Entertainment
GRAMMY INTRODUCES ‘BEST AFRICAN MUSIC PERFORMANCE’ CATEGORY TO 2024 AWARDS
The Recording Academy, organizers of Grammy Awards, has created a category for ‘Best African Music Performance.’ The category was one of the three new ones. That the academy revealed on Tuesday in a statement posted on its website. The Best Pop Dance Recording and Best Alternative Jazz Album categories are the other newly established ones.
According to the statement, the new categories will receive nominations beginning with next year’s show.
“The addition of the Best African Music Performance category reflects how African acts such as Burna Boy, Wizkid, and Tems—along with the rise of the Afrobeats genre—have become global chart-topping stars and streaming juggernauts,” the statement reads in part.
The Grammy “Best African Music Performance” category is open to contemporary and traditional African music, including Afrobeats, Afro-pop, Amapiano, High Life, Fuji, etc.
2024 GRAMMYs: 4 Things To Know About The New Categories & Changes
The Recording Academy just announced that three new categories will be added for the 2024 GRAMMYs: Best African Music Performance, Best Alternative Jazz Album and Best Pop Dance Recording. Here’s why these changes are important.
For decades, African music, alternative jazz and dance pop have been nominated for — and winning — GRAMMYs. Now, the Recording Academy is celebrating these impactful sounds like never before.
As announced today, three new categories have been added to Music’s Biggest Night: Best African Music Performance, Best Alternative Jazz Album and Best Pop Dance Recording. They will be awarded for the first time ever at the 2024 GRAMMYs, officially known as the 66th GRAMMY Awards.
The initiation of these three categories is far from a technicality; it amounts to a watershed moment for the Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Awards. And as with all category additions and amendments at the GRAMMYs, changes like these open up the prospect of GRAMMY wins and nominations to artists from a multitude of backgrounds and across more genres.
Here are four reasons you should be excited about these new categories and changes at the 2024 GRAMMYs.
Popular Music Owes Everything To Africa
If you like rock, hip-hop, blues, jazz, folk music, bluegrass … really, just about every form of American music, then you have the genius of Africa to thank.
Historically, the Best Global Music Album and Best Global Music Performance GRAMMY categories have nominated and awarded African music and artists. Now, the creation of Best African Music Performance category will amplify and expand the reach of African music and its creators.
As recently announced, the Best African Music Performance 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, making this newly announced, exciting category a far-reaching and all-encompassing award.
Which of these distinct sounds will be represented on the first-ever Best African Music Performance nominees list? Watch this space to find out.
Crossover Jazz Is Exploding — And The GRAMMYs Reflect This
From The Comet is Coming to Georgia Anne Muldrow to Kassa Overall, jazz artists are increasingly exploring the music’s common ground with hip-hop, soul, experimental music, and any number of other genres. As artists continue to expand and experiment within and beyond the genre, jazz remains an evolving sound. A huge win for forward-thinking, genre-straddling jazz artists of all stripes, the newly announced Best Alternative Jazz Album is a reflection of this ever-growing landscape and dynamic sound.
Dance & Pop Have Long Been Deeply Intertwined
From Beyoncé to Lady Gaga, pop titans have been incorporating elements of dance and electronic music for decades. Now, there’s a new, and essential, category that reflects the convergence between these two genres.
As the official Recording Academy statement describes, the new Best Pop Dance Recording category “recognizes tracks and singles that feature up-tempo, danceable music that follows a pop arrangement.”
If this kicks up questions about remixes in the dance and electronic landscape, the Academy’s got that covered: Dance remixes will continue to live in the Best Remixed Recording category.
All GRAMMY Voters Can Now Vote In The Producer Of The Year and Songwriter Of The Year Categories
In addition to the newly announced GRAMMY categories, the Recording Academy also announced major changes to the General Field categories: Starting at the 2024 GRAMMYs, the Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical and Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical categories will be moved to the General Field. This major change now allows all GRAMMY voters the ability to vote in these widely celebrated, non-genre-specific categories.
A reflection of the Academy’s commitment to “actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community” and “stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape,” according to Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr., this move ensures that all GRAMMY voters can participate in recognizing excellence in these definitive categories, further expanding representation and participation in these categories.
At the 2023 GRAMMYs, the Recording Academy introduced the Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical category; Tobias Jesso Jr. made history by becoming the first-ever GRAMMY winner of that award.