The Grammys now have three new categories, which were added by the Recording Academy. Best African Music Performance, Best Alternative Jazz Album, and Best Pop Dance Recording are three new categories that will be added to the 66th Grammy Awards in 2024.
Also, two awards that were already given have been moved to the general field. Some of these are Non-Classical Producer of the Year and Non-Classical Songwriter of the Year. Audiences can now vote without taking up a field for these categories.
The 66th Grammy Awards Will Now Have Three New Categories
The decision was made in May at a meeting of the Recording Academy’s board of trustees, which is held every six months. On Tuesday, Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, said, “The Recording Academy is proud to announce these latest category changes to our awards process.”
“These changes show our commitment to actively listen to and respond to feedback from our music community, accurately represent a wide range of relevant musical genres, and keep up with the constantly changing music landscape.”
“By adding these three new categories, we can recognize and appreciate a wider range of artists. Moving the Producer of the Year and Songwriter of the Year categories to the General Field makes sure that all of our voters can take part in recognizing excellence in these fields.”
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“We are excited to honour and celebrate the artists and recordings in these categories, as well as give fans around the world access to a wider range of music,” he said. Here is more information about the categories that were just added:
Best African Music Performance
This is a category for local African expressions, rhythms, harmonies, regional melodies, and musical customs. In 2022, most of the songs up for best world music performance were from Africa. With a new award, the “global music” category is likely to give more attention to other types of music, like K-Pop and Latin music.
The Recording Academy said that the category will include Afrobeat, Afro-fusion, Afro Pop, Afrobeats, Alte, Amapiano, Bongo Flava, Genge, Kizomba, Chimurenga, High Life, Fuji, Kwassa, Ndombolo, Mapouka, Ghanaian Drill, Afro-House, South African Hip-Hop, and Ethio Jazz.
Best Pop Dance Recording
The category was made to honour songs with “strong rhythmic beats and significant electronic-based instruments, with an emphasis on the vocal performance, melody, and hooks.” But Dance Remixes can’t be considered in this category. Instead, they can be put forward in the Best Remixed Recording category.
With the new category, dance songs from pop stars will have a better chance of being nominated. They had to fight with dance groups before in the category of best dance/electronic recording.
Best Alternative Jazz Album
The Recording Academy has added a category to honour alternative jazz records by individuals, duos, groups, or ensembles, with or without vocals. With this change, there are now six jazz categories in the awards. The rest five include improvised jazz solos, jazz vocal albums, large jazz group albums, jazz instrumental albums, and Latin jazz albums.
According to the Recording Academy, alternate jazz is a “genre-blending, boundary-pushing hybrid” that combines jazz (improvisation, interaction, harmony, rhythm, arrangements, composition, and style) with other styles, such as R&B, Hip-Hop, Classical, Contemporary Improvisation, Experimental, Pop, Rap, Electronic/Dance music, and/or Spoken Word.
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