This year’s award season confirmed what we, and the charts, already knew: Latine artists are not just a part of the conversation, they’re leading it. Their presence cut across ceremonies and categories alike, leaving a mark that felt impossible to ignore.
While the usual frontrunners held their expected spots, a closer look reveals another current moving beneath the predictability—one driven by artists actively reshaping the contours of Latin music and expanding its reach in real time.
These standout acts show who’s pushing recognition forward, why visibility still matters, and who’s using it to build something lasting. From legacy reinventions to digital-age independence, from avant-garde experimentation to overdue cross-cultural breakthroughs, here are five artists proving that the pulse of Latin music lives beyond the expected and belongs to those daring to take it there.
Linker
For years, Portuguese-language artists have hovered on the margins of significant recognition in Latin music. Liniker’s sweep of nominations across this year’s award cycle changed that, making her one of the most celebrated artists of the season and the first Black trans artist to break into multiple top-tier categories. A radiant blend of MPB and soul, her album Caju bridges Brazil’s deep musical history and emotional lineage with a broader Latin pop consciousness. The record sparked sold-out international shows, placed every track on Brazil’s Spotify Top 200, and earned her induction into the Brazilian Academy of Culture. Collaborations with icons like Gilberto Gil cement her place in a lineage of innovators carrying Brazil’s sound forward. Her warm, unguarded voice carries stories of gender, love, and resilience across borders, marking a long-overdue moment of visibility and embrace for Portuguese-language artistry within the broader Latin American mainstream.
CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso
The Argentine duo’s rise feels like a lightning strike in real time. After an absurdly viral Tiny Desk performance and the release of their debut album Papota, they became one of the most nominated acts of the entire award season, rivaling numbers usually reserved for the genre’s biggest giants. Their sound crashes hip-hop, trap, and electronic pop into something gloriously ungovernable, while their live sets — from festivals like Coachella to Glastonbury and a global headlining tour that even found time for a Tonight Show debut — seem to channel that chaos into collective release.
In an industry that often favors polish and is obsessed with sanitizing presentation, they’ve broken through as a refreshing voice of joyful disorder and queer-coded freedom, reminding us that noise and nuance can thrive in the same breath.
Elena Rose
Before her own name topped ballots, Elena Rose spent years offstage, writing hits for the usual suspects dominating nominations, including Bad Bunny, Rauw Alejandro, and Karol G. With her debut album En Las Nubes – Con Mis Panas, the Venezuelan-American songwriter stepped fully into the spotlight, earning nominations across some of the most coveted categories of the season and securing her first Top 10 on Billboard’s Latin Pop Albums chart. The record’s blend of R&B fluidity and Latin-pop spark centers her lived experience and craft, narrating the kind of emotional storytelling she once lent to others.
From her Coachella debut to a sold-out Miami homecoming, her breakout year marks not just recognition, but a reclamation towards honoring the women whose writing has shaped Latin pop’s evolution and who are finally standing in the light they helped build.
Latin Mafia
Brothers Mike, Milton, and Emilio de la Rosa are the architects of the Latin Mafia’s self-contained universe with a soundscape built on velvety synths, melancholic hooks, and a driving DIY conviction. The Monterrey trio became one of Mexico’s most-streamed independent acts of 2024, selling out their first U.S. headline tour and landing nominations in major categories throughout this year’s award cycle.
Their rise marks a rare moment where a fully independent act sits alongside label giants, proving how far self-produced alternative music can travel when it feels this honest. Their music has made an impact by turning digital intimacy into connection, translating hometown emotion into global resonance. For a generation raised on algorithmic discovery, their success is a reminder that authenticity and self-determination still have a fighting chance.
Carín León
Regional Mexican music’s global renaissance wouldn’t look the same without Carín León. His latest album Palabra De To’s (Seca) became one of the year’s most decorated projects across award season, solidifying his position as a defining voice in modern música mexicana. That recognition followed a landmark run as he became one of the first regional Mexican artists to headline Stagecoach, earned a Grammy win, and expanded his sonic reach through collaborations with Kane Brown, Leon Bridges, Grupo Frontera, and a standout duet with Kacey Musgraves that introduced him to an even wider pop audience.
As iterations of the genre continue to evolve, León remains at the forefront of helping trailblaze regional Mexican music into its next era as one of its vital architects, where bilingual storytelling and arena-sized ambition can coexist without compromising the tradition that lives at its core.
Yandel
Two decades into urbano’s evolution, Yandel continues to be a legacy presence, actively rewriting what longevity looks like by pushing the boundaries of his sound. In 2025, he opened the year in full motion, linking his foundational style with the new guard through cross-generational collaborations with Feid, Dei V, Tito El Bambino, Kapo, Kidd Voodoo, and more.
But the year’s most striking moment came with Sinfónico (En Vivo), where he transformed his recognizable catalog into orchestral arrangements that reframed reggaetón in a context rarely afforded to it. The result wasn’t nostalgia but expansion, revealing emotional textures and musical possibilities usually kept outside the urbano frame. Yandel’s ongoing progression shows that influence doesn’t have to be static to sustain, but deepens when an artist is willing to take risks that broaden the genre’s language.
