Five takeaways from this year’s Latin Grammys

Hey, y’all,

The 2024 Latin Grammys took place in Miami this past Thursday night, marking 25 years of the celebrated awards show. 

If you missed it, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll recap our key takeaways from this year’s ceremony — which featured plenty of stars, both established and rising — as well as discuss awards show culture in this day and age. 

But first, some history. 

In the late 1990s, the Recording Academy was at a crossroads. Its flagship awards show, The Grammys, had built prestige and gained popularity over the years. More inclusive categories were also starting to be added, such as “Best Latin Recording” in 1975 and “Best Rap Performance” in 1989.

Yet by the turn of the millennium, the sheer volume of music being produced by Latino communities was deemed too large to fit the show. The decision at the time? The Academy created The Latin Recording Academy, a sister group that could focus solely on judging and celebrating music recorded in the Spanish or Portuguese languages. This way, scores of Latino artists, whether legends or up-and-comers, could have the red carpet moments they deserved.

The first Latin Grammy Awards took place on September 13, 2000, in Los Angeles. When it was broadcast on CBS, it became the first Spanish-language primetime program aired on an English-language American TV network, according to American Songwriter.

So, 25 years later, where is the awards show today? Who won big this year, who was snubbed, and where does representation in Latin music still need to catch up? 

1. Guerra sweeps album and record of the year

Latin music is currently America’s fastest-growing streaming genre, and the Latin Recording Academy got the memo. The event was one to remember, with over 700 artists nominated for 58 categories, and more than 30 taking the stage to perform, per NBC. 

Yet coming out on top was one Dominican artist — Juan Luis Guerra, who won four categories: album of the year and best merengue/bachata album for “Radio Güira,” and record of the year and best tropical song for “Mambo 23.” The latter beat out Bad Bunny’s “Monaco,” as well as “Igual Que Un Ángel” from Kali Uchis and Peso Pluma. 

However, Guerra’s streak did not get him song of the year (which is judged on songwriting, as opposed to record of the year, which judges track production). That honor went to Jorge Drexler for “Derrumbe,” which also won best singer-songwriter song. The Uruguayan artist voiced surprise and dedicated the win to his father, who passed away this month. 

“How can a sad, small song be among so many people I admire?” he said in his acceptance speech.

2. Kali Uchis and Shakira miss out

Superstar Kali Uchis also released the 14-track “Orquídeas” early this year, and it led to the Colombian American’s first No. 1 chart position on Billboard’s Top Latin Albums. It was a favorite to win best pop vocal album — but it fell to also-deserving “El Viaje” by Luis Fonsi. “Orquídeas” was also a nominee for album of the year, but lost to “Radio Güira.” 

As for Shakira, her first album in seven years, “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran” was released this year to platinum acclaim and a stadium tour across the U.S. Yet the Colombian star came home empty handed, despite several nominations including album of the year.   

3. The best new artist changed hands

The Latin Grammys covers commercial releases in all of South, Central and North America, as well as the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal — so a huge span of talent is eligible, and new voices emerge every day. 

That also means the best new artist category is highly competitive and hard to predict. This year, Colombian Ela Taubert won the honor. Her top hit, “¿Cómo Pasó?”, was only released in February and already has over 106,500,000 streams on Spotify. Taubert performed the track with Joe Jonas on stage at this year’s ceremony. 

A former best new artist nominee from 2020, Spanish-Argentine singer Nathy Peluso, ended the night as this year’s most decorated woman artist. Peluso won best alternative song for “El Día Que Perdí Mi Juventud,” best rap/hip hop song for “Aprender A Amar,” and best long-form music video for her album “Grasa.”

4. Other victories and defeats surprised viewers

The favorite for best pop song was — you guessed it — Kali Uchis and Pedro Pluma’s hit “Igual Que Un Ángel.” Yet the winner was “Feriado” by Rawayana, which Billboard called “a long overdue Latin Grammy win” for the Venezuelan group.

Meanwhile, Colombian artist Karol G took home only one trophy out of eight nominations. She won big last year with three awards that included album of the year. This year, though, she still won best música urbana album for “Mañana Será Bonito (Bichota Season).” 

5. The critiques are still the critiques 

There is often crossover between winners at the Latin Grammys and the Grammys — which could be more aptly named the U.S. Grammys.  

However, who wins is not the only similarity between the two. Being the powerful, industry-making forces that they are, both of the Grammys have been accused of becoming more of a commercializing platform rather than a true and honest celebration of art. Like Hollywood and other high “academies,” it’s easy to wonder how much inside ball is really played behind the scenes. 

Plus, both Grammys still have work to do on representation and fairness, much like other big awards shows — think #OscarsSoWhite, or as Luz Media points out, the white feminism on display around “Barbie” last year — and American life in general.

For the Latin Grammys, this historically coincides on two fronts. First, there are no categories in the show for artists who make music in Latin styles but don’t use the Spanish or Portuguese languages — such as Haitian musicians.

Second is the lack of more than one reggaeton category, and the pattern of those artists — who dominate the charts and are often asked to perform at the ceremony — being cut off from other awards categories. 

Similar styles, from dancehall to Latin hip hop, have been noted to receive the same kind of treatment. This imbalance led to prominent figures speaking out and even boycotting the ceremony in 2019 and 2021, including J Balvin and Daddy Yankee. 

“The Grammys don’t value us, but they need us,” Balvin tweeted in 2021, per Rolling Stone. “That’s my opinion and it’s nothing against other genres because they deserve all the respect — but the trick is getting old. We give them ratings but they don’t give us respect.”

It’s a familiar story to how Black genres have been treated over the years by the Recording Academy. Infamous snubs include Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, and more, as chronicled by The Root. 

As the days grow shorter and temperatures drop, the rest of awards show season is just around the corner. Enjoy the drama, live performances, and celebrity sightings — but don’t forget to add a more critical lens where it’s needed. 
What do you think? Did the 25th anniversary Latin Grammys put you on to any new songs or artists? Do you have another take on awards show culture? Let us know at editor@url-media.com.