The Latin Grammy Awards ceremony, organized this Thursday in Seville, was marked by a clear domination of Colombian artists. Karol G and Shakira have each won several awards.
Colombian music dominated during the Latin Grammy Awards ceremony on Thursday, November 16. Colombian singer Karol G won the award for best album of the year while her compatriot Shakira, notably thanks to her collaboration with Argentinian DJ Bizarrap, experienced a real triumph. The ceremony, which took place in Seville, Spain and therefore for the first time outside the United States, rewards each year the best albums, songs and artists in Spanish or Portuguese.
Singer Karol G, aged 32, received the most coveted gramophone: that of best album. She also received the award for best urban music album for Mañana will be good as well as that of best urban performance for the title TQGwhich she performs with Shakira. “Receiving (the award) for album of the year is so awesome,” said Karol G, very enthusiastic as she received the most prestigious prize of the evening.
Karol G’s triumph confirms the increasingly important place of reggaeton in the musical landscape. This genre, which appeared in the 1990s, has only been rewarded at these Latin Grammys since 2020.
Shakira’s triumph
Shakira also took to the stage three times at the Congress Center in the Andalusian capital to receive three awards. Two of them were obtained thanks to his collaboration with the Argentinian DJ Bizarrap, for their title Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions #53, which received the awards for best song of the year and best pop song.
This track has been listened to nearly 1.5 billion times on Spotify and YouTube. The Colombian star qualified him “of immense relief” after her breakup with ex-footballer Gerard Piqué. “There was a lot of work behind this song, Shakira was able to express what she felt and that’s the most important thing,” said DJ composer Bizarrap, who, at 25, is the most listened to Argentine artist in the world.
Shakira dedicated the trophies to her “Latin audience” and to his “son Milan and Sasha”that she had with Pique and to whom she promised to be “happy”. For the Colombian singer, these victories are welcome as her trial for alleged tax fraud is due to begin on November 20 in Barcelona. The prosecution accuses the interpreter of Waka-Waka of having used companies domiciled in tax havens to avoid paying his full tax in 2018. He requires more than eight years in prison and a fine of some 24 million euros.
Mexico also at the party
In addition to Shakira and Karol G, their compatriots Juanes, Carlos Vives and the group Monsieur Periné won several Gramophones. The artist who collected the most awards during the traditional first part of the ceremony was the Mexican Edgar Barrera, who participated as composer in many of the songs in competition. With thirteen nominations, he was the most nominated person of the night and won three Gramophones, including Producer of the Year and Songwriter of the Year.
Mexican Natalia Lafourcade did not leave empty-handed, winning three prizes: that of recording of the year for Of all the flowersfor best album and for best singer-songwriter song.