The 24th edition of the Latin Grammy Awards, the first held in Spain, has crowned a repóker of kings and queens made up of the Mexican-American Édgar Barrera, the Argentine Bizarrap, the Mexican Natalia Lafourcade and the Colombians Shakira and Karol G in an especially powerful gala for his country. In “the most important night of latin music“, held this time very far from the United States, at the Palace of Congresses and Exhibitions in Seville, it has been premonitory that the list of winners has been inaugurated Barrier as composer of the year, a new category that “opens space for those who compose songs but do not sing them and who usually go unnoticed,” as he claimed.

This artist of Mexican origin was the main candidate from the start with his 13 nominations, of which he has also ended up materializing those for producer of the year and best regional Mexican song as co-author of ‘x100to’, all of them in the ceremony prior to the televised gala . A strong night for women. He didn’t have a bad night either. Natalia Lafourcadewinner of the Latin Grammy for recording of the year for ‘Of all the flowers‘ and for best album and best singer-songwriter song. Lafourcade has celebrated “the medicinal power” of music after acknowledging that this was “the most personal album” of his career, at a time when he was “all broken.”

“I can’t believe that this year the best urban music album comes from a woman,” he exclaimed. Karol G upon collecting this distinction for his ‘Tomorrow will be nice‘, which had yet to win the Latin Grammy for album of the year. Off camera, she had also received the award for best fusion/urban performance for ‘TQG’ alongside Shakira, who has had a night as strong musically as hers has been in her last year. Much of that success has come from her artistic association with the Argentine DJ and producer Bizarre with the ‘Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53‘, which the Colombian used to catalyze frustration over infidelity and the end of her relationship with footballer Gerard Piqué.

“I have promised my children that I will be happy,” said the artist, who won the awards for song of the year and best pop song with Bizarrap and dedicated it to little ones Sasha and Milan. They have accompanied her in the audience during the ceremony and even during her performance, making their debut through a video as little singers. They have not been the only Colombians who have made the current moment of their country’s music even more overwhelming. Juanes has won the best pop/rock album for ‘Daily life‘, Camilo best long version music video for ‘The first tour of my life‘ and Carlos Vives the cumbia or vallenato album by ‘Escalona had never been recorded like this‘.

Others can still be added to the list, such as Andres cepeda (best traditional pop vocal album for ‘Fourteenth‘); Monsieur Perine (best alternative music album for ‘Apocalyptic Bolero‘) and Juan Galiano (member of Diamante Eléctrico, for best rock song, ‘Tiger milk‘). For its part, the Spanish Quevedo and the Argentine Bizarre have won the award for best urban song as composers of their famous ‘Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 52‘, which has already achieved the feat of staying at global number 1 on Spotify for seven weeks.

The Argentine producer and DJ, who started this whole adventure “in his room with a computer”, then quoted “all the kids who are starting out, to see that with very little you can achieve a lot”, while his ally Canario wanted to thank the public “for taking the song where they took it” and making them “an example that you can come out of nothing.”

A ceremony with Andalusian flavor

The fact that this was the first edition based in Spain and outside the US has been felt in numerous winks such as the gigantic fans on stage or the flamenco number that, between fiery reds and a touch of hammer and anvil, have starred. In the first moments of the evening, artists such as Israel Fernández and Niña Pastoriwinner of the best album in this categoryto.

The Spanish flavor has been felt even more at the beginning of the televised broadcast, first with the delicate version with quejío flamenco that Rosalia has made the ‘Our love broke popularized by his compatriot Rocío Jurado and, right after, with the recovery of ‘Corazón partío’, which Alejandro Sanz performed surrounded by a large group of dancers among Manila shawls and fans.

Also Antonio Banderas, who was awarded the 2023 Presidential Prize for his support of the arts and, specifically, music, wanted to praise the change of venue in this edition to Andalusia, “fertile land” for creators like Federico García Lorca or Rafael Alberti. The gala has had other notable moments such as the performance of the Puerto Rican Rauw Alejandro, generous on stage even with a version of ‘Se fue’ by the Person of the Year 2023, Laura Pausini, but very elusive among the press when faced with personal questions before the first date in which he has shared a roof with Rosalía since their breakup.