THREE Spanish artists have been nominated for a string of Latin Grammy Awards and will find out whether they will get to take a trophy home at the annual ceremony on November 14 in Las Vegas, USA.
Pop veteran and The Voice judge – who will be better-known to non-Spanish fans for his duets with Colombian rocker Shakira, La Tortura and Te lo agradezco pero no – is already among the favourites, and new kid on the block Rosalía is also tipped to win at least one award.
Rosalía, 26, with her curious blend of flamenco-hip hop, has crossed borders and language barriers, with James Corden keen to feature her on his Late, Late Show and Alicia Keyes contacting her for pronunciation help in a new release – and has even launched her own clothing line with Inditex's budget casual wear chain Pull&Bear.
Also in the running but behind Rosalía and Alejandro Sanz are the Dominican Republic's Juan Luis Guerra with his band 4.40, Argentina's Andrés Calamaro, Colombia's Fonseca and Perú's Tony Succar, each of whom have four nominations.
Aitana, who shot to number one in the Spanish charts with co-artist Ana Guerra and their catchy summer hit Malo, is a new entry from the country into the Latin Grammy nominee list, and is up for a Golden Gramophone for Best New Artist.
She will be competing against Burning Caravan, Chipi Chacón, Greiicy, Cami, Fer Casillas, Elsa y Elmar, Paulo Londra, Juan Ingaramo, and Nella.
Alejandro SanzSanz won Latin Grammy for Person of the Year in 2017 and is now competing for Best Album, with #ELDISCO, and Song of the Year with No Tengo Nada ('I Have Nothing') and his duet with Havana's Camila Cabello, Mi Persona Favorita ('My Favourite Person').
Rosalía is up for Best Album with El Mal Querer and Recording of the Year with Aute Cuture.
Other candidates for Best Album are Luis Fonsi – who shot to international fame with Despacito and repeated the performance with La Culpa alongside Demi Lovato – with Vida, Paula Arenas with Visceral, Rubén Blades with Paraíso Road Gang, Andrés Calamaro with Cargar la Suerte, Fonseca with Agustín, Ximena Sariñana with ¿Dónde bailarán las niñas?, Tony Succar with Más de Mí, and Sebastián Yatra with Fantasía.
Recording of the Year candidates are Querer Mejor by Juanés and Alessia Cara, La Plata by Juanés and Lalo Ebratt, Verdades Afiladas by Andrés Calamaro, Kitipún by Juan Luis Guerra, Parecen Viernes by Jennifer López's ex-husband Marc Anthony, Ahí Ahí by Vicente García, Cobarde by Ximena Sariñana, and both Alejandro Sanz's Song of the Year nominations.
Song of the Year nominations are for Querer Mejor by Juanés and Alessia Cara, Kitipún by Juan Luis Guerra, Desconstrução by Brazil's Tiago Iorc, El País by Rubén Blades, Quédate by Kany García and Tommy Torres, Un Año by Sebastián Yatra and Reik, Ven by Fonseca, and Pedro Capó with Calma, his Spanish remix of Canadian DJ Snow's 1992 hit, Informer.
The difference between Song of the Year and Recording of the Year is that the first category awards the composers and lyric writers, and the second category recognises the achievements of the artists, producers and sound engineers.
