Along with Edgar Barrera and Christian Nodal, the artists took turn playing classic Santana songs to open the show
The 2025 Latin Grammys opened with a bang, thanks to the legendary Carlos Santana. He performed a medley of his band’s classics with an all-star line-up that included Maluma, Grupo Frontera, Christian Nodal, and Edgar Barrera.
Santana kicked off his set with one of his band’s biggest hits, “Oye Como Va.” He dialed it back to the Seventies with his classic guitar shredding. Maluma, who is co-hosting the Latin Grammys this year with actress Roselyn Sánchez, tapped into his heartthrob swagger to sing the song. Barrera also joined in on the performance by playing the guitar. Dressed up in his black vaquero outfit, Nodal emerged to sing another Santana favorite “Corazón Espinado.” Later, Frontera came onstage and helped close out the number with the song “Me Retiro.”
“Me Retiro” is one example of how Santana spent a lot of time in the Latin music conscious this year. The song was a major collaboration that showed him embracing musica mexicana and a new generation of artists.
The splashy opening helped set the tone for the ceremony and also showed who some of the major stars of the night are. Following Bad Bunny, Barrera is the second most-nominated person of the night with 10 nominations, including Songwriter of the Year and Producer of the Year. He tied with Argentine duo CA7RIEL and Paco Amoroso, who also received 10 nominations. Grupo Frontera were nominated twice in the Best Regional Mexican Song category for “Hecha Pa’ Mi” and “Me Jalo” with Fuerza Regida. Maluma also competed in the same category. He picked up a second nomination for Best Urban Song for “Cosas Pendientes.”
