During his acceptance speech for song of the year, Residente delivered a blistering speech at the 2020 Latin Grammys.
After taking home the award for his confessional style song “René,” the Puerto Rican singer-songwriter started his message saying he hoped the Latin Recording Academy wouldn’t cut him off in the middle of his speech.
“Art wasn’t created to make history or break records,” he then said firmly. “These aren’t the Olympics. Numbers, how many followers you have on Instagram, the hits on YouTube don’t define art. Art is created for us to feel free, it should reflect who we are and help us say what we feel without fear. As artists, we should feel uncomfortable so that we can innovate and create daily. Tonight, I see a lot of talent but also a lot of fear. Fear that they won’t get added to a playlist on Spotify, scared they won’t get played on the radio, scared of not selling.”
He continued, “that’s the difference between being an artist and a business person. We are artists and our priority is to make art. This song I made it without fear, without fear of being vulnerable in front of you. I dedicate this to all my friends in Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, where I was raised.”
Other winners of the night include Natalia Lafourcade who won album of the year for Un Canto Por México, Vol. 1, Alejandro Sanz took record of the year for “Contigo” and Mike Bahía won best new artist.
Check out the complete list of winners here.
