The Latin Grammy nominations, announced Wednesday morning, feature one name as the top contender for golden gramophones this year: Bad Bunny.
The Puerto Rican superstar born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio is up for 12 awards, including album of the year, record of the year and song of the year (he's competing against himself with multiple nominations in the latter two categories). Through his rise in recent years as one of the most iconoclastic, untranslatable figures in pop — his reign colors far outside the lines of Latin music — with some of the biggest songs and albums released in the last decade, Bad Bunny has never won a Latin Grammy in one of the three major categories.
As he has been every year since 2017, he is nominated in the urban categories, including best reggaeton performance and best urban music album. The nods from the Recording Academy coincide with the closing weekend of his historic residency in San Juan, a 31-concert embodiment of his genre-bending album and love letter to Puerto Rico, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, which came out in January.
Bad Bunny's nominations also expand beyond the urban categories he has dominated in the past. DTMF's solemn, güiro-driven thesis, "LO QUE LE PASO A HAWAii,"— a condemnation of Puerto Rico's colonial status and gentrification — is nominated for best roots song. It's not the first time Bad Bunny's name appears in a surprising down-ballot category; alongside the Texas-based Grupo Frontera, he won best regional song for the cumbia-pop "Un x100to" in 2023. But this year's recognitions highlight that the Latin Recording Academy may finally be ready to embrace what they've shied away from in the past: Bad Bunny's sharp, sometimes joyous, mostly gut-wrenching political commentary.
To be clear, the 31-year-old does not lack praise or awards from the Academy. Including this year, he's racked up 52 nominations and a dozen wins. But the Latin Grammys have a tendency to tapar el sol con un dedo, the literal translation of which is "to cover the sun with one finger," but really means to try and throw small gestures towards something that requires a much larger reckoning.
Across native instruments, idioms and sonic textures, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS is a reclamation of Puerto Rico's history and cultural heritage. It draws links between the exodus of young people leaving the island, the influx of wealthy investors looking to capitalize on its beaches and the personal heartbreak of a global pop star watching it all unfold. Bad Bunny's album is an oath of resistance, a promise to fight for a Puerto Rico that still belongs to its people — and it's struck a chord not just with boricuas, but with an entire Latin American diaspora grasping for a home and culture they can still claim as their own. Bad Bunny's refusal to untangle perreo or plena from the lived realities of Puerto Rican and Latino communities could make DTMF the project that finally wins him a Latin Grammy in one of the main general categories.
The Argentine duo CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso — another example of innovative, idiosyncratic artistic expression emerging from a politically-wrought nation — weren't far behind Bad Bunny, racking up ten nominations for their album Papota. (More than half of the album was recorded during their exuberant performance at NPR's Tiny Desk last year, and one NPR engineer is listed among the nominees for his contributions to the album.) CA7RIEL & Paco followed their El Tiny stop with sold-out international shows, festival performances and new songs featured on Papota that celebrate their friendship amidst the never-ending demands of the music industry. The duo is up for album of the year, record of the year and song of the year (they have two nominations in each of the latter two categories), as well as a number of alternative and pop awards. (The nominations span 60 awards in all, spread across genres that include traditional, jazz, alternative and children's music, among many others.)
It wouldn't be the Latin Grammys without a nod of the cowboy hat to Edgar Barrera, the hitmaker who had the most nominations of any artist in each of the last two years. He scored 10 nominations this year, including for producer of the year and songwriter of the year as well as for his work on Karol G's tropimerengue "Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido" and Shakira's hot girl hit, "Soltera." Barrera is also well-represented within the best regional category, where he received three separate nods for his work with Grupo Frontera, Fuerza Regida, Carin León and Maluma.
Another artist will compete against herself in one category: Among sorceress-songstress Natalia Lafourcade's nominations are two for best roots song alongside collaborator El David Aguilar. Most of Lafourcade's nominations — including album of the year, record of the year and song of the year — stem from her jazz-folk album Cancionera, though she also received a best traditional pop album nod for 2024's Natalia Lafourcade Live at Carnegie Hall.
21-year-old Venezuelan singer Joaquina is up for four awards, including album of the year. Reminiscent of Shakira and Lafourcade's punk-laden attitude in the early 2000s, with colorful braids and heavy winged eyeliner, Joaquina became the youngest person to win best new artist at the Latin Grammys in 2023. This year, her album al romper la burbuja delivered on her coming-of-age pop-rock promise and also earned her nominations for best contemporary pop vocal album and best singer-songwriter song.
The Latin Grammys will take place in Las Vegas on Nov. 13, during a time of heightened tensions and anxieties for Latin American communities in the U.S. Some artists have already faced difficulties obtaining visas to enter and perform in the country; there are concerns for how fans might be impacted, too. Bad Bunny recently told i-D he is not bringing his world tour to the mainland U.S. out of fear that Immigration and Customs Enforcement could target his concerts. It's possible the upcoming Latin Grammys will take on a more explicit political tone than years past, to match the approach of its most-nominated artist.
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