21st Annual Latin Grammy Awards
The 21st Annual Latin Grammy Awards were held on Thursday, November 19, 2020 and broadcast on TelevisaUnivision. The 2020 Latin Grammy ceremony was anchored from the American Airlines Arena in Miami,[1] though the health protocols enacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant there was no live audience in the venue, and performances were presented from remote locations from many parts of the world. The telecast marked the 21st anniversary of the Latin Grammy Awards and honored musical releases within Latin music released from June 1, 2019 to May 31, 2020. Nominations were announced on September 29.[2]
21st Latin Grammy Awards
Background[edit]
On March 28, 2020, less than three weeks after the March 11 declaration by the World Health Organization that the COVID-19 outbreak was officially a pandemic,[3] the Latin Recording Academy announced that its annual gala was still set for November 2020.
Starting in 2020, the Latin Grammys would include a category exclusively focused on reggaeton to prevent of the controversies and calls for boycott experienced the year before. Thus, a new category named "Best Reggaeton Performance" was introduced this year.
Also starting with the 2020 awards, the Latin Recording Academy announced that it would stop using the term "urban music" in response to controversies which had led its sister organization, The Recording Academy, to announce changes to the names of some that academy's Grammy Awards categories six months after its own January 2020 awards presentations.[4] "Best Pop/Rock Song" and "Best Rap/Hip Hop Song" replaced the "urban" categories, with the latter one including trap music.[5] The "Best Flamenco Album" category made its return to the Latin Grammys after being erased in 2018, due to the lack of competition.[6]
On August 18, the Latin Recording Academy announced the official date for the gala's celebration and its format. Under the slogan "Music Humanizes Us", the 2020 Latin Grammy Awards was returning to Miami, for the first time since the 2003 ceremony. In that announcement, the Latin Grammys organization stated: "If local conditions are favorable in November, The Latin Academy will consider hosting a live audience telecast composed primarily of nominees, presenters and performers."[7]
In November, due to the ongoing pandemic, the ceremony was held without a live audience in the venue, and featured remote performances from all around the world. As a result of the pandemic, the special awards, namely the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year, Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Latin Grammy Trustees Award, were not presented this year.[8]
Originally, Carlos Rivera and Roselyn Sánchez were announced as hosts for the ceremony but Sánchez could not continue as host due to health issues.[9] Later, actresses Yalitza Aparicio and Ana Brenda Contreras were announced as hosts alongside Rivera,[10] but a few days later Rivera cancelled his participation due to a COVID-19 case in his team.[11] Then, singer Victor Manuelle was announced as performer and also host with Aparicio and Contreras. [12]