By the reckoning of the newest round of Latin Grammy nominees, announced Tuesday morning, Mexican American songwriter and producer Edgar Barrera is at the epicenter of the action in today's Latin music scene. Not only did Barrera garner the most nominations overall — with 13 nods — all three of the singers trailing him in this year's nominations have been his collaborators.
Those artists, who each nabbed seven nominations for the 24th annual Latin Grammy Awards, are three Colombian singers: Camilo, Karol G and Shakira.
As in the general Grammy Awards, the Latin Grammys now sport a sprawling minimum of 10 nominees in each of the so-called "Big Four" categories: record of the year (which is given for the recorded performance of a song and includes 11 nominees), album of the year, song of the year (which is a songwriting honor) and best new artist.
Both Camilo and Karol G are in contention for the album of the year award. At the same time, Shakira is a featured artist on a collaboration with Argentine producer and DJ Bizarrap that was nominated for record of the year; the breakup anthem Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53. (Bizarrap has six nominations of his own for this year's awards.) Shakira was also nominated for three different songs within the song of the year category.
A fellow Colombian songwriter, Kevyn Mauricio Cruz Moreno, also earned seven nominations. Working under the name Keityn, he has also collaborated with Karol G and Shakira.
Other top contenders include six artists and creators who each earned five nods: Spanish singer-songwriter Pablo Alborán; Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny; Argentine singer Maria Becerra; Colombian singer Feid; mastering engineer Dave Kutch; and Mexican singer Natalia Lafourcade.
The 10 contenders in the best new artist category include Borja, Conexión Divina, Ana Del Castillo, Natascha Falcão, Gale, Paola Guanche, Joaquina, Leon Leiden, Maréh and Timo.
The Latin Grammy nominations, which span 56 categories in all, were by the Latin Recording Academy. The awards ceremony will be held Nov. 16 in Seville, Spain.
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