The 2025 Latin GRAMMYs will feature two new categories this year, including Best Music for Visual Media. This category, part of the newly created Visual Media area, will recognize composers of original works created not only to accompany films, series, documentaries, or video games, but to enhance their narrative and provide emotional weight to the production. 

The first nominees in this category are: Pedro Osuna for the soundtrack to the series "Cada Minuto Cuenta," Camilo Sanabria for the soundtrack to the series "Cien Años de Soledad," Federico Jusid for the soundtrack to the series "El Eternauta," Eduardo Cabra for the soundtrack to the film "In The Summers," and Gustavo Santaolalla for the soundtrack to the series "Pedro Páramo."

Like the Best Traditional Roots Song category, Best Music for Visual Media was unanimously approved by the Latin Recording Academy’s Board and incorporated into the Awards Process in March. With these two additions, the Latin GRAMMYs will present a total of 60 categories at the 26th annual ceremony.

"The membership’s acceptance [of this category] was very strong, and not just membership, but from visual content generation studios and video game companies," Luis Dousdebes, Chief Awards, Membership and Preservation Officer of the Latin Recording Academy, tells GRAMMY.com. 

Approximately 140 submissions were received for the inaugural edition, from which five nominees were selected. The category, says Dousdebes, reflects the constant evolution of the Latin GRAMMYs and their adaptation to the industry’s pace. "We’re not deaf to the requirements of a community that evolves, and that’s why we keep growing. Since music is so dynamic, we have to stay alert and very present in that evolution."

Below, learn more about the inaugural nominees for Best Music for Visual Media category. Be sure to tune into the 2025 Latin GRAMMYs on Thursday, Nov. 13, at 8 p.m. ET/PT (7 p.m. CT) on Univision, Galavisión and ViX to see who wins. 

"Cada Minuto Cuenta" (Original Prime Video Series Soundtrack)

Pedro Osuna, composer

Inspired by the deadly Sept. 19, 1985, earthquake that shook Mexico City and left thousands dead, "Cada Minuto Cuenta" is a Prime Video series. Across two seasons of 10 episodes each, "Cada Minuto Cuenta" portrays the story of rescue teams who worked against the clock to rescue as many people alive as possible from the rubble.

Osuna aims to create timeless music, essentially because his productions reflect stories that must remain "forever" in collective memory, as the composer noted in 2023 to Argentine outlet Canal de la Ciudad. For "Cada Minuto Cuenta," Osuna created 25 tracks that reflect pain, death, but also the hope of life amid the natural disaster that forever changed life in Mexico.

Based in Los Angeles, Osuna studied piano and composition at the Granada Conservatory. In 2019, he graduated summa cum laude with honors from Berklee College of Music, winning the Rick Applin Prize for Best Fugue and the Georges Delerue Prize for Film Score. In 2021, he became the youngest musician to orchestrate a James Bond film, No Time To Die, working alongside Michael Giacchino. His credits also include soundtracks for Lightyear and Thor: Love and Thunder.

1985 holds a special magnetism for Spanish composer Pedro Osuna, who is also known for his work on the Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning film Argentina, 1985. 

"Cien Años De Soledad" (Netflix Series Soundtrack)

Camilo Sanabria, composer

Bringing one of the most significant classic works of Hispanic literature to the small or big screen was no simple task. Even less so, building a visual and sonic universe that would perfectly capture the world that the late Colombian writer and Nobel Prize in Literature winner Gabriel García Márquez constructed in 1967 over 469 pages of Cien Años de Soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude).

For the challenge, Netflix enlisted one of its regular collaborators, Colombian composer Camilo Sanabria, and musician and researcher Juancho Valencia. Together, they orchestrate the story of the Buendía family, as well as the music that brings life to Macondo, the fictional town created by García Márquez, where the entire story unfolds.

Valencia told Colombian newspaper El Espectador that creating the soundtrack involved rigorous research, as he focused on crafting musical pieces that would be appropriate for the era in which the story takes place, specifically 1860. This investigative work resulted in a 36-track soundtrack for the eight episodes of Netflix’s first season. The complexity and richness of the Colombian Caribbean (where Macondo would be located if it existed) are reflected in genres like gaita, cumbia, drums, and, of course, vallenato.

Beyond the musical component, Sanabria incorporated natural elements into an impeccable sound design through Caribbean fauna and nature, which allowed viewers to fully immerse themselves in mid-19th century Colombia. 

Sanabria is known for his work on films such as Alias María, Amazona, Birds of Passage, and Salvador, as well as TV series like "Rosario Tijeras" and "Thousand Fangs." 

"El Eternauta" (Netflix Series Soundtrack)

Federico Jusid, composer

The story of "El Eternauta" has enjoyed a fervent following in Argentina since the late 1950s, when the science fiction comic was originally published. Nearly 70 years later, Netflix adapted this story for television.

The series centers on the story of a post-apocalyptic Buenos Aires, where a rare and deadly toxic snowfall annihilates much of the city’s population. The series was a hit in Argentina, as well as in countries as distant as South Korea. One aspect that helped connect with the story, regardless of the viewer’s language, is the music, composed by Argentine composer Federico Jusid. The veteran musician — who was also the musician behind the Oscar-winning film El secreto de sus ojos — found in his work on "El Eternauta" the perfect excuse to reconnect with his roots.

Jusid savored in the process of capturing Argentine idiosyncrasy in his score. "What was original for me was showing it at a sonic level so that it specifically doesn't sound like a generic apocalypse movie," Jusid told newspaper La Nación.

To create this musical passage, Jusid relied on typical classical orchestration, but also incorporated objects such as boxes, furniture, and even a boat inflator as ingredients in the perfect — and at times indecipherable — auditory and musical narrative that accompanies the story. 

Jusid is known in the industry for his composition work on series such as "A Thousand Blows," "A Gentleman in Moscow" and "The English." The approach that distinguishes him is working right at the margins, so that he can, musically speaking, align with both the script and the story being told, as well as the characters his work will accompany. 

In The Summers

Eduardo Cabra, composer

Behind the soundtrack of In The Summers is a familiar name in Latin music: 24-time Latin GRAMMY winner Eduardo Cabra, known to many as "Visitante" from the Puerto Rican hip-hop Latin GRAMMY and GRAMMY-winning group Calle 13.

Starring his brother, René Pérez (Residente), the film tells the story of the tumultuous relationship between two young women and their father, Vicente (Pérez), as they spend summers together in Las Cruces, New Mexico. 

Composed by Cabra, with lyrics by Sebastián Otero, the soundtrack is divided into four acts that capture tension and nostalgia through incidental music, as well as the songs that open each act, created specifically to accompany the plot. 

Following his time with Calle 13, Eduardo Cabra has distinguished himself in the Latin music industry through his masterful production, recognized in 2024 with the Latin GRAMMY for Producer Of The Year for his work on albums like Alkemi by Daymé Arocena and Esta Vida Que Elegí by st. Pedro, Manual de Romería by Rodrigo Cuevas, and songs like "Miel" by Rawayana feat. Rafa Pabön and Cabra, "Bachaqué" by Mima, and "Malabar" by Seba Otero feat. Irepelusa. 

Pedro Páramo (Netflix Soundtrack)

Gustavo Santaolalla, composer

A titan of music and composition, 17-time Latin GRAMMY winner and 2023 Latin Recording Academy Trustees Award recipient Gustavo Santaolalla was tasked with creating the musical score for the small-screen adaptation of one of Latin American literature’s classic works, "Pedro Páramo."

Juan Rulfo’s novel, published nearly 70 years ago, is deeply rooted in Mexican culture and its relationship with death. The novel follows the story of Juan Preciado: a man who promises his dying mother that he will search for his father. 

This search leads Preciado to Comala, a ghost town inhabited by spectral characters. This is where Santaolalla’s composition shines, as he builds an atmosphere that critics have described as dreamlike through the use of a minimalistic score and dissonance. 

Timid and melancholic strings serve as the guiding thread of this work, giving the production a spiritual and even esoteric character. 

Santaolalla is known for his soundtracks for Brokeback Mountain and Babel, for which he won Oscars, as well as his work on the video game and its TV adaptation, "The Last of Us," and iconic Latin films like Amores Perros.