This year promises to be one of the most exciting editions of the Latin Grammys.
As the Latin Recording Academy prepares to present the nominations for the 26th edition of the Prize on September 17, the eligibility period, from June 1, 2024 to May 31, 2025, includes a series of high -profile albums that not only contributed to the current Latin boom globally, but also promoted the movement with their radical elections and the sounds of desired gender.
Now, a vital part of Latin pop DNA, the urban genre continues to redefine and challenge itself, while the root strains of Mexican music have won a privileged seat on the table as never before. Folk, Rock, Electronics and Tropical fields continue to expand, and artists such as Bad Bunny, Rauw Alejandro, Becky G, Regida Force and Natalia Lafourcade are competing for prizes with some of the most ambitious albums of their careers.
The assistant editor of Loss Suzy Exposito and the collaborating writer Ernesto Lechner discuss his predictions on the songs and albums that are more likely to be nominated. The next conversation has been edited by the length.
Ernesto Lechner: This seems to be an easy year in terms of the two obvious candidates for the history of Latin Gammy. “I had to throw more photos” of Bad Bunny is the type of album that defines not only the year it came out, 2025, but also the whole decade. And the “songwriter” dyed mystically from Natalia Lafourcade finds the perennial favorite of Grammy at the apex of his trade. Returning to Benito's masterpiece, his conceptual gravita is almost greater than the songs themselves.
Suzy Exhibition: I'm really shooting for the album of the year for this. The amount of thought and intention that he put in this registry. The cultural meaning of the songs, not only in terms of the history of Puerto Rico, but the way it is directly involved with the Caribbean diaspora in general through the sauce.
He: I love how lovingly deepens beyond the sauce to also include in full. Rafael Cortijo returns, the roots, the very essence of the boric culture. And the album has this quality similar to the Beatles where it is incredibly commercial, a number 1 album, the album that everyone is listening, but there is no commitment on the artistic front. It is an ambitious and totally made statement.
HE: Is any Benito album just another Bad Bunny Album? I don't think I enter the filling as other artists do.
He: The photo of the plastic chairs on the deck could have been taken in the suburbs of Lima, or San Salvador or Medellín. Benito makes such an inclusive statement, Pan-Latin. What leads me to nominate the main song, “I had to throw more photos”, as a perfect contender for the song of the year.
HE: When I first heard it, I began to cry. It is a very sentimental song. I was recently in Puerto Rico and I went to a session of full Jam. It was happening on the street, and you could see people of all ages playing together, singing traditional songs, drinks in my hand. There was something really beautiful and timeless in that community experience.
He: A similar passion for music permeates the “songbook” of Lafourcade. Live recorded on analog tape, it has a type of wooden floor warm warmth. She plays this mystical character, the songbook, And it is a very mature album. I love “Cocos on the beach”, a playful and beautiful tropical song that is so charming and authentic. For my money, it will be a battle between those two two albums in all the main categories.
HE: I feel that Natalia Lafourcade is the conservative choice in Latin Gammys, and it is strange to say it. This is a woman who was making pop-rock in the 2000s. She is virtuous and teacher of her trade, but her nomination is predictable because now she represents the gold standard for the Latin Academy.
He: It is definitely the safest choice between the two. In addition to Benito and Natalia, there are some albums that could appear in the main categories, and one of them is “Latin”.
HE: That album is a piece of declaration. I loved seeing Cazzu move away from the sound of the Latin trap that defined and mixing it with other things. She is a great composer, and her transformation is fascinating. I think this is the year that many young people return to their roots and then do something new with that.
He: I had a conversation with Cazzu a few months ago and I told him that “Latinaje” made me feel claimed. As Argentine partner, I have always felt that we are an integral part of Latin America. She demonstrated it with this beautiful love letter to so many essential genres. There is sauce, meringue, South American people and “Dolce”, a beautiful run lying on that infamous red dress that went viral. And she did everything so genuinely.
HE: It can be difficult for her, because she appeared as MC. I wonder if the Latin academy will know in which categories place it, since this is an album of several genres. I mean, she is an international girl.
He: And, of course, Rubén Blades has a new album, and is beautiful as always. “Photographs” is another sumptuous salsa session. He combines new compositions with songs that Rubén had given other Fania artists in the 70s, and now recorded them.
HE: That is a great movement on your part. “Hey, do you remember those songs? Yes, I wrote them!” It sounds ridiculous to say that Rubén is another safe option, but I can see it in all the great categories. What takes me to another artist who made an album influenced by the sauce: Rauw Alejandro and “ours”.
He: I love the Afro -Caribbean atmosphere in “our thing” and the silky duo with the Bachata Romeo Santos star in “Khé?” I feel that this has been eclipsed a little for the “I had to throw more photos” of Benito. My Rauw Alejandro's favorite album is still “Vice Versa” of 2021 with The Awesome, the 80s influenced the mega-hit “all of you”.
HE: My favorite song in “Our thing” is “left”, the duo with Laura Pausini, which is also like a bad mood song of the 80s. Raúl has made a point to polish her nostalgia for the old forms of music. Michael Jackson is one of his most influential artists.
By the way, we must mention by force governed and its ninth studio album, “111xpantia”. They have never been nominated For a Latin Grammy, so I'm supporting them because they have experienced really bold. His main singer, Jesús Ortiz Paz, has shown a lot of intention behind his creative decisions beyond taking the same runs or mining of the same old rappers of the 90s. His music is shameless; They are pushing the limits.
He: You will never have a bad time with this new wave of Mexican music stars, considering the amazing melodic wealth of their songs and the immediacy of the lyrics.
HE: In that note, I think it is time for Ivan Cornejo to obtain a Latin Assent from Grammy for “look”: production has this ethereal quality that sounds so mature and progressive for gender. I also want to applaud Dannyux for his ambitious “legend”, which is a psychedelic version of Sierreño Music, the George Harrison.
He: What about Becky G? Last year they asked me to write about “encounters”, and I had to give up the elegance of this pristine Mexican music session. His voice sounds huge on this album.
HE: I really hope that I do not silence her in the categories of Mexican music, because this is a very mature album for her. She grew up singing Mariachi music with her family, so it is a beautiful moment of full circle for her.
He: “Encounters” would be a perfect candidate for the album of the year because he celebrates the music of his grandparents, but at the same time transcends it. I love that Becky has said that he will never look back after recording his two traditional rancher and lush pop albums Mexican.
This leads me to a more general observation: I think we are experiencing an era of absolute splendor, and the Latin Nominations of Grammys are obliged to reflect that. It is as if each Latin American country had flourished, wearing its most elegant clothes and throwing some incredible parties. The richness and amplitude of the music that is being recorded throughout the continent is outside the lists.
HE: I agree. Creatively, recent years have been the most exciting for Latin music in a long time. I think we are going to remember the 2020 decade of the bold decade it is.
