NEW YORK (AP) — Who are the top reggaeton musicians in the world? Or throughout history? Does Bad Bunny come to mind? Daddy Yankee? What about Wisin & Yandel, Rauw Alejandro, Farruko and J Balvin?
For years, it seems, urbano music has been defined solely by its male superstars. But that's not the case, and certainly not in recent history.
Karol G's “Mañana Será Bonito” is undeniable — Spotify's fourth most-streamed album, globally, in 2024 even though it was released in 2023 — and a crop of newer talent from Puerto Rico, like Villano Antillano, RaiNao and Añasco's Young Miko, demonstrate that the tide is changing — and music once associated with a certain kind of machismo is getting a makeover.
Since releasing her 2022 EP “Trap Kitty,” leading to her debut full-length “Att," Young Miko has stood out. Not only for her braggadocious Latin trap flows that aim to empower the LGBTQ+ community — though that is certainly a factor — but also for her super viral hits, like “RiRi” and “offline," featuring Feid.
Last month, “Att” earned Young Miko her first-ever Grammy nomination in the best música urbana album category, traditionally a boys' club. She's the only woman nominated in the category. The Grammy Awards will be held Feb. 2, 2025.
So, how did she react to the Grammy news?
“It was definitely unexpected. It’s definitely always been a dream," she recently told The Associated Press at Variety Music Hitmakers Brunch, adding that it is not only her dream, but the dream of her entire team. "So, the moment we got that news, it was such an exciting moment. We were all together and we just want to be able to enjoy it. And we’re just happy to even be considered. So yeah, it’s amazing.”
Earlier this year, Karol G became the first woman to win a Grammy for best música urbana album.
“As a woman, I have to say, like in my experience, it was tough... to be a girl in this industry, in the music that I do, urban music,” Karol G told AP backstage at the 2024 Grammys in February after she took home the trophy. “I know I represent a lot of girls, not just in music, a lot of women in the world that are fighting to represent themselves.”
Young Miko says the industry is changing, “definitely,” she says.
“I think everything happens for a reason and evolution is a part of absolutely everything, so I’ll just leave that there.”
The 67th annual Grammy Awards will be held Feb. 2, 2025, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The show will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+. For more coverage, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/grammy-awards
Liam McEwan contributed to this report.
FILE - Puerto Rican singer Young Miko performs during the Coca-Cola Flow Fest in Mexico City on Nov. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Berenice Bautista, File)
FILE - Young Miko performs during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., on April 12, 2024. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP, File)
WINONA. Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota man convicted of first-degree murder faces sentencing Tuesday for killing his girlfriend, whose 2023 disappearance after she dropped off their kids at daycare drew national attention and prompted thousands of volunteers to join the search for her.
A jury found Adam Fravel, 30, of Mabel, guilty in November. He was arrested in June 2023, days after deputies found the body of Madeline Kingsbury in a wooded area a few miles away from a property owned by Fravel’s parents.
The 26-year-old Kingsbury vanished in March 2023 after dropping off her and Fravel’s two young children at daycare in Winona, a southeastern Minnesota city of about 26,000 residents.
The trial was moved to Mankato, about 136 miles (219 kilometers) west of Winona, because of extensive pretrial publicity. Fravel will be sentenced back in Winona by District Judge Nancy Buytendorp. Premeditated first-degree murder, the most serious of the four counts on which he was convicted, carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
Police found Kingsbury’s body in a culvert along a gravel road, in a gray fitted bed sheet that had been closed with black Gorilla tape. Prosecutor Phil Prokopowicz said she was strangled with a towel and that a medical examiner concluded she likely died of asphyxiation. The towel, bedsheet and tape matched items found in their Winona home, Prokopowicz said during the trial.
Prokopowicz and witnesses said Kingsbury had been planning to leave Fravel for another man after becoming frustrated with his alleged abusive behavior and inadequate contributions to their family. He responded to those plans by killing her, the prosecutor said.
“The relationship was never about them,” Prokopowicz said in his closing statement. “It was always about him.”
Witnesses testified they had seen bruises on Kingsbury’s neck. In one instance, a friend said she was on a video call with Kingsbury when Fravel allegedly hit her. Another friend testified that Kingsbury told her Fravel had warned Kingsbury that she could end up like Gabby Petito, a woman who was killed by her boyfriend in a high-profile 2021 case.
Fravel did not testify in his own defense. His attorney, Zach Bauer, said in his closing argument that the case against Fravel relied on “tunnel vision, revisionist history and secret truths.” He contended that there was no sign of any physical struggle inside the couple’s home. He also pointed to testimony from a neighbor who claimed to have never heard the couple argue.
FILE -Winona Police Chief Tom Williams speaks to the media outside the Blue Earth County Justice Center after Adam Fravel was found guilty on all counts for the murder of Madeline Kingsbury, Nov. 7, 2024 in Mankato, Minn. (Hannah Yang/Minnesota Public Radio via AP, File)
FILE - Adam Fravel's defense attorney Zach Bauer expresses his disappoint in the outcome of his trial, Nov. 7, 2024 in Mankato, Minn. (Hannah Yang/Minnesota Public Radio via AP, File)
FILE - David Kingsbury, father of Madeline Kingsbury, expresses that while he's glad for the guilty verdict, it won't bring his daughter back, Nov. 7, 2024 in Mankato, Minn. (Hannah Yang/Minnesota Public Radio via AP, File)
FILE -David Kingsbury, the father of Madeline Kingsbury, addresses the press after the jury found Adam Fravel guilty of Madeline's murder on all counts at the Blue Earth County Justice Center, Nov. 7, 2024 in Mankato, Minn. (Hannah Yang/Minnesota Public Radio via AP)
FILE - This undated booking photo provided by the Winona County, Minn., Detention Center shows Adam Fravel. (Winona County Detention Center via AP, File)
FILE -After a three-week trial at the Blue Earth County Justice Center in Mankato, Minn. the jury found Adam Fravel guilty on all counts for the murder of Madeline Kingsbury on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Hannah Yang/Minnesota Public Radio via AP, File)
