The Recording Academy of Music and Art (Grammy) has added three new categories to the 66th recording award.
The new categories – Best African Music Performance, Best Alternative Jazz Album, and Best Pop Dance recording – were announced by Grammy on its Twitter page Tuesday morning, saying the categories would be fully set about at the 2024 award.
Prior to this moment, many music critics had debated that African Music and other genres like Alternative Jazz and dance pop sound should stand independently. Giving legitimacy to this debate, Burna Boy, Black Sheriff, Focalitic, Naeto C, Davido, Wizkid, Asake, Rema and the likes have proved to critics that “The African Music” deserves its category. The category has been on Grammy’s ballot for more than decades, though, before finally witnessing its birth.
“These changes reflect our commitment to actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community, accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape,” said Grammy CEO Harvey Mason Jr.
Here’s a breakdown of the three new GRAMMY Award Categories:
Best African Music Performance
This is a track and singles category that recognizes recordings that utilize unique local expressions from across the African continent. Highlighting regional melodic, harmonic and rhythmic musical traditions, the category includes but is not limited to the 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 genres.
Best Pop Dance Recording
This category recognizes tracks and singles that feature up-tempo, danceable music that follows a pop arrangement. Eligible Pop Dance recordings also feature strong rhythmic beats and significant electronic-based instruments with an emphasis on the vocal performance, melody and hooks. Dance remixes are eligible in the Best Remixed Recording Category only and may not be entered in Best Pop Dance Recording.
Best Alternative Jazz Album
This category recognizes artistic excellence in Alternative Jazz albums by individuals, duos and groups/ensembles, with or without vocals. Alternative Jazz may be defined as a genre-blending, envelope-pushing hybrid that mixes jazz (improvisation, interaction, harmony, rhythm, arrangements, composition, and style) with other genres, including R&B, Hip-Hop, Classical, Contemporary Improvisation, Experimental, Pop, Rap, Electronic/Dance music, and/or Spoken Word. It may also include the contemporary production techniques/instrumentation associated with other genres.
Additionally, the existing categories of Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical and Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical will be moved to the General Field. Pertinent to this change, it will grant avenue for all Grammy voters to accredit in these relevant non-genre-specific categories.
“By introducing these three new categories, we are able to acknowledge and appreciate a broader array of artists – and relocating the Producer Of the Year and Songwriter Of The Year categories to the General Field ensures that all our voters can participate in recognizing excellence in these fields”, Mason said.
