The Recording Academy revealed Tuesday that it has expanded the number of nominations for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist, from five nominees to eight, Variety reports. The changes will be implemented right away, with the next Grammy Awards in 2019.
The announcement was sent to Academy members this morning, which said of the expansion, “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.” These are the biggest changes the Grammys has implemented since the award show was introduced in 1959.
Recording Academy president/CEO Neil Portnow also shared his thoughts in a statement, per Billboard:
“Throughout the year, we team up with music people across all genres and disciplines to consider revisions and subsequently make amendments to our rules and entry guidelines to ensure we're keeping up with our ever-changing industry and meeting the needs of music creators,” Portnow said. “This creates more opportunities for a wider-range of recognition in these important categories and gives more flexibility to our voters when having to make the often challenging decisions about representing excellence and the best in music for the year. We look forward to celebrating all of our nominees when they are announced later this year.”
It’s probable that the shift is also an answer to the criticism that there were few female nominees in 2018, though last year’s show was led by JAY-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, Khalid, SZA, Bruno Mars, and No I.D., which is presumably the most musically and racially diverse group of nominees in Grammys history. Still, with Mars sweeping Best Album, Song, and Record, the pool of winners didn’t reflect that variety of nominees.
Following this year’s Grammys, the Academy set out to tackle gender bias by announcing in February that it was planning to set up an independent task force that will focus on reviewing current practices, identifying barriers, and creating opportunities to move forward in a much more inclusive way. In 2018, only 11 of the 84 winners were women, and only a single woman, Alessia Cara, accepted an award during the live telecast.
