about to. The Barranquilla-born singer-songwriter is crafting her own vibrant lane in the Latin alternative pop space, blending breezy Caribbean warmth with raw emotional clarity. “Hi, I’m Valé,” she introduces herself casually, “I make Latin alternative pop. That’s how I would describe it. But really, it’s a whole fun and funky world of music that is very different, probably, from what you’ve heard before from other Latin artists.”

Valé’s sound is a colorful palette of percussive confidence and aching honesty. Her fan-favorite track “fit mami” is a bold celebration of empowerment – “just the fun, feel-good banger,” as she puts it – while “Vueltas,” her most recent single, loops the story of a toxic, cyclical relationship into sonic déjà vu. “The word ‘Vueltas’ means going in circles,” she explains. “We wanted to make it sound like you’re listening to a record repeating itself… all the parts kind of just happen over and over again.”

Her 2023 EP Under The Sun bloomed spontaneously during a trip back home. “It all happened under the sun,” she says, referring to both the lyric that sparked the title and the literal heat of Barranquilla, where she and her collaborators, The Fund, crafted the record. Songs like “coca water” and “lo tengo mal” serve as time capsules, snapshots of sonic growth. “I’m a super nostalgic person,” she admits. “That trip… it was just super fun. It takes me back.”

But Valé isn’t stuck in memory. She’s propelling forward with fresh momentum, opening for The Driver Era on their current “Obsession Tour.” Her performance at Central Park SummerStage this past Monday was just a taste of what’s to come for the rising star. Her set radiated charisma – each track was a slice of summer, all glossed in neon beats and bilingual flair. From the moment she took the stage, Valé’s voice soared over the park like a heatwave: shimmering, intense, and unshakably confident. “You feel empowered. You feel confident. That’s what I want people to feel,” she told us – and it showed. Her presence was exuberant, those sipping on Valé’s potion for the first time, quickly became intoxicated, cavorting to the hypnotizing pulse of Valé’s world. Just after swaying out of her first song, the crowd interrupted in a sea of “Happy Birthday’s,” celebrating the singer’s 22nd birthday under an Upper East Side golden hour.

With upcoming singles like “Lightspeed” and “Cold-Blooded” already on the calendar, Valé’s artistic engine is running full throttle. “This is the year of restarting the engine,” she says. “Hopefully this tour exposes me to many, many people that will come to my solo tour and then we’re back, baby … I want to do a second EP. So expect that probably in 2026.”

If her SummerStage performance was any indication, Valé isn’t just back – she’s arriving. And right in time to be the soundtrack of a carefree, suave summer.