Music

The Latin Recording Academy unveiled nominations for its 26th edition, and Bad Bunny reigned supreme with the most nods. The list also spotlighted fresh favorites like Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso while leaning on (expected) repeat nominees such as Edgar Barrera, Alejandro Sanz, and Natalia Lafourcade.

Notably, Bad Bunny — repping reggaeton, a genre with a long history of being overlooked — dominated with 12 nominations for his genre-exploring album Debí Tirar Más Fotos, including in all of the major categories. Argentine duo CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso broke through with their latest release on this list, while the Academy continued expanding its embrace of Portuguese-language music after adding new categories last year. But what about música Mexican? After three massive years of dominance, the genre’s recognition here still feels frustratingly small. Still, the awards show seems to be expanding, adding two new categories: Best Music for Visual Media and Best Roots Song to the list of categories.

Ahead of the 2025 ceremony, scheduled for Nov. 13 in Las Vegas, here are some key takeaways from the long list of nominations:

A Spotlight on Bad Bunny

Historically, reggaeton and trap artists have had trouble getting love from the Latin Grammys. However, this year, Bad Bunny swept the major categories, and then some, landing a whopping 12 nominations. It’s clear his standout album Debí Tirar Más Fotos struck a chord with voters; it appears across categories, including Album of the Year. “Baile Inolvidable” and “DTmF” are both up for Song of the Year and Record of the Year (“DTmF” also got nominated for Best Urban Song, Best Urban/ Fusion Performance.) “Voy A Llevarte Pa Pr” is up for Best Reggaeton Performance, while “LA MuDANZa” is also up for Best Urban Song. The LP is also Best Urban Music Album, and the emotional track “Lo Que Le Pasó A Hawaii” is in the newly created category Best Roots Song. The video for “El Club,” directed by Stillz, is up for Best Short Form Music Video.

All these nominations bode well for El Conejo Malo, but multiple nods in big categories could split his vote and make it harder for him to take home the trophy in those areas.

Música Mexicana Get Snubbed — Again

It seems like every year, the Latin Recording Academy reminds us just how out of touch it is with the ever-growing and modernizing música mexicana scene. Across its main categories, just one act from the genre, Carin Leon, made the cut in the Album of the Year category, despite its massive last few years. Song and Record of the Year got zero musica mexican acts, and no, Natalia Lafourcade, a Latin Grammy favorite doesn’t count. A closer look shows an even deeper disconnect: the Academy completely ignores what younger generations are actually listening to. It’s not just that música mexicana was excluded from the top awards — albums like Fuerza Régida’s history-making 111xpantia were entirely overlooked in genre-specific categories like Contemporary Mexican Music Album, despite making history on the charts. Rising stars with stellar debut albums, like Xavi and Netón Vega, didn’t earn a single nod. And in Best New Artist, breakout acts such as Estevie and Vega were nowhere to be found. It’s the same story every year — and maybe it’s time the Latin Recording Academy takes a long, hard look at itself and ask: Do we have a diverse enough group of voters to make this process truly fair? Jimmy Humilde put it poetically when he reacted to the nominations in 2023: “I think they’re full of shit.”

Liniker and CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso Are the Breakout Darlings

Every year, one of the most exciting parts of the Latin Grammys is seeing which breakout artists had a huge year. 2025 is shaping up to be all about Brazil’s Liniker, who turned up in major categories on the strength of her album Caju, and Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso, the Argentine duo who went wildly viral after their Tiny Desk concert last October.  

Both offer a side the Latin Grammys hasn’t typically embraced, since it can often feel like Brazilian music and pop-jazz fusions are siloed off into specialty categories. But both acts are up for Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year — with Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso even enjoying multiple nominations per certain categories, similar to Bad Bunny.

New Categories Show Innovation

A Best Roots Song category could seem like a throwaway category ignored at the telecast, but the newly unveiled category actually makes a lot of sense thanks to contemporary artists blending traditional sounds with pop music. The nominees are especially interesting: Bad Bunny has a much-deserved nod for “DtMf,” a song that seamlessly weaves in Puerto Rico’s plena sound with modern instrumentation and rap-sung verses. There’s also room for interesting work being done by Natalia Lafourcade and El David Aguilar, who have been known to revisit the past and bring it into the future.

The second new category, Best Music For Visual Media, speaks to music that’s cinematic in scope and spirit. The frontrunners there seem to be Argentine legend Gustavo Santaolalla, who has soundtracked films like Amores Perros and Brokeback Mountains, and Cabra, the famed producer and former half of Calle 13, both who create sonic landscapes in their work.