It’s amazing. It’s incredible. Not only for the cast or the people involved in the movie but also for all Colombians and Latinos. We have been represented in such a beautiful piece, in such beautiful sounds. And this is the way that we want to be defined. So it’s beautiful!

This is teamwork. This is a Lin-Manuel Miranda song. And he’s such a great musician. I always say he is a genius. To be able to be part of his genius creations is huge.

So when we say “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” we’re talking about those individuals or family members, people in our society that we don’t talk about them because we don’t understand them. There is a lot of symbology behind the song, and, yes, it’s beautiful to talk about this. And it’s lovely that everyone wants to talk about Bruno.

That it’s about Salsa music and Cha-cha-chá, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s creation goes beyond what other people tend to relate Latinos with. We’re not just reggaeton music. We are all these genres. It is beautiful to be part of this message.

When you work in the entertainment business, sometimes you’re involved in productions that maybe you don’t like at all, or you don’t vibrate in the same way. But this one is huge for me because I can do what I love the most. I love to sing, I love to act, and I love to be part of an important message. I always dreamed about being a cartoon! It’s an actual dream come true. I have been working for 20 years as a singer and an actress in my country, and this is definitely the best moment of my career because I can finally be part of a project that involves everything that I love the most.

I was in Los Angeles, and my friend, Nathalia Reyes, told me about the audition. And she was like, ‘Caro, you sing, you act. Why don’t you go to that audition?’ And I was like, ‘Okay, let’s try out. What do I have to do?’ So I asked my manager and my team to see if they could request a space for me. That was on Monday, and on Thursday, they were like, ‘Okay, you got your addition scheduled. I went to the Studios in Burbank, and I sang “Don’t Rain On My Parade” by Barbra Streisand. The casting director said, ‘I will not open my eyes because I really want to listen.’ The funny part is that I prepared a show. Anyways, I started singing, and the casting director started opening her eyes and ended up clapping and super excited. Six months later —we already were in lockdown— I began my callbacks with Byron Howard and Jared Bush through zoom. And then the rest is history!

I went to the studios to work with him, and then he sent me the song, and we started working on the English-language version. And then in the Spanish-language version. It’s been a beautiful journey. I will never forget that as soon as I arrived at the Disney Studios, I felt that my dream came true, not imagining what was going to happen after.

I remember that I was trying to build a character. Because as an actress, I love to develop characters that are not similar to me. But on this occasion, I asked them how they wanted my voice to sound, and they said, “We really are in love with who you are. So try to be yourself as much as possible and just give us possibilities, and then we pick.” They were very strict with confidentiality, so I didn’t have a clue about the movie. So that was really difficult! So they were like, ‘we’re not going to tell you much about the movie, but we’re going to tell you what we are going to need.’

Singing the song was beautiful because I thought it would be challenging to work with Lin-Manuel Miranda, and he was the most relaxed, fun, extroverted, ultra sweet, and warm person. He spoke Spanish and Spanglish to make me feel welcome and part of the family. After that, I went to New York, and he invited me to Broadway, we also had a Colombian Cafe, and we hung out like friends, and that feels amazing!

Do you know what I feel? I feel like I’m going to cry because we have been telling a complicated story about our country for many years. So to finally have a film that tells a different story of our country has been tremendous. It’s gastronomy, art, musicians, music, women, vulnerability, inclusion, diversity, multiracial —so many things that are involved here, and that represents us.

I don’t think that that’s a crazy idea. I believe that we have to wait because we just got nominated for the Oscars. And then we have to wait for the Grammys. And then we have so many things happening this year. But I think is not a crazy idea, and I also think that would be awesome. To not only do Encanto 2 but also take it to Broadway.

Oh my god, I think that’s the dream for every single actor in the world. Of course, we were not working to have a premio (award) or recognition of that kind because we are passionate about this and want to tell stories, but we want this as well!

I think since we were kids, we have been preparing on what to say if we win an Oscar. If I someday experience that, I would love to talk about inclusion, representation, and how we finally have a different story about our country.

I have a movie coming up! I’m already building a new character. It is an American movie. So I’m thrilled to talk about it once it’s ready. And also, I have a lot of music releases soon. I have one that is going to be in one week from now. So be prepared because Carolina Gaitán, La Gaita, has so much to give you this year and in the rest of my career because I really love this. I am very passionate about the music and our Latino sounds and, of course, building characters and telling a story.