Audio By Carbonatix
The Grammy Awards are undergoing some changes. The Recording Academy announced on Wednesday that they've voted to rename four categories ahead of the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.
The first of the categories to change is Best Urban Contemporary Album, an award that Lizzo won at this year's ceremony for her album, Cuz I Love You. The category will now be known as Best Progressive R&B Album in an effort to "appropriately categorize and describe this subgenre."
Now the Best Progressive R&B Album award will highlight more "progressive elements" of the genre, which could include elements of hip-hop, rap, dance and electronic music, as well as production elements native to pop, euro-pop, country, rock, folk and alternative music.
Best Rap/Sung Performance has also been renamed, and will thus be known as Best Melodic Rap Performance to "represent the inclusivity of the growing hybrid trends" within the genre. The most recent winner of the award is "Higher," which was performed by DJ Khaled and featured Nipsey Hussle and John Legend.
The category will now focus on honoring solo and collaborative performances that contain elements of rap and melody, rather than modern production. To be recognized in the category, nominees must include elements from other genres including R&B, rock, country, electronic and more.
The Latin Pop Album and Latin Rock, Urban Or Alternative Album categories are also getting an update, and will now be known as Best Latin Pop or Urban Album and Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album, respectively. While the former was most recently awarded to Alejandro Sanz for El Disco and the latter went to Rosalía for El Mal Querer, the new changes have been made in an effort to "migrate the genres of Latin urban and represent the current state and prominent representation in the Latin urban genres."
Both categories will now recognize nominees that use style, structure, lyrics and presentation to reflect "the broad spectrum" of their respective subgenres.
Though it's not being renamed, the Best New Artist award, which most recently went to Billie Eilish, is undergoing a rule change, as there will no longer be "a specified maximum number of releases prohibiting artists" from being nominated. Instead, the screening committees will determine if artists are eligible based on their past successes.
In addition to the change in categories, The Recording Academy also announced that the Nominations Review Committee has a new procedure for addressing potential conflicts of interest.
To that end, after being invited to join the committee, the potential participant will be required to fill out an interest disclosure form, which will reveal potential conflicts of interest they may have for that year's awards. Those conflicts include if the person would be eligible to receive a GRAMMY Award and if they have familial or financial ties to the potential nominees. If a conflict of interest is found to be present after submission of the form, or if one is later discovered, the invitee will be uninvited from participation in the committee for that year. If a potential conflict isn't disclosed, the person will not be allowed to participate in future Nominations Review Committees.
Harvey Mason Jr., Chair & Interim President/CEO of the Recording Academy, expressed excitement about the agreed upon updates to the GRAMMY Awards.
"I'm excited to announce our latest changes, as we're constantly evaluating our Awards process and evolving it to ensure the GRAMMY Awards are inclusive and reflect the current state of the music industry," he said. "The Academy accepts proposals for rule changes from members of the music community throughout the year that are carefully reviewed and, if accepted, ultimately ratified at our annual Board meeting, a process that we are proud to have continued in this challenging year."
"As a peer-driven and peer-voted award, members of the music community are directly involved in the growth and preservation of the GRAMMYs process," added Bill Freimuth, Chief Awards Officer at the Recording Academy. "Each year we receive a number of rule change proposals from artists, producers and songwriters asking us to reevaluate our process to better reflect the current state of the music industry and how it's evolved over the past 12 months."
Latest Stories
-
I assure Otumfuo, Mahama will join him to commission KNUST Teaching Hospital by end of this year – Haruna Iddrisu
12 minutes -
Gov’t to roll out free special education for persons with disabilities from July 1 – Education Minister
34 minutes -
“We used it to test our officiating officials’ readiness” – Bawah Fuseini after CAA Athletics event
1 hour -
Volleyball emerges as Ghana’s fastest rising sport
1 hour -
National Sports Fund needs strong leadership from the top – Administrator David Wuaku
1 hour -
JoySports Exclusive: Steve McLaren in talks with GFA after expressing interest in Black Stars job
2 hours -
Fire guts auto parts warehouse at Bubuashie, one fire officer injured
2 hours -
I owe my victory to coach Ofori Asare – Allotey after winning WBA Africa Gold Super Flyweight belt
2 hours -
Church of Pentecost supports over 2,000 BECE candidates in Obuasi with career guidance seminar
3 hours -
Brandon Asante and Coventry all but promoted to Premier League despite Sheffield Wednesday draw
4 hours -
GPL 2025/26: Late Kwartemaa strike downs Hearts in Tema
4 hours -
Ghana Faces Sierra Leone Moment as Prosecutorial Powers come under strain
4 hours -
Don’t consume fish or seafood from Tema Shipyard until further notice – FDA warns
4 hours -
Why volunteering might be Africa’s most underrated career accelerator
4 hours -
ActionAid Ghana raises concern over gender gaps in Feed Ghana Programme
4 hours