Grammys Reduce Nominees From 10 to 8 In Top 4 Award Categories

Washington: Grammys has announced to reduce the number of nominees in four of its award categories - Album, Song, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist - from 10 to 8, Variety reported on Friday. An announcement in this regard was made after the Recording Academy updated its rules and guidelines following its semiannual board of trustees meeting.

The number of nominees for those categories was increased from eight to ten in November 2021, just before the nominees for 2022 were announced -- a surprising and perplexing turn of events, given that such changes usually occur after the annual board meetings, Variety reported. While three new award categories were announced earlier this week, the reduction in the number of nominees in four award categories was announced on Friday. An Artificial Intelligence (AI)-related rule was also introduced, effectively stating that only human creators are eligible for awards; however, as with all things AI, the vast possibilities that the technology makes possible in this still-developing area necessitate an extensive series of caveats, Variety further reported.

While Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. stated at the time that the change was "an incredible opportunity for us to honour more artists and shine a light on more great music, and potentially offer a greater chance for more genres of music to be honoured", some speculated that it was done to ensure Taylor Swift received a best new album nomination for her album 'Evermore' and thus increase the chance that she would appear on the show and boost its rating, as reported by Variety. However, that accusation, which was soundly refuted by the Academy, was undercut by the second album that benefited from the expansion: "Donda" by Kanye West, whose controversial behaviour has endeared him to few.

Whatever the case, after two years, it was clear that 10 nominees in those major categories were, at the very least, unwieldy: It lengthened the show, diluted the honour, and, perhaps most importantly, skewed the winners in an unexpected way, similar to the results of the 2018 Grammys. Jay-Z and Kendrick Lamar, arguably the world's two greatest and most influential rappers, were nominated for Album of the Year and other major awards that year, but neither won. Many people believed that such a difficult choice in the same musical genre split the vote, and as a result, Bruno Mars won all three top categories, according to the Variety report.

The move reflects the Academy's increased openness to change in recent years, which Mason has emphasised throughout his tenure. Whereas major changes used to take years, if not decades, the board is now far more willing to recalibrate -- and, in this case, reverse -- policies that it believes aren't working, Variety reported.