How the Latin Grammy nominees and winners are chosen

The 23rd Latin Grammy Awards will be held on November 17 at a ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada. There, the best of Latin music will be awarded in 53 categories.

Within Vidcon Mexico 2022Manuel Abud, CEO of the Latin Recording Academy, stressed that the award is not based on the popularity of an artist, song, album or musical genre.

The Latin Grammys are awarded based on the votes of its members, who are part of the music industry. This means that recording and mixing artists, songwriters, producers, and engineers celebrate and recognize excellence through this accolade.

“It is like a college of engineers or architects. It is a trade association of musicians, so they celebrate and recognize what they consider to be musical excellence,” he said. “The process is quite complex. We are talking about the fact that this year we received 18,000 entries that were submitted for the Latin Grammy that we will see”.

Also, this year there were 800 entries for the category of best new artist alone, who can be nominated as long as he has not released more than three albums or 15 singles.

All entries received for the Latin Grammy are heard

Abud explained that all entries are classified according to their gender and are heard by the corresponding members of the Academy.

For a song to be eligible for the Latin Grammy they must be new (released from June 1, 2021 to May 31, 2022, for this edition. Also have more than 51% of their lyrics in Spanish, Portuguese or indigenous language of Latin America, Spain or Portugal, so it should not be surprising that musicians like the Spanish Rosalía are recognized.

The first round of voting is sent to members who are in good standing, according to the Academy. Each member can vote in 15 categories (which they are experts at) in addition to the top four: Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist.

The votes are then tabulated by Deloitte and this is where the nominations are obtained, which are announced weeks before the ceremony.

Lastly, to select the Latin Grammy winners, voting members receive a final template. This year, this round will start on September 30.

The Latin Recording Academy has faced controversy over its nominations

Latin Grammy nominations have not been without criticism over the years, which has also allowed their evolution and that there are now specific categories that recognize regional Mexican, urban and reggaeton music.

The most recent controversy occurred last year, when J Balvin wanted to promote a boycott by stating that the award ceremony did not value the urban genre and only used its musicians to obtain a rating.

However, the Colombian received a harsh response from René Pérez Joglar, known as Residente, emphasizing that it was not fair to the urban musicians who had received a nomination; nor for Rubén Blades, who was going to be recognized as the person of the year.

“I would believe you about the boycott if, I don’t know, last year when you were nominated 13 times you didn’t go to the Grammys. But there you did not ask for a boycott. Surely you even had a change of clothes for each award, but as of the 13 nominations you won only one Grammy, now the boycott returns, “said the member of Calle 13, reported CNN.

“So, you have to understand, José, it’s like I don’t know, like a hot goal cart gets upset and e******** because you can’t win a Michelin star,” he added.

The Latin Recording Academy remains on the sidelines when the lawsuit is between artists

At that time, the Latin Recording Academy did not publicly comment on the dispute between the two artists. Abud explained that, being an organization by musicians for musicians, they have a responsibility to listen to them when they feel underrepresented.

“I prefer to sit down and talk about it than to get it out (on social networks), but they are within their rights,” he said.

However, in a lawsuit between two artists —such as J Balvin and Residente—, the Academy chooses to remain on the sidelines.

“We owe it to all artists, whoever they are. We support everyone,” she added.

These are the main categories of the Latin Grammy

Next, we leave you the list of the Latin Grammy 2022 nominees in the most important categories:

Record of the year:

• “For my girls” — Christina Aguilera, Becky G, Nicki Nicole with Nathy Peluso
• “Sandcastles” — Pablo Alborán
• “Wrapping” — Anitta
• “Pa’lla voy” — Marc Anthony
• “Pretty eyes” — Bad Bunny & Bomba Estéreo
• “Pegao” — Camilo
• “Touch you” — Jorge Drexler & C. Tangana
• “Provence” — Karol G
• “It’s worth it” – Juan Luis Guerra
• “La Fama” – Rosalía with The Weeknd
• “I congratulate you” – Shakira & Rauw Alejandro
• “Little old ball” — Carlos Vives & Camilo

Album of the year:

• “Aguilera” — Christina Aguilera
• “Pa’lla voy” — Marc Anthony
• “A summer without you” – Bad Bunny
• “Deja” — Stereo Bomb
• “Ink and time” — Jorge Drexler
• “We are no longer the same” — Elsa and Elmar
• “Traveler” — Fonseca
• “Motomami (Digital Album)” — Rosalía
• “Sanz” — Alejandro Sanz
• “Dharma” — Sebastian Yatra

Song of the year:

• “Sometimes good and sometimes bad” — Ricky Martin with Reik
• “Water” – Daddy Yankee, Rauw Alejandro & Nile Rodgers
• “Something is better” – Mon Laferte
• “Little old ball” — Carlos Vives & Camilo
• “Forehead kisses” — Fonseca
• Finding Me — Carla Morrison
• “Hentai” — Rosalia
• “Indigo” — Camilo & Evaluna Montaner
• “For my girls” — Christina Aguilera, Nicki Nicole, Becky G with Nathy Peluso
• “Provence” — Karol G
• “Red heels” — Sebastián Yatra
• “Touch you” — Jorge Drexler & C. Tangana

Best New Artist:

• Angela Alvarez
• sofia fields
• Candy and Paul
• Clarissa
• Silvana Estrada
• Pol Granch
• Nabalez
• tiare
• Voucher
• Yahritza and His Essence
• Nicole Zignago

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