Bad Bunny wins five Latin Grammys ahead of Super Bowl

Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny was the big winner at the Latin Grammy Awards Thursday night in Las Vegas, taking home five trophies.

Among them was Album of the Year, for the acclaimed Debí Tirar Más Fotos, a project that embraced her island’s musical heritage – and paved the way for her to perform at the halftime show of next year’s Super Bowl.

Dedicating this prize to “all the youth of Latin America”, he added: “There are many ways to be patriotic and to defend our homeland. We chose music.”

Charismatic Argentinian duo Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso also won five awards; with other winners including Alejandro Sanz, Gloria Estefan and Karol G – who will headline next year’s Coachella festival.

The fast-growing Latin music sector generated a record $1.4 billion (£1.06 billion) in 2024, or 8.1% of total music revenues in the US, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, which said it was shaping culture faster than any other genre.

Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, has been at the forefront of this movement. For three consecutive years between 2020 and 2022, he was the most streamed artist in the world.

Debí Tirar Más Fotos (I Should Have Taken More Photos) is the 31-year-old’s sixth album and fuses live instrumentation with the swaying rhythm of reggaetón and traditional Puerto Rican styles like plena.

At the Latin Grammys, the title track won her Best Urban Song and Best Urban Performance. He also won Best Reggaetón Performance for Voy a llevarte pa PR and Best Urban Music Album for Debí Tirar Más Fotos.

He is also nominated for six awards at the mainstream Grammys, which take place in February, including in the three main categories of album, song and record of the year.

The star recently completed a stunning concert residency in Puerto Rico; and is preparing to begin his world tour in the Dominican Republic.

However, he made headlines when he said the tour would not include any dates in the US mainland because he feared his fans would be targets of immigration raids.

His subsequent booking for next year’s Super Bowl angered some American conservatives.

President Trump called the move “absolutely ridiculous” and said he had “never heard of” the star, who has 74 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

The Latin Grammy ceremony began with a high-profile tribute to Mexican-American guitarist Carlos Santana, with Maluma, Edgar Barrera, Grupo Frontera and Christian Nodal performing a medley that began with his hit single Oye Como Va.

Karol G and Marco Antonio Solís also took the stage for a sweet duet on Coleccionando Heridas; while Gloria Estefan performed songs from her latest record Raíces, which won the Best Tropical Album award.

But Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso were judged to have the highlight of the evening, with a colorful and quirky medley of their hits El Impostor, #Tetas, La Que Puede, Puede and El Día Del Amigo.

Dressed in brightly patterned Versace outfits, the duo performed in front of four tattooed and nearly naked bodybuilders, who carefully operated sewing machines on tiny school-sized desks.

At the end of the performance, the duo threw dozens of heart-shaped pillows into the audience, all containing the phrase “te amo,” supposedly sewn by their muscular counterparts.

The duo dominated the alternative music categories – winning Best Alternative Album and Best Alternative Song. They also selected best short and long video, as well as pop song of the year for El Día Del Amigo.

Speaking backstage, the childhood friends expressed their gratitude to each other.

“The most important thing here is that we have known each other since we were six years old,” Amoroso said.

“This whole thing wasn’t planned, it just happened. I want to tell Ca7riel that he’s my friend, that I love him.”

Ca7riel then surprised Paco with a long, seemingly passionate kiss.

Elsewhere, Paloma Morphy, a 25-year-old Mexican, won the best new artist award after her debut album, Au, which wowed listeners with its catchy melodies and vulnerable stories of heartbreak.

Colombian star Karol G won the song of the year award for Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido, a lilting, merengue-flavored love song from her hit fifth album Tropicoqueta.

And Spanish superstar Alejandro Sanz took record of the year for his stunning ballad Palmeras en el Jardín, unexpectedly beating Bad Bunny’s hit Baile Inolvidable.

While accepting the award, Sanz expressed his surprise by saying “Benito, I stole it from you, forgive me.”