Silvana Estrada's 'Dime' Wins Best Singer-Songwriter Song at the Latin Grammys

The win came early, in the quieter room. At the afternoon Premiere ceremony on Thursday — where most of the night's 60 categories are decided — "Dime," by the Mexican singer-songwriter Silvana Estrada, a song carried by strings and a single voice and made out of grief, took Best Singer-Songwriter Song at the 27th Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas. Estrada dedicated the win to a close friend who had died, carrying a small Batman card in his memory, and hours later she sang the song on the telecast at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. The night's biggest prize went somewhere else entirely: Record of the Year belonged to Milo J's "Niño."

Estrada produced the record with Daniel Bitrán Arizpe and Edwin Erazo, and she sang it on the telecast that night — "Dime" was on the performance list at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. She arrived with six nominations and a history with this stage: she won Best New Artist here in 2022, off her debut Marchita.

A song about rage, dressed in strings

"Dime" is the lead single from Vendrán Suaves Lluvias, Estrada's self-produced second album, released in October 2025 on Glassnote. The orchestral arrangements are by Owen Pallett, and her label describes the song as "a searing meditation on anger as a force for transformation" — KUTX, naming it a song of the day, called it "a deceptively lovely song about post-breakup wild rage." The album behind it was written in loss: in 2022, Estrada's best friend and his younger brother were killed in Mexico City. Rolling Stone ranked the record the No. 3 Latin album of 2025.

The song had already won once before the telecast started. At the afternoon Premiere ceremony — where most of the night's 60 categories are decided — "Dime" took Best Singer-Songwriter Song, and Estrada dedicated that win to a close friend who had died, carrying a small Batman card in his memory.

Rosalía's answer

Rosalía opened the telecast and did not leave empty-handed. "La Perla," her collaboration with Yahritza y Su Esencia, won Song of the Year — a songwriters' award she shares with Noah Goldstein, David Rodríguez, Ryan Tedder and Dylan Wiggins. Around it she stacked the night's widest haul: Best Pop Song for "La Perla," Best Alternative Album for LUX, Best Short Form Video for "Sauvignon Blanc," and an engineering win for LUX as well. Karol G took two: Best Reggaeton Performance for "Verano Rosa" with Feid, and Best Urban Music Album for Tropicoqueta. Best New Artist went to Aria Vega.

The afternoon belonged to four artists at once

The Premiere ceremony, held across the MGM Grand complex on Thursday afternoon, ended in a four-way tie at three wins each. CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso won Best Electronic Music Performance for the Fred Again.. remix of "Beto's Horns," Best Pop/Rock Song for "Hasta Jesús Tuvo Un Mal Día" with Sting, and Best Long Form Video for FREE SPIRITS (The Film). Milo J matched them with Best Folk Album, Best Urban Performance and Best Recording Package — and he was not finished: on the telecast, his "Niño" won Record of the Year, the night's biggest prize; Jorge Drexler with the singer-songwriter album prize for Taracá and two song awards; Rosalía with her three.

The afternoon also produced the night's cleanest upset. Sara Schell, 23, from Barquisimeto, Venezuela, won Songwriter of the Year over Edgar Barrera — the most-nominated person in the building, with ten. "This is for all of us immigrants who show that education, hard work and discipline can get us far," she said. Barrera still took Producer of the Year, his fourth. And Bobby Pulido won Best Tejano Album, then used the same speech to announce his retirement from music — he was recently elected to the U.S. Congress from Texas, and told the room he now has "the responsibility to take care of my people."

The day was not flawless: Academy CEO Manuel Abud told the Premiere audience that the global Microsoft outage had caused minor delays getting people into the room. Almost nobody outside the room will remember that part.

Daddy Yankee's room, all week

The week's gravitational center was Daddy Yankee. He was honored as the Academy's Person of the Year at Wednesday night's gala — Previously covered that room as it happened — and on the telecast he performed a career medley that ran from "Gasolina" through "Despacito" to his Bizarrap session. That session, "Daddy Yankee: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 0/66," won Best Urban Song, an award he shares with Bizarrap and co-writer Santiago Alvarado.

Estrada's week is not over, either. Days before the ceremony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic named her its first Creative Chair for Latin Music. And on Monday, the Grammy nominations arrive — the next room where "Dime" and LUX get measured against the field. In Las Vegas, the measurement already happened — and hers came first, in the afternoon room, before the telecast lights came up.

Correction: an earlier version of this story said "Dime" won Record of the Year. "Dime" won Best Singer-Songwriter Song; Record of the Year went to Milo J's "Niño."