The Latin Grammys Turn 25 — and Hold Tight to Tradition

Happy silver anniversary to the Latin Grammys! After the Spanish bombast of the 2023  celebration in Sevilla, the Latin Grammys celebrated its 25th year on Thursday night at the Kaseya Center in Miami.  Were Latin music’s biggest night a person, she would be old enough to rent a car (sans the young driver tax) and cruise down Collins Avenue with her messiest and most glamorous girlfriends.

She’d never get that messy, though. The Person of the Year honoree Carlos Vives opened the show with a regal power stance, and blazed through vallenato-pop bangers like “Fruta Fresca” and “La Bicicleta.” It wouldn’t be a Dade County affair without 305 ambassador Pitbull, who stoked the crowd with “Now or Never,” his high-octane new track with the illustrious rocker Jon Bon Jovi. Rising stars like Kali Uchis, Emilia and Best New Artist winner Ela Taubert also put on dazzling performances.

Although the esteemed awards show remained predictably safe this year — the three top prizes of the night went to longtime repeat winners Juan Luis Guerra and Jorge Drexler — its identity has changed immensely since its inception. It was no clearer than during last night’s broadcast, which was spliced with moments from Latin Grammys past. Scenes of young Juanes and bilingual star Ricky Martin, who encouraged artists to reclaim the Spanish language in their music, revealed a more fired-up, activist spirit to the show than what now feels permissible in 2024. 

A project like the Latin Recording Academy may not have been born without the social fracturing so baked into the United States, as well as the broad-brush racialization of Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking people in this country. Categories like Hispanic and Latino were never as definitive in Latin America as in the U.S. — where immigrants, refugees, and those for whom the U.S. border had crossed, forged community as a matter of survival.

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After decades of being marginalized in the Recording Academy, it made sense for Latino power players like Mexican entertainment lawyer (and former Latin Grammys CEO) Gabriel Abaroa, and hitmakers like Emilio and Gloria Estefan, to build their own Latin Thing. The first Latin Grammys debuted in Los Angeles in 2000, but not without one big snag; until 2005, the original telecast was broadcast in English on CBS, to the chagrin of artists from outside the States. In making a necessary shift to Univision, the largest Spanish-language network in the U.S., they fortified their bridge to the rest of Latin America and Spain. (And a smaller one to Brazil.)

Following an unexpected move to Sevilla last year, the Latin Recording Academy brought the show back to its usual home in Miami, a place defined by its position at the cultural nexus between U.S. and Latin America. After the 2024 presidential election, American pundits have used the city as a case study of Latino politics, which outsiders have (finally) discovered is not so singular. The Republican-heavy hub of Miami, which favored Trump by 10 points this year, diverges significantly from Hispanic populations in Los Angeles, Houston and New York. But even after a highly inflamed election season, artists from the U.S. and Puerto Rico noticeably abstained from making any bold statements Thursday night; if there was to be a Maná and Los Tigres del Norte moment of anti-Trump protest, as there was in 2015, it might have lacked sufficient oxygen to keep a spark in Miami.

Latin Recording Academy CEO Manuel Abud has hinted at a future Latin Grammys hosted outside the States, but a location has yet to be determined. In the meantime, others seemed focused on their own futures at the Latin Grammys — before presenting Juan Luis Guerra with the gramophone for Recording of the Year, Rauw Alejandro suavely advertised the midnight release of his new album Cosa Nuestra, which will be eligible for 2025’s awards. And in the closing number, Luis Fonsi performed a saccharine medley of his greatest hits — no doubt making his bid as a hopeful future Person of the Year.

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In addition to the night’s highs, lows and crushing upsets, I’ve compiled a list of my own superlatives for Latin music’s biggest night below.

Rolling Stone’s 2024 Broke-and-Bespoke Latin Grammy Superlatives

The Mariah Carey Mirage Award for Absentees
A fair share of legends may have graced the stage last night — but where was Shakira? There were no signs of the pop star, whose middle-of-the-road Tiësto remix of “Vol. 53” with Bizarrap won the first-ever Latin Grammy for Best Electronic Music Performance. Despite winning Best Reggaeton Performance for “Perro Negro” with Feid, Bad Bunny went “Mojave Ghost” for the night. And Puerto Rican MC Residente, who was scheduled to perform, never showed.

And the winner is… Shakira. ¿Dónde está la diva?

The “Perdóname” Award for Best Course Correction
The Latin Recording Academy has long been alleged by industry insiders of sidelining regional Mexican music — apart from the usual fanfare for the Fernández, Infante, or Aguilar dynasties. But this year was abundant in regional Mexican performances from a mix of veterans and newcomers.

Besides Alejandro Fernández’s blazing tribute to his father, the late great Vicente, Grupo Frontera brought a taste of Texas to the stage; Becky G, Edgar Barrera and the Aguilar siblings dialed up the romance in their rendition of “Por el Contrario.” Meanwhile, the category of Best Regional Mexican Album was also the first to be aired in last night’s telecast — Sonora soul man Carin León, who performed as well, took home the prize for his album, Boca Chueca Vol. 1.

And the winner is… all of Mexico. You go, Mexico!

The Rob Thomas Award for Exemplary Gringo Allyship
Every year, we can count on a few anglophone guests to join the festivities. This year, Carlos Vives got a special intro from Jersey rocker Jon Bon Jovi, while DJ Khaled ushered in Eladio Carrión, Myke Towers and Quevedo for a mighty hip-hop block. American heartthrob Joe Jonas shared a sweet crossover moment with Ela Taubert in their bilingual duet of “¿Cómo Pasó?”

And the winner is… Jon Bon Jovi, for landing the pronunciation of “Persona del Año.”

The Alejandra Guzmán Award for Women Who Rock
This was a banner evening for girls in guitar music. With a warm welcome from Colombian rock star Juanes, Monterrey sister act The Warning ripped and roared through “Qué Más Quieres,” which was nominated for Best Rock Song. Darumas infused flavors of smooth ‘70s funk into their pan-Latin mix, and Ela Taubert flaunted her pastel pink hair and indie-pop sincerity.

And the winner is… The Warning. They rocked harder than any man at the show.

The “Call It a Comeback” Award
Thursday night’s salsa medley featured electrifying cameos by beloved salsa stars Christian Alicea, Óscar D’León, Luis Figueroa, Grupo Niche, and Tito Nieves. But there was no performance more thunderous than that of Marc Anthony and La India, who reunited to perform “Vivir lo Nuestro” for the first time in nearly three decades. The two indulged in a vocal showdown of operatic proportions, belting as if it was 11:59pm on the 31st and rent was due.

And the winner is… La India. Was that just me, or did that vocal run make some glass shatter?

The People’s Choice Award
After bachata king Juan Luis Guerra beat Mon Laferte and Carin León for Album of the Year — not for an album, but for a glitzy six-track EP named Radio Guira — it’s worth imploring the Latin Recording Academy to tighten its standards and freshen up its voter rolls with significant outreach to millennials and Gen Z. (Either that, or an audit.)

After last year’s Big Four categories were swept by women, this return to retro Latin Grammy form feels discouraging. As of last night, the average age of an Album of the Year winner is approximately 43 years old, and 84 percent of winners have been male. If we’ve learned anything about the Academy over the years, it is that the voting body as it stands leans traditionalist — even if Academy officials have, to their credit, implemented many changes prescribed by members in the past. (Take the institutional adoption of reggaeton.)

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Yet the Song of the Year winner Jorge Drexler, who is otherwise an absolute mensch, can only fake his surprise so many times before it’s played out. If there was a People’s Choice edit of the Latin Grammys, who would be most primed for the grand prize?

And the winner is… Mon Laferte. Of the AOTY nominees this year, Mon Laferte put forth the most audacious and progressive offering of her peers with her 2023 avant-everything masterwork, Autopoiética. Her win in the category of Best Alternative Album, her second time since 2019, made a decent consolation prize. “We were all going to be queens,” she said during her acceptance speech, quoting the Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral: “But some, many, have been dethroned from their creative freedom. That is a privilege that very few of us have.”