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Shakira Shuts Out J-Lo At Latin Billboard

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The stars of Latin American music were in the Miami area last night for the 2012 Billboard Latin Music Awards. We've been previewing the awards all week with Jasmine Garsd. She's the co-host of NPR's ALT.LATINO podcast.

Now it's time for a review. Jasmine's in the studio once again after watching - what was it - five hours of the show?

JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: It certainly felt like it.

MARTIN: Was it five?

GARSD: No. I don't think it was five, but it definitely felt like an all-nighter.

MARTIN: So who were the big winners?

GARSD: Definitely, the big winners were Dominican-American star Prince Royce, (unintelligible) artist Don Omar, and Marc Anthony, who got a Hall of Fame Award, (foreign language spoken).

MARTIN: Hall of Fame? Isn't that kind of like a career achievement thing? I mean, he's not done yet.

GARSD: He did, at one point, say, hey, guys, I still have a lot to give. But it was - he's so great. I love Marc Anthony and he gave such a passionate, emotional acceptance speech and he said something very poignant, which - you know, everyone gets up here and talks about the sacrifices they've made, but my family and friends have made a lot of sacrifices so that I can be a musician and a performer.

MARTIN: That's a great message. Well, good. All right. Well, you mentioned Don Omar and you said he won big and I think he won - what?

GARSD: Song of the Year.

MARTIN: Song of the Year.

GARSD: Among other awards, for "Danza Kuduro."

MARTIN: All right. Let's listen to a little bit.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DANZA KUDURO")

DON OMAR: (Singing in foreign language).

MARTIN: Good song for summer, coming up. Be played at a lot of parties. OK. What about something from Prince Royce?

GARSD: The great thing about Prince Royce is last year he won Best New Artist and he's really been able to carry that momentum and he won a songwriter award, Album of the Year, Tropical Songs Artist. He does that kind of bachata style. Bachata, by the way, is that very romantic sound that you hear, very tragic lyrics with those guitar plucks, and a lot of artists nowadays are mixing it with R&B.

And here is "Soy Incondicional."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SOY INCONDICIONAL")

PRINCE ROYCE: (Singing in foreign language).

MARTIN: Now, Jas, we can't talk about an awards show without talking about the snubs. Did anybody kind of get the cold shoulder that, embarrassing as it is, we probably should talk about?

GARSD: I felt like Romero Santos got ignored. I loved his new album. I thought this was his year and he didn't get the acknowledgement I felt he deserved.

MARTIN: Did he get anything?

GARSD: No. Prince Royce stole the show as far as bachata is concerned and Prince Royce is great, but I think Romero Santos deserved some more acknowledgement.

MARTIN: What about J-Lo, Jennifer Lopez? She's one of the artists that you spotlighted earlier in the week. How did she do?

GARSD: If you were betting on horses, I would have gotten you into deep trouble. Shakira again - Shakira stole the show. Shakira got four awards and...

MARTIN: And shut J-Lo out, essentially. They were head-to-head in most...

GARSD: Yeah. I still think...

MARTIN: ...categories.

GARSD: ...that J-Lo - it was a big year for her and - I don't know. I'm sticking to my choices of who I thought was just great this year.

MARTIN: OK. What about new artists? Is there anybody throwing down the marker or somebody to watch in the future in the way that Prince Royce was last year?

GARSD: Sure. I feel like the Billboard awards aren't exactly a great place to find new artists because it's all about who is commercially successful and it does feel a lot like the big names club. (Unintelligible) from Mexico - they won Best New Artists.

I really think the spotlight for a newer artist was on Michelle(ph) (unintelligible), who is a Brazilian act. They became huge with the song (foreign language spoken). This was a viral hit. Over 400 million watched - the most watched video in the history of Brazil, and it's that song that all the footballers are singing and dancing on the football field. And here is (foreign language spoken).

MARTIN: OK. Well, we'll go out on that. Jasmine Garsd is co-host at NPR's ALT.LATINO podcast. She's been joining me all week to talk about the Billboard Latin Music Awards and she gave us a review of the awards ceremony, which was Thursday night.

Jas, thank you.

GARSD: Thank you so much. It was so much fun.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.