Rosalía, queen of the Latin Grammys: ‘Lux’ and ‘La Perla’ take home top prizes

Rosalía opened the Latin Grammys. And Rosalía brought the Latin Grammys to a triumphant close.As well as being responsible for the opening performance at the biggest celebration of Latin music, the 34-year-old Spanish artist was the night’s biggest winner. She took home the Album of the Year award for Lux, the most prestigious award of the evening, as well as Song of the Year for La Perla, along with three other awards that had been presented earlier. In total, she won five of the seven awards for which she had been nominated. Little wonder, then, that by the end of the night she was unable to keep her hair in place, overcome with tears and thinking of her mother.The Catalan singer kicked off the great celebration of Latin music with a medley of her songs La rumba del perdón, La Perla and Dios es un stalker. Dressed in dark gold and accompanied by around 30 dancers, she was the one who welcomed the audience. “Tonight is all about enjoying ourselves, so let’s all have a good time together.” It seemed like a glimpse of what was to come.At the pre-ceremony event, the Catalan singer won Best Alternative Music Album, Best Pop Song for La Perla, and Best Short Form Music Video for Sauvignon Blanc. Her team also won the award for Best Album Engineering.But then came the biggest prize of the night: Song of the Year, which she won thanks to La Perla. She accepted the award from Lila Downs.“I wish I could cut it into little pieces and share it with all of them,” she said, referring to her fellow nominees.“You make incredible music and inspire me so much. To all those people who told me I wasn’t good enough or that my music was too weird: it’s because I didn’t listen to a damn word you said that I’m winning this award now!” she declared.“Thank you to Mexico for the inspiration, for the ranchera music, because without Paquita la del Barrio, La Perla would not exist,” she continued. She then invited her fellow artist Yarihtza to join her on stage and thanked the musicians and her fans. “To all the women who have ever crossed paths with a pearl, I hope life has a diamond in store for you, because we’re no longer at a stage in life where we’re settling for costume jewellery.”Rosalía also took home the night’s biggest prize, Album of the Year, which brought her to tears on stage. She accepted the award from Juanes, whom she thanked for being one of the first artists to come to her concerts, “back when there were only 100 people in a venue in Madrid.”She thanked the Academy for giving her the award for the third time, having won previously in 2019, 2022 and now 2026.“If El mal querer was a dream and Motomami was a gamble, Lux has been a leap into the unknown. I think it’s very important to speak your truth and allow others to speak theirs, and this album is mine,” she said.She also thanked her family and friends for their love and for shaping her into the person she is today. “I know I still have a lot to learn, and I know that I probably haven’t done my best work yet, but I know I have everything it takes to be the best,” she declared.“Thank you, Mum, for making me this way,” she said through tears and laughter. “I’m going to bring this home to you. I don’t know if you’ll have room for another Grammy in the house, so you’d better make some space. I’m bringing it to you because you always find a way to make everything work.”She then invited her team onto the stage, embracing them and congratulating them in both Spanish and English “for all those nights” they had worked together. “We called it Lux because it means light in Latin. Here’s to more light in the world, hopefully.”The Latin Recording Academy’s awards ceremony is, of course, about handing out awards. But what really goes down in history and generates the most buzz are the performances: the spectacle of different accents and backgrounds coming together on stage, in this case at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.In fact, during the three-hour televised ceremony, barely a dozen awards are handed out. The vast majority are presented at a pre-televised ceremony, where a total of 60 awards are given out. And the performances on stage are so central to the event that, once the final award of the night, Album of the Year, had been presented, Xavi and Grupo Los Recoditos took to the stage to perform.Following Rosalía, the 27th edition of the awards kicked off with four powerful women, each bringing a very different performance: Mon Laferte, challenging American television conventions by smoking live on stage in a performance with an almost burlesque feel; Silvana Estrada, alone with her guitar (she would go on to win Best Singer-Songwriter Song for Dime); Kany García, performing in a cabin and singing to a little girl — the little girl she herself once was; and Anitta, sensual and playful, exploring the relationship between past and future.Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition