In recent years, Puerto Rico has illustrated how several points can be true simultaneously throughout the global media. A territory can survive the consequences of being the world’s oldest colony, — it can gift the populace the most listened-to entertainer year after year, and natives and descendants can assert a cultural pride that can only be identified as Boricua. The Discover Puerto Rico team is dedicated to teaching the history of La Isla del Encanto and joined forces with Premios Juventud earlier this month to illuminate the beauty of the island’s music, landscape, and heritage.
While the show’s name translates to “youth awards,” Latino icons are prioritized. The affair opened with a reggaetón medley arranged by Boricua superstar Daddy Yankee and concluded with the Colombian idol, Shakira, becoming the biggest winner of the evening, sweeping 8 awards. “To be honest, when I had self-doubt, you made me believe in myself again. When I feel fragile, you give me strength. You’ve protected me. You’ve been loyal,” she told fans during an emotional speech.
Performances by De La Ghetto, Zion & Lennox, RaiNao, Wisin, CNCO, Chencho Corleone, Farruko, Hoobastank, and others kept the audience on its feet. Also known as la fiesta más HOT del verano (or the hottest party of the summer), the event annually recognizes youth leading to change in music, culture, charitable happenings, and the world. Award winners Eladio Carrion, Danna Paola, Bizarrap, Peso Pluma, Rosalía, and Rauw Alejandro were unmistakable fan favorites. Although many Spanish-speaking territories had representation present, none were plentifuller in number than Borikén.
Andres Yambo, a musician and representative of this Cayeyana artistic hub, offered a reading on Puerto Rican music from the 19th Century forward — and writers encountered the evolution of radios by playing music chronologically from each generation’s finest apparatus. Chiefly, what is absolute is the magnificence, culture, and resilience of natives and their descendants that compel all who witness the land they love most: Puerto Rico.