Bad Bunny, Anitta, Rosalía and More: Latin Stars Nominated For The 2023 Grammy Awards
Bad Bunny made history on Tuesday (Nov. 15) when Un Verano Sin Ti became the first Spanish-language album to be nominated for the Grammy Award for album of the year.
It was one of three nominations the Puerto Rican superstar scooped for his mega-successful set, and many had anticipated it. Perhaps less expected was Anitta’s nomination for best new artist, since the Brazilian star debuted almost a decade ago with a self-titled album that was followed by four other LPs.
However, the “Downtown” and “Me Gusta” singer has made a bigger impact in the American market, incorporating some English into her last two albums, 2019’s Kisses and 2022’s Version Of Me, as well as with songs like “Lobby” with Missy Elliott and “Envolver”, a Spanish-language hit that spent six weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 and 21 weeks on the Hot Latin Songs, where it peaked at No. 3.
“Wow! Wow wow wow… never in my life would I have imagined that this moment would come. I’m from Brazil guys… I mean… wow! Speechless,” Anitta tweeted in response to her nomination in a category considered the most coveted of the Grammys. “Thank you, thank you, thank you… forever grateful. Winning or losing this is the biggest achievement I could imagine.”
Bad Bunny, who leads the Latin Grammys nominations with 10 nods this year, will also compete for the Grammy for best pop solo performance for “Moscow Mule” — alongside the likes of Adele (“Easy on Me”) and Harry Styles (“As It Was”) — as well as Best Música Urbana Album.
Another Latino up for the best new artist Grammy is Omar Apollo, a singer-songwriter of Mexican parents, who creates pop, alternative music and R&B. Apollo began his career uploading his songs to SoundCloud before releasing his first EP, Stereo, in 2018. Since then, he has since released the EP Friends in 2019, the mixtape Apolonio in 2020, and two productions in 2022: his first full-length album, Ivory, which spent seven weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, peaking at No. 128, and the EP Live at NPR’s Tiny Desk. His song “Evergreen” entered the Billboard Hot 100 in October, where it spent seven weeks and peaked at No. 51, as well as the Streaming Songs chart (four weeks, peak at No. 21).
“Got nominated for best new artist omg,” he shared on Twitter with a series of emoticons to show how he feels.
Rosalía was nominated for best Latin rock or alternative music album for Motomami, and also got a nod under the best music film category for Motomami (Rosalía TikTok Live Performance,) directed by Ferrán Echegaray, Rosalía Vila Tobella & Stillz.
AGUILERA, Christina Aguilera’s latest Spanish-language album, got two nominations: best Latin pop album, and best immersive audio album (an award to the engineers.)
Both Motomami and AGUILERA will compete Thursday (Nov. 17) for the album of the year Latin Grammy with Un Verano Sin Ti. (See the full list of nominees here)
Under the Grammy’s Latin music categories there are other such favorites as Camilo, Sebastián Yatra, Rauw Alejandro, Christian Nodal and Marco Antonio Solís, the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year of 2022.
The nominees are:
Best Latin Pop Album:
AGUILERA, Christina Aguilera
Pasieros, Rubén Blades & Boca Livre
De Adentro Pa Afuera, Camilo
VIAJANTE, Fonseca
Dharma+, Sebastian Yatra
Best Musica Urbana Album:
TRAP CAKE, VOL. 2, Rauw Alexander
Un Verano Sin Ti, Bad Bunny
LEGENDADDY, Daddy Yankee
167, Farruko
The Love & Sex Tape, Maluma
Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album:
El Alimento, Cimafunk
Tinta y Tiempo, Jorge Drexler
1940 Carmen, Mon Laferte
Alegoría, Gaby Moreno
Los Años Salvajes, Fito Páez
MOTOMAMI, Rosalía
Best Regional Mexican Music Album (including Tejano):
Abeja Reina, Chiquis
Un Canto por México – El Musical, Natalia Lafourcade
La Reunión (Deluxe), Los Tigres Del Norte
EP #1 Forajido, Christian Nodal
Qué Ganas de Verte (Deluxe), Marco Antonio Solis
Best Tropical Latin Album:
Pa’llá Voy, Marc Anthony
Quiero Verte Feliz, La Santa Cecilia
Lado A Lado B, Víctor Manuelle
Legendario, Tito Nieves
lmágenes Latinas, Spanish Harlem Orchestra
Cumbiana II, Carlos Vives
For the Best Latin Jazz Album Grammy, the nominees are:
Fandango at the Wall In New York, Arturo O’Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra featuring The Congra Patria Son Jarocho Collective
Crisalida, Danilo Pérez with The Global Messengers
If You Will, Flora Purim
Rhythm & Soul, Arturo Sandoval
Music of the Americas, Miguel Zenón
Other jazz categories also have Latin nominees. Chilean saxophonist Melissa Aldana is nominated for Best Improvised Jazz Solo for “Falling”, from her album 12 Stars, and Puerto Rican double bassist Eddie Gómez appears in the Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album category for Center Stage, along with Steve Gadd, Ronnie Cuber & the WDR BigBand led by Michael Abene.
For Best Instrumental Composition, Cuban maestro Paquito D’Rivera is nominated for “African Tales”, Puerto Rican Miguel Zenón for “El País Invisible”, and Panamanian Danilo Pérez for “Fronteras (Borders) Suite: AI-Musafir Blues.”
As expected, Disney’s Encanto was also recognized, with nods for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s soundtrack and Germaine Franco’s original score. The movie’s mega-hit “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1, was nominated for Best Song Written for Visual Media.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is also up for the award for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording for Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World.
In other areas, singer-songwriter Miguel, whose father is Mexican, shares a nod with Diplo for Best Dance/Electronic Recording for “Don’t Forget My Love.” And Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band compete for Best Children’s Music Album for their EP Los Fabulosos, an upbeat bilingual effort that includes tracks like “Ridiculous” and “Me Gusta.” Up for Best Album Notes is Fernando González for his work for Astor Piazzolla’s The American Clave Recordings.
Sigal Ratner-Arias
Billboard
