Last fall, the Grammys were dealt a heavy dose of criticism about their nominations. Many were upset with some of The Recording Academy’s choices, or lack thereof, such as failing to nominate The Weeknd in any category despite having the acclaimed album After Hours. Months later, the Grammys announced they’re making “significant changes” to their voting process according to Billboard. This includes the elimination of “secret committees,” who were originally tasked with reviewing nominations in the general and genre-specific categories.
With this removal, nominations in these categories will now be selected by a majority, peer-to-peer vote from The Academy’s members. They also chose to reduce the number of categories voters can make selections in from 15 to 10. The Grammys created two new categories for the award show, Best Global Music Performance and Best Música Urbana Album, and added an extra month to the eligibility period for next year’s award show. The time frame of eligibility is now September 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. The changes will go into effect immediately for next year’s show, which is set for January 31, 2022.
“It’s been a year of unprecedented, transformational change for the Recording Academy, and I’m immensely proud to be able to continue our journey of growth with these latest updates to our Awards process,” Harvey Mason Jr., chair and interim president/CEO of the Recording Academy, said. “This is a new Academy, one that is driven to action and that has doubled down on the commitment to meeting the needs of the music community.”