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Rosalía’s ambitious, polyglot, genre-spanning 2025 album, “Lux (Complete Works),” triumphed at the 27th Latin Grammy Awards, which were broadcast Thursday on Univision from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It won awards for album of year and alternative album, and its track “La Perla” — a put-down of a bad boyfriend — was chosen as song of the year and best pop song.
The Argentine songwriter Milo J won record of the year for “Niño,” sung to a child by the ghost of his father. Aria Vega, a Colombian singer from Barranquilla who prizes Caribbean coastal styles, was named best new artist.
But the show was devoted to performances. Awards for 51 of the 60 categories were presented in an afternoon webcast, leaving ample time for song-and-dance spectacles and impassioned vocal showcases. Here are some of the night’s peak moments.
Rosalía
Rosalía didn’t just collect the night’s final award. She also opened the show, appearing amid heavenly clouds and surrounded by dancers wearing gold halos and tight white outfits, like toned angels. She hinted at the range of her album with a medley: the flamenco-tinged “La Rumba del Perdón,” the waltzing “La Perla” and the pounding, dramatic “Dios Es Un Stalker.”
Rosalía’s two previous albums, “El Mal Querer” (2018) and “Motomami” (2022) were also Latin Grammy albums of the year. In a tearful acceptance speech, she described “El Mal Querer” as “a dream,” “Motomami” as “a gamble,” and “Lux” as “a leap into the void.” She added, “This album is my truth.”
Daddy Yankee
The Latin Grammys named the Puerto Rican reggaeton pioneer Daddy Yankee as person of the year, an award he celebrated with a performance that sprinted through two decades of hits and hooks. His guests included the Argentine producer Bizarrap, the Spanish hitmaker Bad Gyal, the Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh (who shares Daddy Yankee’s latest hit, the Bollywood-tinged “Pokito” ) and the rapper LL Cool J, who interwove his own “Mama Said Knock You Out” with Daddy Yankee’s career-defining “Gasolina.” Daddy Yankee looked genuinely surprised when Janet Jackson — who featured him on her 2018 single “Made for Now” — came out to present his award. In his acceptance speech, he exulted that reggaeton had risen from the streets and homemade cassettes to the Grammys. He also declared, “Puerto Rico isn’t small — the map is small.”
Milo J
Milo J, a poetic 20-year-old songwriter, is already escaping pigeonholes. He won awards not only for record of the year but also for folk album, “La Vida Era Más Corta,” and for urban performance for “Gil,” a song from the album that includes a rap by Trueno. His live segment, performing “Solifican12” and “Gil,” leaned into the folkloric. Milo J arrived with a carnival-like procession up the arena aisle, joined by men in white face paint and bright costumes who turned out to be his backup chorus. The music featured charango — a small Andean guitar — and a guest appearance by the Argentine producer Gustavo Santaolalla playing ronroco, a larger charango. But keeping things untraditional, Milo J sang about dharma and karma while the beat shifted toward salsa.
Anitta
The Brazilian songwriter Anitta’s album “Equilibrivm” won a prime-time award for Portuguese language contemporary pop album. She raced through four of its songs in an athletic performance. It was an accelerating, increasingly percussive tour of Brazilian rhythms and dances, traditional and electronic — rushed but exhilarating. She gave her acceptance speech in Spanish, saying the album was “born from a transformation, a personal transmutation, a spiritual journey that changed me forever” and urging unity across Latin America.
José Alfredo Jiménez Tribute
The Latin Grammys paid a centennial tribute to José Alfredo Jiménez, a songwriter who was born in 1926 and left a catalog of songs that are cornerstones of Mexican ranchera. Overseen by Edgar Barrera, who was also named producer of the year, the tribute showed how adaptable José Alfredo Jiménez’s songs could be. The Warning turned “Te Solté la Rienda” into grungy hard rock, Reik treated “La Media Vuelta” as a pop ballad, Yami Safdie and Sofía Reyes made “Si Nos Dejan” a glossy duet, and Camila Fernández claimed “El Rey” as hearty, defiant mariachi. Clear-cut melodies and charged emotions came through.
Karol G
The Colombian songwriter Karol G focused on one song rather than a medley. Dressed in gold lamé, she sang the Mexican-style ballad “Ese Hombre es Malo” backed by a mini-orchestra, a choir and mariachi strings, turning it into a tremulous crescendo of accusations and recriminations toward a cheating lover. But she was all smiles when her “Tropicoqueta” won the award for urban music album, ending her speech with a yell in English: “Latinas forever!”
