Rosalía won album of the year and song of the year at the 27th annual Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas on Thursday, while Daddy Yankee received person of the year during a star-studded show at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
The Story
Spanish singer Rosalía opened the 27th annual Latin Grammy Awards live from Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena on Thursday night and went on to win album of the year for her 2025 album “Lux.” She delivered an emotive medley of “Lux” tracks “La Rumba Del Perdón,” “La Perla” and “Dios Es Un Stalker,” with dancers wearing halo-inspired headpieces on a stage designed to resemble heavenly clouds.
Her “La Perla” also won song of the year. During her acceptance speech, Rosalía thanked Mexico and invited her “La Perla” collaborators to join her on stage, the American urban sierreño trio Yahritza Y Su Esencia.
Daddy Yankee was named the Latin Grammy Awards’ person of the year and, about an hour into Thursday’s program, performed a run-through of his biggest hits. The performance included “Ella Me Levantó,” “Con Calma,” “BOTZ,” “Despacito,” “Lo Que Pasó, Pasó,” “Sonríele,” “Rompe,” “Pokito” and “Gasolina,” with guest appearances that included Bizarrap, Bad Gyal, Feid, Jay Wheeler, French Montana, LL Cool J and Diljit Dosanjh.
When Yankee received the person of the year honour, it was presented by Janet Jackson, who said she was doing so “with admiration and respect.” In his acceptance, Yankee concluded with “Puerto Rico, recuerda. ... Puerto Rico no es pequeño. Pequeño el mapa,” adding: “Puerto Rico, remember. ... Puerto Rico is not small. The map is small.”
The awards show was hosted by actor, producer and musician Roselyn Sánchez, and aired live on Univision, UniMás, Galavisión and ViX.
Other performances and awards marked the night, starting with Juanes receiving best pop/rock album for “Juanesteban,” presented to him by Pablo Alboran and Howie D from the Backstreet Boys. The show also featured Karol G with a full orchestra and 12 Mariachis for “Ese Hombre es Malo,” Mon Laferte performing “Femme Fatale,” and Silvana Estrada performing “Dime” with her Venezuelan cuatro.
Elena Rose performed “Alma” with sword-wielding dancers, and Anitta delivered a medley including “Desgraça,” “Choka Choka” and “Meia Noite.” Soon after her performance, she returned to accept the trophy for Portuguese language contemporary pop album, then used her speech to highlight the Black culture of her native Brazil.
The Latin Grammys included tributes to late artists. There was a tribute to Mexican ranchera icon José Alfredo Jiménez produced by Edgar Barrera, with The Warning performing “Te Solté la Rienda,” Reik performing “La Media Vuelta,” Sofía Reyes and Yami Safdie duetting “Si Nos Dejan,” and Camila Fernández singing “El Rey,” followed by Fernández also returning later to perform “Serpiente De Cascabel.” A second tribute followed for Willie Colón, who died in February of this year, with performances involving his son Miguel Colón, along with Nathy Peluso and Luis Figueroa and others.
Awards were also distributed throughout the evening. Karol G won for urban music album for “Tropicoqueta,” Xavi won contemporary Mexican album for “Dosis,” and Fonseca received contemporary tropical album for “Antes Que El Tiempo Se Vaya.” Best new artist went to Colombian singer Aria Vega, whose acceptance speech was delivered “through tears.”
The Latin Recording Academy also made changes to the eligibility rules for this year’s best new artist category, limiting eligibility to artists with fewer than three albums or 25 singles released.
Most of the evening’s awards were handed out during a pre-televised Premiere Ceremony. That included Bobby Pulido winning best Tejano album for “Bobby Pulido & Friends: Una Tuya y Una Mía (Vol. 2/En Vivo),” following his recent election win in the U.S. midterms by securing a seat in the House of Representatives for the Democrats after flipping a Texas district seat.
← More stories