The Grammy’s are about to get a lot more competitive — according to Billboard, the Recording Academy has voted to increase the number of eligible nominees for its most prestigious categories from five to eight. Nominees for Record, Song, and Album of the Year, as well as Best New Artist will now have a much larger arena to compete in on Grammy night. Many have speculated that the move is a response to the notable lack of female winners and nominees at last year’s ceremony.
CEO Neil Portnow has insisted that the move was not politically motivated, calling it “more flexibility to our voters when having to make the often challenging decisions about representing excellence and the best in music for the year.”
When asked about the proximity of this change to last year’s Grammy controversy, Portnow said that the onus was on women to “step up,” in the industry to earn nominations. Not surprisingly, his comments were met with criticism and outrage across the board. He will be stepping down from his position in 2019.
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