Celebrating the Latin Women Honorees: 2024 Billboard Edition

For all my music fans out there, our Latin American female artists have finally been getting the attention they deserve. Last year, we saw Latinas on stage at the first-ever Billboard Latin Women in Music event. 

There is something special about the women folk and our hermanas being celebrated by the world. With the second Billboard Latin Women in Music happening in the coming June, I am sure all of us are excited. Billboard announced the first round of Latin Women in Music honorees and we couldn’t be more proud that Gloria Estefan made it to that list.

Before we get to properly honoring Estefan and other honorees, you should know that you can watch the awards on Telemundo from your Spectrum cable connection, on June 9th, 9 pm ET. Apart from airing multiple Spanish-language channels, Spectrum Español pagos is also a great feature for our Hispanic fellows to make their payments through the phone in Spanish!

Now let us get to the honorees you have been waiting for.

Gloria Estefan

The iconic Cuban-American singer is a force in the Latin American music scene. Estefan is set to receive the Legend Award in June. She is in Billboard magazine’s Top 100 Best-Selling Musical Artists and has won multiple awards like the Grammy’s, MTV, American Music Award for Merit, and the BMI Songwriter of the Year award among many others. Estefan is one of the best-selling female artists of all time as her record sales have exceeded 100 million globally.

She is a Contralto and was the lead singer for Miami Sound Machine in the beginning days of her career. Estefan has also won the Presidential Medal of Freedom and is the first Cuban-American singer to receive the Kennedy Center Honor.

All these achievements make Estefan a true inspiration for Latin American women as she has worked super hard to get where she is and become a self-made multi-millionaire. She comes from a musical background as her paternal lineage had flautists and a classical pianist. Here is a list of her top songs you should listen to, if you haven’t already:

• Coming Out of the Dark

• Rhythm is Gonna Get You

• Here we are

• Don’t Wanna Lose You

Ana Bárbara

The queen of Grupero music, Ana Bárbara is also set to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Billboard Latin Women in Music event 2024. Barbara is a leading figure in the Mexican music scene. The fiercely beautiful Mexican is known to define modern Grupero music and is one of the regional artists to get international recognition for it.

Before starting her music career, Barbara took part in the local Miss Mexico beauty pageant and won at the regional level. It was after this that she began her music career and started singing in local talent shows. Barbara immediately started getting attention for her beauty and vocal quality. 

In the 1990s, Barbara toured Columbia as a representative of Mexican mariachi music. She was also made the ambassador of Ranchera Music in the same years. Barbara always had the drive for it, as she famously interrupted the Catholic proceedings to sing for Pope John Paull II. This happened when she was not given the chance to perform. Talk about Latina passion, right?

She gained international acclaim soon after the release of her third album, Ay, Amor. She has 75 million collective views on YouTube and has won multiple awards. These include Latin Grammy’s, Lo Nuestro, Juventud, and Oye. Her popular songs are:

• Los Busque

• Bandido

• Ya No Te Creo Nada

• Loca

Ángela Aguilar

Daughter to the singer Pepe Aguilar, the young Mexican singer officially began her singing career in 2018, with her solo debut album Primero Soy Mexicana. Aguilar is also famous for performing La Llorona at the Latin Grammy’s in 2018.

Due to her musical background, Aguilar got into the industry at a pretty young age, when she was only nine years old. She has followed Ana Barbara’s path of making Ranchera and Mariachi Mexican music. Even though she is only 21 years old, she is a trailblazer in her field and we cannot wait to watch her grow and influence more Latin American girls. Some of her amazing songs are:

• Que Agonia

• La llorona

• Ahi Donde Me Ven

• Dime Como Quieres

Kany García

Another honoree for the Billboard Latin Women in Music awards, Kany García is a successful Puerto Rican singer. She first appeared on the Puerto Rican singing talent show Objectivo Fama and has been a super successful non-winner of the show. Her first album, in collaboration with Sony BMG, was Cualquier Dia in 2007 and was a huge success. Four of her songs made it to the Top 40 singles on the Billboard Latin Tracks.

She won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album, one year after the release of her first album. Apart from that, she has won multiple awards in various categories in the Latin Grammy’s. Here are some of the best songs of the Latin Pop Artist we think you should listen to:

• Hoy Ya Me Voy

• Duele Menos

• Confieso

• Cuando se va el Amor

Wrapping up

These amazing and talented Latin women cause us nothing but pride. We cannot wait to see which other Latinas in music get this kind of international recognition. While we wait for that to happen, don’t forget to tune into Telemundo on 9th June 2024!