Who Is Sofia Monroy? Swedish-Mexican Singer Nominated for a 2026 Latin Grammy

Have you ever felt like you don’t entirely belong here or there? That’s exactly what Sofia Monroy sings about, a 27-year-old Swedish-Mexican singer-songwriter and nominee for Best New Artist at the 2026 Latin Grammys. She spoke with EFE from Mexico City in an interview signed by Ana Báez and published on Monday, November 9.

Who is she and what does she want to convey?

Monroy grew up in Luleå, Sweden, and three years ago moved to Mexico to reconnect with her roots. There, she learned Spanish from scratch. Her first album was «Morena» (2025), and now she presents her second, «WO[E]MAN», with 11 songs and a short film directed by Jesús Soto Fuentes and Manuel Gómez González.

According to EFE, she’s not interested in «following the rules» of the industry, but rather in exploring her «duality» with themes in Spanish and English that challenge gender roles. Where does this idea come from? She explains it herself: «My dad passed away when I was eleven, and my mom took care of working and caring for four children. So, I didn’t grow up in an environment with established gender roles, and this album was born from that, from the question: what does it mean to be a woman?»

What does «WO[E]MAN» mean?

The title plays with the English word for woman, and Monroy says it means «sad man». She tells it like this: «I’m neither Mexican nor Swedish, and this is the first album where I embrace that duality. Also, I allow myself to explore the term WO[E]MAN, which means ‘sad man’. I realized that inside me, there’s a sad man who puts certain ideas in my head»

Why does she sing in Spanish and not in Swedish?

She’s been writing songs in English for ten years and now wants to translate them more and more into Spanish, a language that «stimulates» her because of what it represents as «Latin rhythm» in the world. And about Swedish, she’s direct: «I’ve never been one to follow the rules, so I never wanted to sing in Swedish. It’s also true that only ten million people understand the language»

Her ear has two worlds. On the one hand, Luis Miguel and Alejandro Fernández, whom her father, of Mexican origin, used to listen to in «Tapachula», the restaurant he had in Sweden until his death. On the other hand, Swedish pop from ABBA, Robyn, Icona Pop, and Zara Larsson.

Who does she compete against?

According to the Latin Recording Academy and Flow Magazine, the category has 11 nominees: Delilah, Fabian, Loulu Gilberto, Arath Herce, Macario Martínez, maye, Sofia Monroy, Kendall Peña, Dora Sanches, ARIA VEGA, and Zeca Veloso.

Monroy doesn’t talk about rivals, but about fellow women. She thinks about the other women in her category, like the Mexican-American Delilah: «It’s great that there are so many cool women in the industry being themselves and people are liking it. It’s a counterculture and the opposite of the polarization we’re living through»

What does this have to do with you?

Perhaps a lot. If you’re an immigrant, or the child of immigrants in the U.S., you know that back-and-forth between two languages, two cuisines, and two ways of naming yourself. Billboard highlighted her song «Alma dividida», about belonging to more than one place, an experience shared by many immigrants and their children.

Monroy sees it as something of our time: «Artists are the result of the world we live in, a globalized world where your uncles went to live elsewhere or where you’re no longer just from the place where you were born. I feel that many people can identify with that feeling of a divided soul»

And she adds something that sounds familiar in times of playlists without borders: «Before, you only listened to what was in your country; now I listen to music in Arabic or French, languages I don’t even speak, but that I can feel»

What’s next?

The Latin Grammy ceremony is this Thursday, November 12, 2026, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and it will be broadcast on Univision. Before the gala, it’s worth checking out «Alma dividida» and «WO[E]MAN» to decide who you’ll be cheering for.

If you’re interested in how other artists live between two cultures, read about Becky G and her «unapologetic» espanglish. Tell us: do you also feel like your soul is a little divided?

Sources: Latin Recording Academy; Flow Magazine; Billboard. Data consulted on November 10, 2026.

Main photo: EFE/Mario Guzmán