Relevance is one of the issues that most concerns Manuel AbudCEO of the awards Latin Grammy. “It is one of the most important goals and one of the things that I care most about our brand, that it is a relevant brand,” explains the Mexican executive who for two years has been renovating the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to make it more sensitive to youth trends and diversity.
The repeated protests of the stars of the reggaeton (J Balvin asked to boycott the ceremony two years ago) have forced a progressive opening of the Latin Grammys, which in the past have been rather conservative and traditional. The awards, which will celebrate their 24th edition in Seville on Thursday the 16th, have turned their backs on urban music and have also received complaints for leaving female artists in the background. “In urban music there was discontent, what we did was be very respectful, listen and adapt what they had to adapt. Now I think we are on a very good path,” says Abud.
This 2023 could be the year that everything changes, with the Colombians Karol G y Shakira aspiring to the big awards, with seven nominations each, and with a gala in which its president hopes there will be parity in the performances.
“The artist knows that this is not a prize that can be bought,” says Abud. “AND It is important that young artists also identify with the Lastin Grammythat they aspire to them and participate because, in the end, ours is a non-profit organization that aspires for all musical genres and all generations to be represented and for everyone to progress.
Next Sunday begins a week of activities in Seville that will culminate on Thursday the 16th with the gala, of which only one performance is still known: Armed Link and Featherweight They will perform live for the first time She dances Alonethe song that in seven months has almost a billion views on Spotify and more than 400 million on YouTube and that symbolizes the unexpected success of regional Mexican music.