The Recording Academy is making a few changes when it comes to the next Grammy Awards.
According to Variety, on Tuesday the academy announced they will expand the number of nominees for the general field categories, which include record of the year, album of the year, song of the year, and best new artist.
The number of nominees in each category will expand from five to eight.
According to the announcement sent to academy members, “This change will better reflect the large number of entries in these categories and allow voters greater flexibility when selecting this year’s best recordings.”
Recording Academy president/CEO Neil Portnow said in a statement to Billboard, “This creates more opportunities for a wider-range of recognition in these important categories and gives more flexibility to our voters when having to make the often challenging decisions about representing excellence and the best in music for the year. We look forward to celebrating all of our nominees when they are announced later this year.”
This new rule will be immediately effective and will be implemented during the 2019 Grammy Awards.
Last year, the award show received backlash, as Alessia Cara was the only female to win an award during the live telecast.
