The Grammy Awards has added three new categories for the 2024 ceremony: best African music performance, best alternative jazz album, and best pop dance recording.
Additionally, the producer of the year, non-classical, and songwriter of the year, non-classical categories will now be part of the general field, allowing all Grammy voters to participate in the voting process.
Harvey Mason Jr., chief executive officer of the Recording Academy, stated that the changes reflect the organization’s commitment to listening to feedback from the music community, representing diverse musical genres, and staying aligned with the evolving musical landscape.
The new best African music performance category will highlight African songs, such as Afrobeats, amapiano, highlife, alte, fuji, and kwassa, aiming to showcase regional melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic musical traditions.
The introduction of this category comes at a time when African music is gaining increased visibility in the United States. Nigerian artist Burna Boy is set to become the first Nigerian headliner at a U.S. stadium, and Tems has experienced a rapid ascent in the music industry in recent years.
The newly created best pop dance recording category will recognize uptempo music with a pop arrangement, while the best alternative jazz album category will honor artists blending jazz with other genres such as R&B, hip-hop, classical, experimental, pop, and EDM.
