Grammys Will Nominate More Artists for Major Categories

Nominee field was widened for best new artist as well as record, album, and song of the year.

grammys
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The Recording Academy announced that the number of nominations for the “General Field” categories, which includes record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, and best new artist, will increase from five to eight. The Academy says that “This change will better reflect the large number of entries in these categories and allow voters greater flexibility when selecting this year’s best recordings,” according to Variety.

The decision is also likely in response to the criticism over the low number of female nominees and winners for the 2018 awards, though they were the most musically and racially diverse in the Academy’s history, with Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Bruno Mars, Childish Gambino, Khalid, SZA and Jay-Z producer No I.D. leading. However, the winner’s list did not reflect a wide variety of the nominees, with Mars winning Best Album, Song, and Record.

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