A glimpse into Latin pop’s future

Anybody in search of future stars of the Latin pop world should watch Tuesday’s announcement of nominations in the fourth Annual Latin Grammy Awards. The Latin Recording Academy will reveal this year’s nominees in 41 categories, selected from 3,500 entries from 15 countries, including the U.S and Canada. But the key category is best new artist, which two years ago catapulted the career of then-unknown Colombian rocker Juanes, now one of Latin music’s biggest stars.

The actual nominations are a secret until Tuesday morning’s announcement in Miami. But clues can be found in the list of artists invited to participate at the press event, a lesson from 2001 when Grammy organizers tapped Juanes for that year’s announcement, at which even he was stunned to receive seven nominations, the most for any artist.

This year the name to watch is Natalia Lafourcade. The Mexican teen sensation is one of the best-kept Latin music secrets, at least in the U.S. But the smart and sassy singer-songwriter has been gaining fame in alt-Latino strongholds in her native country and in Argentina. Some are even describing her as a young Shakira, the Colombian singer-songwriter who also started building a buzz from a young age. Another new name on the list of news conference invitees is pop singer David Bisbal, a sensation in his native Spain, where he won that country’s version of “American Idol.”

Lafourcade and Bisbal will be joined at the news conference by Juanes, whose second solo album, “Un Dia Normal” (“A Normal Day”), has been an international smash, and by other Latin stars, including Puerto Rican heartthrob Chayanne, veteran Mexican balladeer Jose Jose and two Miami-based acts -- trio Bacilos and salsa singer Willy Chirino. Latin Grammys, an international competition, are awarded to albums with at least half the material in Spanish or Portuguese. This year’s awards will be presented Sept. 3 at Miami’s American Airlines Arena.