Latin Grammys airing live tonight
LOS ANGELES — At tonight’s Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas, all eyes will be on an artist who won’t be attending the ceremony: Bad Bunny.
The Puerto Rican superstar — who is scheduled to perform in Medellín that night as part of his global stadium tour — leads this year’s field with 10 nominations, including album of the year for his record-breaking LP, “Un Verano Sin Ti,” which topped the Billboard 200 for 13 weeks. Other top nominees include Édgar Barrera, Rosalía, Rauw Alejandro, Christina Aguilera and Camilo.
The 23rd Latin Grammys, which will be broadcast live on Univision, will be hosted by Luis Fonsi, Laura Pausini, Thalía and Anitta, with performances from nominees including Aguilera, Alejandro, Gente de Zona, Aymée Nuviola, Rosalía, Carlos Vives and Sebastián Yatra — as well as newcomers Silvana Estrada and Carin León.
Both Latin music’s old guard and its burgeoning vanguard will be honored; first-time nominees range in age from 15 (regional Mexican artist Yahritza Martinez) to 94 (Cuban singer Angela Álvarez).
Things to watch for:
1. Who’s afraid of the big Bad Bunny?
The global pop dynamo has previously won four Latin Grammys in the reggaetón and urban categories, but never before in what’s known as a general field category: album, song and record of the year, and best new artist. This year, he’s nominated for both album of the year and record of the year, for “Ojitos Lindos,” his joint pop lullaby with Colombian duo Bomba Estéreo.
Still, he will have to contend with a formidable group of institutional darlings who count multiple wins in these categories: Jorge Drexler, Alejandro Sanz, Juan Luis Guerra, Carlos Vives and Shakira. He’s also competing against fellow upstart Rosalía, who caused a massive upset when her LP, “El Mal Querer,” won album of the year in 2019. Now, her acclaimed 2022 LP “Motomami “is also nominated.
2. The ‘Person of the Year’ sold out Sofi Stadium. Twice.
After a near 25-year hiatus, Los Bukis’ 2021 reunion made for one of the summer’s hottest tickets in Los Angeles — the Grupera band sold out Sofi faster than the Rolling Stones on their latest jaunt. As the 2022 honoree for Person of the Year, Los Bukis frontman Marco Antonio Solís will perform a medley of the band’s classics, dating back to 1975, as well as his own smash hits as a solo act, on tonight’s show. “Our band has survived many marriages and divorces,” Solís told The Times in 2021. “It moves me to know that the music survived everything.”
3. Team USA at the Latin Grammys?
Not counting the astronomical number of talented honorees from Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory with its own national identity, many artists and producers from the continental United States are due to make a splash this year. While English-language stars John Legend (the Springfield native, you know) and Elvis Costello are slated to perform during the live telecast, others are being nominated for the first time.
Chic bassist Nile Rogers is up for what could be his first Latin Grammy, alongside the Puerto Rican reggaetón idols Daddy Yankee and Rauw
Alejandro, for their song “Agua.” Producers Pharrell Williams and Noah Goldstein, who co-piloted the making of Rosalía’s “Motomami,” are up for record of the year for their work on her 2021 single “La Fama,” which features some Spanish-language crooning courtesy of Canadian hitmaker the Weeknd. Nominated for their joint single “Pa’ Mis Muchachas,” or “For My Girls,” the Ecuadorian American pop icon Christina Aguilera and L.A.’S homegrown pop-star Becky G will also contend for record of the year, a category in which no U.s.-born artist — again, outside of Puerto Rico — has won before.
By Jonathan Landrum Jr.
LOS ANGELES — Beyoncé has propelled herself into the highest Grammy echelon: The star singer claimed a leading nine nominations Tuesday, making her tied — with her husband Jay-z — as the most nominated music act in the history of the awards show.
Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul” reeled in record and song of the year nominations, while “Renaissance” — which ventured into the world of dancehall music — netted an album of the year nod. With Jay-z also earning five nods this year, each spouse now holds the record for the most-ever Grammy nominations at 88 apiece.
Kendrick Lamar came away with the second-most nominations, with eight. Adele and Brandi Carlile both received seven nods. Harry Styles, Mary J. Blige, Future, D J Khaled, Thedream and mastering engineer Randy Merrill each picked up six.
Nearly half of this year’s leading nominees — announced by the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, John Legend, Machine Gun Kelly and Smokey Robinson — are women and more than half are people of color, according to the recording academy.
The ceremony will be held Feb. 5 in Los Angeles.
“This makes me feel very proud, but it makes me conscious of the fact that we have to maintain the work we have done,” said Harvey Mason Jr., the Recording Academy’s CEO. He said there have been strides in the peer-driven voting system and increased membership, but he still believes more progress can be made.
The academy added a special song for social change and five new categories including songwriter of the year, which Harvey says will further help diversify the 65th edition of the annual awards.
The non-classical songwriter category will recognize one individual who was the “most prolific” non-performing and non-producing songwriter for a body of new work during an eligibility year. It will take a different approach than song of the year, which awards the songwriters who wrote the lyrics or melodies to one song.
Beyoncé, the most decorated woman in Grammy history with 28 wins, could break the late Hungarian-british conductor Georg Solti’s record for most awards won if she wins four awards. Solti, who has 31 Grammys, has held on to the record since 1997.