Nov 13 (Reuters) – Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny and Argentine hip-hop duo Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso each won five Latin Grammy awards in Las Vegas on Thursday, cementing Bad Bunny as an industry titan while thrusting the lesser-known act into the spotlight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Bad Bunny won album of the year for \u201cDeb\u00ed Tirar M\u00e1s Fotos,\u201d a tour de force mixing styles from Afro-Caribbean to salsa that netted him 12 nominations. He also won for best urban\/urban fusion performance, best reggaeton performance, best urban music album, and best urban song.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The awards only burnish his reputation ahead of his wider introduction to English-speaking America and a worldwide audience as the halftime performer of the Super Bowl in February, a choice that rankled some U.S. traditionalists including President Donald Trump<\/span>, who said he had never heard of Bad Bunny.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The rapidly growing Latin music sector generated a record $1.4 billion in 2024, making up 8.1% of total U.S. music revenue, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, which said it was shaping the culture faster than any other genre.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Bad Bunny, 31, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, has also received six nominations for the regular Grammys to be awarded on February 2, including for the major categories of record, song and album of the year. He was the first Latin artist to be nominated in the three major categories in the same year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In winning album of the year, Bad Bunny was honored over industry luminaries such as the Spaniard Alejandro Sanz and Cuban-born Gloria Estefan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sanz, however, won two awards: record of the year for \u201cPalmeras En El Jard\u00edn,\u201d and best contemporary pop album for \u201d\u00bfY Ahora Qu\u00e9?\u201d That raised his career total to 24.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Estefan still took home the award for best traditional tropical album for \u201cRa\u00edces.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Karol G claimed song of the year, with \u201cSi Antes Te Hubiera Conocido\u201d winning over the Bad Bunny title song from his album.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n In September the National Football League announced Bad Bunny would headline the Super Bowl halftime show on February 8, 2026, when he is likely to become the first such act to perform entirely or mostly in Spanish. In 2020, he made a guest appearance at the halftime show headlined by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, helping boost his meteoric rise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While the NFL is embracing the genre, and the entertainment dollars that come with it, American football\u2019s break with tradition was poorly received by some fans including Trump<\/span>, who called the choice of Bad Bunny as halftime entertainer \u201cabsolutely ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI never heard of him. I don\u2019t know who he is. I don\u2019t know why they\u2019re doing it – it\u2019s, like, crazy,\u201d Trump <\/span>told Newsmax in October.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Bad Bunny, who has criticized Trump<\/span>\u2019s aggressive immigration enforcement, supported Trump<\/span>\u2019s opponent Kamala Harris<\/a> in the 2024 election.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cBrother, this is always a special moment for me. And I get just as nervous as the first time. That means that what I do matters to me,\u201d Bad Bunny, who had won a total of 12 Latin Grammys in previous years, said upon taking home the first televised award of the night.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n He later performed \u201cWeltita,\u201d a single from the album, with the band Chuwi. Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso had 10 nominations and won for best pop song, best alternative music album, best alternative song, best short form music video and best long form music video.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Truth<\/span>Has No<\/span>Bias<\/span><\/p>\n Your Support<\/span>Fuels<\/span>Our Mission<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Your Support<\/span>Fuels<\/span>Our Mission<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Bad](\"https:\/\/img.huffingtonpost.com\/asset\/6917200d170000bc83a90163.jpeg?ops=scalefit_720_noupscale\")
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