Snubs & Surprises at 2023 Latin Grammys

A seven-time nominee, Camilo was, surprisingly, not one of the big winners of the night. Surprisingly because he is a Grammy darling and had formidable projects, including his album De Adentro Pa Afuera and his song “NASA” with Alejandro Sanz in top categories, he didn’t win. While he had a lesser shot at winning album of the year and song of the year, two extremely tough categories, it was almost a sure bet he’d at least win best pop vocal album. He didn’t. Instead, the award went to Julieta Venegas for Tu Historia.

Out of his seven nominations, Camilo won best long form music video for El Primer Tour De Mi Vida.

Bizarrap and Quevedo’s “BZRP Music Sessions #52” winning best urban song (an award given to songwriters) was unexpected but a pleasant surprise. The less “urban” of all the other nominated songs, including “Coco Chanel” by Eladio Carrión and Bad Bunny and Karol G and Shakira’s “TQG,” Biza and Quevedo’s music session was undoubtedly a global smash hit when it was unleashed last year. “Impressive the recognition given to this project that I started in my room with a computer,” the Argentine producer said in his speech while accepting the award. “I want to dedicate it to all the boys and girls who are starting out, so that they can see that with very little you can achieve a lot.”

Even Julieta Venegas expressed that she was surprised she had won the category for best pop vocal album. It was after all a tough one with all bets on Camilo to win for his critically and commercially acclaimed De Adentro Pa Afuera. As surprised as she was, Venegas was also being modest. Her winning album, Tu Historia, produced by Chilean artist Alex Anwandter, is a gorgeous and formidable best pop vocal album.

Yes, Shakira and Bizarrap won song of the year for their now iconic collab “BZRP Music Sessions #53,” but they were passed over in the record of the year category — which actually made sense for the song to win. As Billboard‘s Leila Cobo put it in our predictions post: “The way Bizarrap produced this track is really masterful — what he did here, just like quoting her old songs and making the references that are both lyrical and musical, is so clever. He was able to read her. There’s a lot to discover in that song, and I think from a production standpoint, it was brilliantly done.”

The winning song was Natalia Lafourcade’s “De Todas Las Flores,” a gorgeous recording produced by Adan Jodorowsky, the French-Mexican producer and musician.

Safe to say that no one saw this one coming. In a category that included nominees Karol G, Feid, Maria Becerra and Ozuna, genre pioneer Tego Calderon took home best reggaeton performance thanks to his comeback single “La Receta.” Surprising? Yes. But also deserving.

Perhaps the outlier of the pack, Venezuelan artist Luis Fernando Borjas vas victorious in the best contemporary tropical album category — shared with nominees Make Bahía, Silvetre Dangond, Gusi and Ilegales. Formerly a member of group Guaco, he won with his debut album as a soloist, 5:10. “It was a challenge to reinvent myself and create a new path in my music after so many years of performing a different genre,” Borjas said while accepting the award.