Las Vegas (CNN Spanish) - This twentieth installment of the Latin Grammy was held in Las Vegas on Thursday. A gala that celebrated two decades of Latin music with iconic songs performed by a dozen artists at the opening ceremony.

The album "El mal querer" by Rosalía was the production that stole all the looks and votes of the members of the Latin Recording Academy and conquered a total of 5 golden gramophones, two of them in technical categories for the works of Man Mouretan and Tamara Pérez in the packaging design, and for El Guincho and Brian Hernández, in the category “best recording engineering for an album”.

“I can't believe what happened after I released that record. This album has been a great blessing. Having been able to share it with the world and that people have received it with so much love, because I feel very grateful, from the heart, ”said Rosalia in an interview with CNN on the red carpet after winning the first of the three awards.

And she was not the only singer from Spain who triumphed big time. Alejandro Sanz also received three awards, two of them for "My favorite person", a song he plays with Camila Cabello. The single that emerges from his most recent record production was winner in the categories "recording of the year" - one of the most important of the night - and "best pop song".

Sanz's third Latin Grammy was for the documentary “What I was is what I am”, which won the award as “best long version music video”.

Juanes and Metallica

The surprises for Juanes, Person of the Year 2019, did not end during the gala last night, and although he did not take any of the three Latin Grammy in which he was nominated, he did receive recognition from the Latin Recording Academy at the hands of one of his idols, Lars Ulrich, drummer of Metallica, the favorite band of the Colombian.

On stage, Ulrich declared himself a Juanes fan.

What a thrill! 🎶👏👏👏 @Juanes Person of the Year 2019 #LatinGRAMMY pic.twitter.com/ErzEAWp9wX

- Latin GRAMMYs (@LatinGRAMMYs) November 15, 2019

“I am Lars, and on behalf of Metallica, I am very honored to be here with all of you. I had the pleasure of meeting Juanes a few years ago during a concert in Mexico and I have intensely followed his music, his creativity and his radiant humanity. At that time, I learned that I was a Metallica fan and tonight we closed the circle, I declare myself a Juanes fan. My brother in rock, my friend, my partner, I am proud to give you recognition as the Person of the Year of the Latin Recording Academy, ”Ulrich said in his speech during the ceremony.

In the press center, Juanes said he couldn't believe the moment and that seeing Ulrich standing on stage was like "seeing a ghost."

“30 years ago I was at my house, with posters of Metallica everywhere. When I was 15, when my friends spoke badly about Metallica, I was angry. Although my music doesn't sound like that, it was the seed, ”the Colombian told the media.

#SinReggaetonNoHayLatinGrammy

The famous label that some interpreters of the urban genre viralized after the announcement of the nominations in September, was one of the topics that were also discussed not only during the twentieth awards ceremony, but during the week and events related to the awards .

At a lunch organized by YouTube Music for the press, the Argentine trapper Cazzu told the media that she felt the message was misrepresented.

“The social media conflict was a great misrepresentation and an incorrect submission. When you need to protest and fight against something (...) it has to be very didactic, you have to know how to explain what we are fighting for and I think that no artist has had the delicacy to understand within his anger, within his annoyance, I think nobody He could really communicate what he was asking for. In fact, there were very mainstream artists who ended up harming the problem or the moment of protest further by diverting the focus, ”said Cazzu.

The protest for Chile

Another one of the commented moments of the night was the one carried out by the Chilean singer Mon Laferte.

His unique protest on the red carpet for the violence unleashed in the crisis in his country was one of the most commented moments of the night. After giving interviews, the singer discovered her naked torso before the cameras and on her skin she had written the message: "IN CHILE, TORTURAN, VIOLAN AND MATAN".

This was not Laferte's only statement about the situation in his country.

“It is so contrasting to be seeing inequalities and gaps. There is so much difference and then being here in Las Vegas but I also feel it is necessary, it is part of my job precisely that, to tell the world what I saw, what I lived, what my soul felt, what my eyes saw, that today in Chile human rights are violated, there is a lot of violence, there is repression by the State police, so I tell you, it is very strange for me, the contrast is too much, but I take advantage of the instance to be able to speak, ”said the Latin winner Grammy for "best alternative album" to CNN during the red carpet of the Person of the Year.

With information from Iván Romero.