The bar has been raised. Rosalía opened the 27th annual Latin Grammy Awards, live from Sin City, with an explosive medley of her “Lux” tracks “La Rumba Del Perdón," “La Perla” and “Dios Es Un Stalker," joined by angelic dancers ornamented with halos atop a stage meant to look like heavenly clouds.
It was a reminder of the expansiveness of her album: an offbeat, full-hearted embrace of her classical training through huge orchestral movements, inspired
by the lives of female saints. Clearly, competition for the remainder of the night will be stiff.
The first award of the night was given out shortly thereafter: Pablo Alboran and Backstreet Boys' Howie D presented Juanes with best pop/rock album for “Juanesteban.”
The award show is taking place live from Las Vegas’ MGM Grand Garden Arena. It's being aired live on Univision, UniMás, Galavisión and ViX and hosted by actor, producer and musician Roselyn Sánchez.
Producer Edgar Barrera — no stranger to leading the Latin Grammy nominations — is again in the top spot with 10 nods this year, including record, producer and songwriter of the year plus two each for song and album of the year. Many of the nominations involve his collaboration with Karol G and Carín León.
Speaking of Karol G: She ties Rosalía, Jorge Drexler and hip-hop duo Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso for the second-most nominations. They have seven each.
Silvana Estrada and Mon Laferte follow with six apiece, including record, album and song of the year.
And during the pre-televised event, Bobby Pulido won the Latin Grammy for best Tejano album for his release “Bobby Pulido & Friends: Una Tuya y Una Mía (Vol. 2/En Vivo)" — just days after making history in the U.S. midterm elections by securing a seat in the House of Representatives for the Democrats by flipping Texas' District 15.
“I want to tell you that I’m retiring from music, and I’m leaving with so much gratitude,” he said in his acceptance speech.
The Latin Grammys have introduced changes this year to the best new artist category. Now, they've limited participation to artists with fewer than three albums or 25 singles released. The 11 contenders in 2026 are Delilah, FABIAN, Loulu Gilberto, Arath Herce, Macario Martínez, maye, Sofia Monroy, Kendall Peña, Dora Sanches, ARIA VEGA and Zeca Veloso.
Performers at this year's bash include Karol G, Anitta, Banda Los Recoditos, Jorge Drexler, Silvana Estrada, Kany García, Juanes, Carín León, Mon Laferte, Vivir Quintana, Rawayana, Rosalía, Elena Rose, Xavi, Cristian Castro, Camila Fernández, Feid, Luis Figueroa, Fonseca, Grupo Frontera, Milo J, Niña Pastori, Reik, Sofía Reyes, Yami Safdie, The Warning, Baby Ranks, Bad Gyal, Bizarrap, Miguel Colón, Divino, DJ Premier, Diljit Dosanjh, Grupo Niche, Jay Wheeler, Lil Supa, Luis Enrique, Nathy Peluso and Ángel “Cucco” Peña.
Daddy Yankee, the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards' Person of the Year, will also perform. He is the first Latin urbano artist to receive the honor.
Past honorees include Raphael, the 2025 Person of the Year, Carlos Vives, the 2024 Person of the Year, as well as Juanes, Laura Pausini, Marco Antonio Solís, Rubén Blades and more.
