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The Allmusic 2020

Year In Review

This year's vibrant Super Bowl halftime show beamed the Latin pop explosion into millions of living rooms, but Prince Royce, Anuel AA, and La Dame Blanche didn't need a soda-sponsored stage to make their impact on music. Add in stellar records from Peruvian, Haitian, Nigerian, and South Korean artists, and you can do your own musical globe-trotting in a year when we couldn't get new stamps in our passports.

Angélica Garcia

Cha Cha Palace

The Virginia-based singer celebrates her Mexican and Salvadoran roots with a rousingly kaleidoscopic amalgam of Latin traditions and arty indie rock.

Anuel AA

Emmanuel

A star-studded urbano showcase from the Puerto Rican trap rapper.

Bad Bunny

YHLQMDLG

On his shockingly radio-friendly sophomore album, the urbano superstar deftly breaks all genre rules without writing new ones.

Bebel Gilberto

Agora

Years in the making, the Brazilian singer/songwriter teams with producer Thomas Bartlett to deliver her most electronic album yet.

Benjamin Biolay

Grand Prix

France's pre-eminent pop songwriter looks back at a life of joys, failures, relationships, musical obsessions, and Formula 1 Racing.

Bossacucanova / Roberto Menescal

Bossa Got the Blues

The electro-bossa pioneers with composer and guitarist Roberto Menescal wed American blues to funky jazz charts, bossa, and beats.

Burna Boy

Twice as Tall

The fifth album from the Nigerian pop star offers some of his most personal material but maintains his majestically detailed sense of production and fun.

Buscabulla

Regresa

On their debut long-player, the married duo offer a gloriously original reflection on their return to Puerto Rico from New York amid natural disasters.

Chouk Bwa & the Ångströmers

Vodou Alé

Spirited collaboration which adds otherworldly electronics to Haitian vodou traditions without sacrificing energy.

Dino Saluzzi

Albores

On his first solo recital since 1988's Andina, the bandoneon master offers spontaneous musical reflections from his experience of a life in sound.

Eblis Álvarez / Meridian Brothers

Cumbia Siglo XXI

Eblis Álvarez's loopy exploration of cumbia via the example of a 1980s-era Colombian sci-fi disco band, neo-psychedelia, and primitive neo-electro.

Gloria Estefan

Brazil305

With joyful abandon, the singer/songwriter explores the African musical connections between Brazil and Cuba via re-envisioned hits and new tracks.

Jorge Roeder

El Suelo Mío

The Peruvian bassist draws upon his rich jazz, classical, and Latin influences on this virtuoso solo album.

Keleketla!

Keleketla!

International, pan-generational project uniting musicians from South Africa, England, and beyond, expressing messages of hope for the future.

La Dame Blanche

Ella

The "hip-hop urbano Cubano" singer, rapper, and songwriter delivers a beat-savvy set as a soundtrack for womens' empowerment.

Lido Pimienta

Miss Colombia

A vivid panoply of heritage-rich, progressive global pop from this Canadian-Colombian singer/songwriter.

Mehdi Nabti

Grooves à Mystères

Melding Afro-Berber music with modern jazz and funk, the Paris-born saxophonist and his band emerge with fully realized new music inspired by antiquity.

Mon Laferte

Sola Con Mis Monstruos

The Chilean songwriter delivers an unplugged evening of catalog material as a moving meditation on romance and relationships.

Natalia Lafourcade

Un Canto por México, Vol. 1

The first volume of a studio outing that re-creates the musical magic from a benefit concert held in November 2019.

Pantayo

Pantayo

A remarkable merging of traditional kulintang with edgy lo-fi punk, electronic, and synth pop from this all-female Canadian-Filipina band.

Prince Royce

Alter Ego

On his sixth album, the "prince of bachata" delivers a sprawling double-length record chock-full of hit singles and soulful new directions.

Protoje

In Search of Lost Time

Adventurous production and excited, inspired collaborations make for one of this reggae singer's most colorful and progressive albums.

Régulo Caro

Todo Va A Estar Bien

Alternating between a Sinaloan banda and a norteno group, the singer/songwriter delivers a solid collection of ballads and corridos.

Songhoy Blues

Optimisme

The Malian desert blues quartet's triumphant third album is their hardest-rocking and most socially relevant set to date.

Tengger

Nomad

The South Korean duo tap into new age ambience and steady minimal synth sequences on this water-themed album.

The Rumba Madre

Prisiones y Fugas

On their debut, this Nashville-based international trio deliver joyous, rowdy, poignant, bilingual songs that jam punk against a rainbow of Latin styles.

Toots & the Maytals

Got to Be Tough

Tough, emphatic grooves give the reggae legend the encouragement to deliver some of his best vocal performances in decades.

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Bebel Gilberto