''K.O.'' is the sixth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Mexican singer Danna Paola, released on January 13, 2021, by Universal Music Mexico. The album has spawned eight singles: "Contigo", "Sola", "TQ Y YA", "No Bailes Sola" with Sebastián Yatra, "Me, Myself" with

Mika Mika is a given name, a nickname and a surname. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People known just as Mika * Mika (singer) (born 1983), Lebanese-born British singer-songwriter Michael Penniman, Jr. * Mika (footbal ...

, " Friend de Semana" with

Luísa Sonza Luísa Gerloff Sonza (born 18 July 1998) is a Brazilian singer-songwriter. In 2014, she gained fame on YouTube singing cover songs, then in 2017 she released her first major label song, "Good Vibes". A dozen of Sonza's songs were major hits in Br ...

and

Aitana Aitana (, ) is a mountain massif that is part of Prebaetic System in the eastern end of the Iberian Peninsula. Administratively, the mountainous area is located in the Marina Baixa, Alcoià and Comtat comarcas in the northern part of Alicante p ...

, "Calla Tú" and "Amor Ordinario". ''K.O.'' received a nomination for a

Latin Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album The Latin Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album was an honor presented at the 1st Latin Grammy Awards, a ceremony that recognizes excellence and creates a wider awareness of cultural diversity and contributions of Latin recording artists in the U ...

Background

As Paola told ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'', work on ''K.O.'' began as early as 2018, even before she released her previous album '' Sie7e +'' (2020). The singer confessed that the first song she wrote for the album was "Friend de Semana" while she was still living in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

and shooting ''

Elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

''. Paola described the album as "personal" and highlighted "Amor Ordinario" as the "most personal" of the album: "

he song He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

defines my emotional process and everyone that heard it felt my pain and what I went through from beginning to end. I wrote this song in January 2020 and I had to understand what ordinary love meant and that I deserved better".

Title

''K.O.'' is the abbreviated form for "

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

", which is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several

full-contact Contact sports are sports that emphasize or require physical contact between players. Some sports, such as mixed martial arts, are scored on impacting an opponent, while others, including rugby football, gridiron football and Australian rules foot ...

combat sport A combat sport, or fighting sport, is a competitive contact sport that usually involves one-on-one combat. In many combat sports, a contestant wins by scoring more points than the opponent, submitting the opponent with a hold, disabling the oppon ...

s, such as

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

muay thai Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving

striking Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

, as well as

fighting Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...

-based

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s. Paola explained the meaning of the title to ''Billboard'': "With this album, I knocked out all of the bad stuff that was killing me, emotionally. I used it to drain everything I had in my heart. That's why I named it ''K.O.'' — because it was like the last punch to the heart during this whole process".

Release

On Monday, January 11, 2021, Paola posted a series of photos to

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

with the caption "Welcome to my break-up party" and announced that she would finally be releasing her sixth studio album, ''K.O.'', on Thursday, January 14. However, on Wednesday, January 13, the entire album

leaked A leak is a way (usually an opening) for fluid to escape a container or fluid-containing system, such as a tank or a ship's hull, through which the contents of the container can escape or outside matter can enter the container. Leaks are usuall ...

online and the release was brought forward by a day.

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:K.O. 2021 albums Danna Paola albums Universal Music Mexico albums Spanish-language albums Latin pop albums