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Next year’s Grammys will feature three new categories, including Best African Music Performance, as the awards move to reflect the massive popularity of Afrobeats around the world.
The category “recognizes recordings that utilize unique local expressions from across the African continent,” the organizers said in a statement published Wednesday.
Throughout the year, the Recording Academy – the group of music industry professionals that presents the Grammy Awards – accepts proposals from its members for new categories. Those proposals are then reviewed by a committee and voted on by the academy’s board of trustees.
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Beyoncé accepts the Grammy Award for best dance/electronic music album ("Renaissance") on Sunday, February 5. It was her record-breaking 32nd Grammy win.
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Harry Styles accepts the Grammy for album of the year ("Harry's House") at the end of Sunday night's show. "This is really, really kind. I'm so, so grateful,"
he said while accepting the award.
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Host Trevor Noah holds the mic for a fan who read Styles's win for album of the year.
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Rappers from multiple generations team up for a performance paying tribute to
50 years of hip-hop.
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Queen Latifah performs during the hip-hop tribute.
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Steve Lacy performs "Bad Habit" during the show.
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Adele accepts the award for best pop solo performance ("Easy On Me"). "I just want to dedicate this to my son, Angelo,"
she said. "I wrote this first verse in the shower when I was choosing to change my son's life, and he's been nothing but humble and gracious and loving to me the whole time."
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Styles performs "As It Was" during the show.
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Mary J. Blige performs "Good Morning Gorgeous."
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Kendrick Lamar accepts the Grammy for best rap album from Cardi B. He won for "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers."
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Sam Smith performs "Unholy" with dancers.
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Samara Joy accepts the Grammy for best new artist. "All of you have inspired me because of who you are,"
she said to the other artists while accepting her award. "You express yourself for exactly who you are authentically, so to be here by just being myself, by just being who I was born as, I'm so thankful."
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Beyoncé is seen in the audience after her arrival
was delayed by traffic, according to Noah. "The upside of hosting the Grammys in LA ... is that everyone can be here," Noah said. "The downside of hosting the Grammys in LA is the traffic."
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Kacey Musgraves pays tribute to the late Loretta Lynn by performing "Coal Miner's Daughter" during the "in memoriam" segment.
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Jack Antonoff and Taylor Swift attend the show on Sunday night.
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Bad Bunny accepts the Grammy for best música urbana album ("Un Verano Sin Ti"). "I dedicate this award to Puerto Rico, the birthplace and capital of reggaeton throughout the world,"
the artist said in Spanish.
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Lizzo performs a medley during the show that included "About Damn Time" and "Special."
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Smith and Kim Petras celebrate after winning the Grammy for best pop duo or group performance ("Unholy"). Petras, who is transgender,
gave the acceptance speech on the duo's behalf. She thanked "all the transgender legends before me who kicked these doors open for me."
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Luke Combs performs "Going, Going, Gone" during the show.
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Legends Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder perform together during the show.
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Shania Twain walks on stage to present the Grammy for best country music album. It went to Willie Nelson for "A Beautiful Time." Nelson wasn't there to accept the award.
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Styles accepts the Grammy for best pop vocal album ("Harry's House"). "This album from start to finish has been the greatest experience of my life,"
the entertainer said.
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Brandi Carlile performs "Broken Horses" during the show.
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Noah speaks to the audience at the start of the show.
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Bad Bunny
opens the show with "El Apagón" and "Después de la Playa." Both tracks are from his Spanish-language album, "Un Verano Sin Ti." It earned the first album of the year nomination for an album completely in Spanish.
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Adele meets actor Dwayne Johnson during Noah's opening bit. The host said he made it a point to learn facts about the artists attending this year's show, and he noted that Adele is a fan of Johnson's but had never met him. Noah then announced that "The Rock" was here and introduced the two.
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Before the live broadcast, Viola Davis made history after she won the Grammy for best audio book narration and storytelling (for her memoir "Finding Me"). With this award, the actress earned
prestigious EGOT status. An artist achieves an EGOT when they win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony Award in their career. "I wrote this book to honor the 6-year-old Viola," she said in her acceptance speech. "To honor her, her life, her joy, her trauma, everything. And, it has just been such a journey — I just EGOT!"
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Twain wows with a polka dot suit and hat.
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Swift channels her recent album "Midnights" with a shimmering blue ensemble.
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Petras, Smith, Violet Chachki and Gottmik walk the red carpet.
At a meeting in May, the trustees voted to introduce the Best African Music Performance category, as well as awards for Best Alternative Jazz Album and Best Pop Dance Recording, the statement said.
“These changes reflect our commitment to actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community, accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said.
“We are excited to honor and celebrate the creators and recordings in these categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide,” he added.
Afrobeats – the pulsating, fusion sound coming out of West Africa and the diaspora – has been on the rise globally for the better part of a decade. In recent years, the genre has gained a foothold in Western pop culture, and in September 2022 Mason Jr. revealed that he was considering adding an award category.
“We called in producers, songwriters, artists, executives and we had a virtual listening session where we heard from Afrobeats creators,” he said at a September 2022 news conference. “(We) just talked about, ‘What are the different subgenres? What are the needs? What are the desires?’”
Afrobeats artists have crossed over into mainstream pop through collaborations with Beyoncé, Drake, Ed Sheeran and other stars. But they’ve also achieved mainstream success on their own. Burna Boy, Wizkid and Tems have each garnered Grammy nominations (though they’ve typically been relegated to the global music field), while Burna Boy notched up a win in 2021 for his album “Twice as Tall.” CKay’s “Love Nwantiti” dominated on TikTok last year before eventually showing up in the Billboard charts.
The UK’s Official Charts Company launched an Afrobeats singles chart in 2020, while Billboard debuted a US-based Afrobeats chart this year, further nodding to the genre’s growth outside of Africa and the diaspora.