Major Lazer’s ‘Diplomatico’ Nominated For Latin Grammy Award

DJ trio Major Lazer has been nominated for Best Urban Fusion/Performance for their song Diplomatico featuring Puerto Rican rapper Guayeno at the upcoming Latin Grammy Awards.

Released in March this year and now with over 13 million YouTube plays Diplomatico is up against EL AMOR ES UNA MODA by Alcover, Juan Magan & Don Omar, TATTOO (REMIX) by Rauw Alejandro & Camilo, NATHY PELUSO: BZRP MUSIC SESSIONS by Bizarrap & Nathy Peluso and HAWÁI (REMIX) by Maluma & The Weeknd.

Speaking about the nomination, Major Lazer member Walshy Fire told DancehallMag that, “It feels good to be nominated for a third time, it felt just as good the first time. Still give thanks..it’s very important that I represent the Caribbean and I represent Jamaica”.

In 2018, they were nominated In the same category for Sua Cara off their 2017 album Know No Better featuring Brazilian singers Anitta and Pabllo Vittar. In 2020 they were nominated for Best Urban Song for Rave de Favela with MC Lan, Anitta, and Beam.

Major Lazer, which originated in Kingston, Jamaica, also recently picked up several new Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certifications, including a Diamond certification for their 2015 single Lean On with French record producer DJ Snake and featuring Danish pop star  MØ. 

The other two current members are the founder Diplo and Ape Drums.

Latin Fusion is a more progressive form of Reggaeton where it moves away from the “Dem Bow” 80s sounding roots and fuses other urban music sounds like trap and hip hop. Overall, it is the fastest-growing music globally according to the last IFPI global music report. Spotify’s Head of Global Cultures, Rocio Guerrero also said via splinterners.com that “the Reggaeton genre today is bigger than any other Latin genre and it is being played in Singapore, London, all over the world by even non-Latin people.”

With Latin music’s trending successes and full integration into the industry, last year Spotify’s Guerrero predicted the genre’s shift to a more melodic sound and ‘women seducing lyrics’.

Other dancehall and reggae artists to make music in the Latin genre recently include Jamaican producer Rvssian whose music has been streamed over one billion times on YouTube.

His recent Rauw Alejandro and Chris Brown collab — Nostálgico has surpassed 12 million streams and is currently at No. 14 on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart, at No. 154 on Billboard Global 200 chart, and at No. 135 on Billboard Global Excluding US chart.

Dancehall Charly Black also performed his new song Juega With Cali Y El Dandee At ‘Gold Cup’ Finals.

The 2021 Latin GRAMMYs telecast will air live on Thursday, Nov. 18, on Univision at 8 p.m. ET/PT (7 p.m. CT). The full list of nominees can be seen at latingrammy.com