Bad Bunny’s “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” was named album of the year and gathered four more awards at the 26th annual Latin Grammys, which were broadcast Thursday night on TelevisaUnivision from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. On “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” (“I Should Have Taken More Photos”) he sings about holding on to memories, personal and cultural, as the music savors Puerto Rican roots, reaching back to Afro-Caribbean plena and vintage salsa and connecting them to 21st-century electronic beats.
But two songs from the album were nominated — perhaps splitting the vote — for both top categories for a single track. Bad Bunny lost to Karol G’s “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido” as song of the year (a songwriting award) and to Alejandro Sanz’s “Palmeras en el Jardín” as record of the year (for a recorded production). “Benito, I stole it from you, forgive me,” Sanz said in his acceptance speech; Bad Bunny (Benito Martínez Ocasio) smiled and shook his head.
Multiple awards also went to the emotive Brazilian songwriter Liniker, to the jazzy, sardonic Argentine pop group Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso and to the pensive Mexican songwriter Natalia Lafourcade. Paloma Morphy, an indie-rock songwriter from Mexico, was named best new artist.
But awards shows like the Latin Grammys revolve around live performances, onstage and at the podium. Here are eight of the show’s most striking moments. (See the full winners list here.)
Karol G
Karol G didn’t perform the billion-streaming hit that won song of the year. Instead, she was joined by the 65-year-old Mexican hitmaker Marco Antonio Solís for the first live performance of their duet, “Coleccionando Heridas” (“Collecting Wounds”), from her 2025 album, “Tropicoqueta.” It’s a song about refusing to shut off feelings even if they’re painful. Onstage, Solís brought a heightened, tremulous intensity to his part. But he also danced over to the Colombian pop star for what looked like a spontaneous, un-choreographed twirl.
Later, when Karol G accepted her award for song of the year, she gave a heartfelt speech about how a barrage of criticism had made her fear she’d lost her magic and sense of wonder. “For people at home who think they’re not good enough, or professional enough, to do what they want,” she urged, “forget the world! Forget the noise!”
Rauw Alejandro
The Puerto Rican songwriter Rauw Alejandro has often used reggaeton beats and electronics. But for his Latin Grammys performance he looked toward older, more organic sounds: Dominican bachata, Nuyorican mambo and Puerto Rican bomba, with drummers wearing the horned carnival masks called vejigantes. He donned a mask himself for a final shot. Like Bad Bunny, he’s reconnecting with Afro-Caribbean roots.
Carlos Santana
Horrendous technical problems obliterated the broadcast beginning of Carlos Santana’s set, but were apparently unheard onstage. Once the band was audible, it testified to Santana’s decade-spanning tenacity, with songs from the 1960s (“Oye Como Va”), the 1990s (“Corazón Espinado”) and 2025 (“Me Retiro”). Maluma sang “Oye Como Va,” adding lyrics to praise Santana; the Mexican singer Christian Nodal sang “Corazón Espinado” and Grupo Frontera, from Texas, sang “Me Retiro,” all kindled by Santana’s fierce lead guitar.
Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso
The most surreal Latin Grammy performance was a medley from Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso’s album “Papota”: upbeat songs with sophisticated R&B harmonies and mocking lyrics. Their band stood amid giant mounds of fuzzy red and blue cushions. The duo started out sitting at tables behind sewing machines; Ca7riel reached into a cardboard box, pulled out a guitar and played a virtuosic lead. The pair gave up their seats to burly men dressed only in black briefs, and delivered choruses built around four-letter words that were silenced on the broadcast — but still catchy. “Tonight the Grammys are ours!” Paco crowed.
Dannylux, Kakalo and Ivan Corñejo
Mexican and Mexican American songwriters have been mingling indie-rock introspection with Mexican traditions in lovesick songs that are sometimes called “sad Sierreño” music. A Latin Grammy segment segued together three of them, and they all revealed more vocal and instrumental muscle than they usually show in the studio: Dannylux, Kakalo and especially Ivan Corñejo. On his (nominated) album “Mirada,” Corñejo casts “Atenciòn” as a distant, muted plaint. Onstage, his plea — “I want your attention” — had power chords that turned it into a demand.
Liniker
The Brazilian songwriter Liniker swept her Portuguese-language categories with her album “Caju” and a cathartic ballad, “Veludo Marrom.” But she chose to perform a more percussive song: “Negona dos Olhos Terríveis,” a salsa-meets-samba hybrid with cryptic lyrics: “Black woman with terrible eyes / Mermaid walking on foot.” In a gold-lamé dress that was mostly fringe, she strutted from the stage down to the front row, daring the audience to dance and shout along with the irresistible beat.
Carín León and Kasey Musgraves
Carín León, the winner for contemporary Mexican music album, has used duets to draw border-crossing connections between regional Mexican music and, among other styles, country, soul and rock. On his own, he’s a master of dynamics; he pushed “Ahí Estabas Tú,” already an ardent love song, to melismatic, flamenco-like peaks. Then he lightened up in a countryish duet with Kacey Musgraves. “Lost in Translation” was an amiable flirtation across a language barrier, with Musgraves nonchalantly suggesting, “Maybe we should talk with our hands.”
Los Tigres del Norte
The Mexican American band Los Tigres del Norte has been performing as long as the Rolling Stones. Its songs bounce along on accordion chords while they detail how it feels to be an immigrant. “La Loteria” — chosen as best regional song, and the title track of the winner for best Norteño album — has the band’s usual springiness behind its usual bite, as the lyrics detail how chancy life now is for Latinos. Los Tigres performed it with a video backdrop that showed protesters holding signs that said, “We shout for those that don’t have a voice.” Shortly before the Tigres segment, an ad from the Department of Homeland Security threatened undocumented immigrants with arrest and deportation.
Jon Pareles has been The Times’s chief pop music critic since 1988. He studied music, played in rock, jazz and classical groups and was a college-radio disc jockey. He was previously an editor at Rolling Stone and The Village Voice.
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