Rosalía wins album of the year, and makes history, at 2022 Latin Grammy Awards
On a cool October day in Los Angeles, California, the Puerto Rican singer-songwriter and actress, Rosalía, was onstage in a room packed with members of the music industry to receive her fifth Grammy Award for her album, Mi Delito (My Crime), the winner of the album of the year, and its first to be released in two versions: as a double disc with a Spanish version and a bilingual album in English. She had never before received so much attention from everyone in the room, from the members of the industry in front of her, to the ones behind her, to those seated in the rows in the audience. It was an event that would last just a few hours and include Rosalía’s acceptance speech and her own version of the traditional Latin Grammy Awards’ pre-show ceremony.
Her speech was emotional, in part, because for the first time she used the Spanish word for ‘crime’ in her title of the album, Mi Delito, ‘Delito’, and then repeated it in the same sentence. ‘Mi Delito’ is her word for what she felt she had stolen from her father, the well-known Puerto Rican musician, Juan Luis Arreola. The title track on Mi Delito, ‘Cansada’, says it all.
She talked about how she felt that after growing up in Puerto Rico, she was forced to take on his role and that his name was something that she had to overcome: “It seems that to be Puerto Rican today means to forget the roots that were planted to become a great artist like my father,” she said. “He was considered the worst artist in all of Latin music because he was the only artist with a name.”
She also talked about working with him and how he had a profound effect on her: “I can see today that all of this was a gift and that I had a very, very fortunate life,” she said. “I am very grateful for the way I grew up, and for the life that I’ve had.”
And she thanked the people who helped her: “I am very, very grateful
