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Grammys add five new awards categories, just like you wanted

By | Published on Friday 10 June 2022

Grammys

What’s the one thing that the Grammy Awards need more of? That’s right… awards. I mean, last year at the US music industry’s big back-slapping bash there were only 91 awards presented. That’s almost none. We should definitely have five more.

Now, not every one of those awards is handed out at the main Grammy ceremony, because there’d be rioting if everyone had to sit through all that. But the other awards are still there. Because, you know, it’s really important that we know what the Best Regional Roots Music Album is each year.

That’s not one of the new ones, by the way. That’s been around for a decade. The things it’s now been decided that there need to be awards for are: Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical; Best Alternative Music Performance; Best Americana Performance; Best Score Soundtrack For Video Games And Other Interactive Media; and Best Spoken Word Poetry Album.

There’s one more new award, actually, even though I said there’s only five. But this is a so called ‘special merit’ award, which means it’s different and there’s no shortlist. And this new gong will go by the name of Best Song For Social Change.

Is that it for the latest Grammy reforms? No. Oh god, no. A category has been renamed too. You’ve got to keep it fresh and relevant. Otherwise, what’s the point? I mean, it’s 2022, people. And it will be 2023 by the time the next set of Grammy Awards are actually given out. Are we really still going to presenting an award called Best New Age Album by 2023? Are you ill? Of course not! Obviously it should now be known as the Best New Age, Ambient Or Chant Album.

Some of the criteria for various other awards have also been updated in these latest reforms, but instead of writing about them I’m just going to type the word ‘cat’ 43 times.

Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat. Cat.

There, I think we can all agree that that was absolutely necessary. Anyway, I’m sure Harvey Mason Jr – CEO of Grammy overseer The Recording Academy – has something to say about all of this. Except maybe the cat bit.

“We’re so excited to honour these diverse communities of music creators through the newly established awards and amendments, and to continue cultivating an environment that inspires change, progress and collaboration”, he says. “The Academy’s top priority is to effectively represent the music people that we serve, and each year that entails listening to our members and ensuring our rules and guidelines reflect our ever-evolving industry”.

Yep, that’s what he had to say about it. Under the revised system, all Recording Academy members get five free entries for the Grammys each year – with fees to pay for any entries beyond that. A big bag of Haribo to anyone who can record an album that allows them to enter all five of the new ones.



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