Grammy Awards drop 'Urban' term from categories

As a part of the nine-rule changes that the Recording Academy announced for Grammy Awards on Wednesday, the prestigious music awards will cease using the term 'urban' in its awards and languages.

According to Variety, other changes are the updates to the Best New Artist category, Latin field, RandB and Rap Fields, Nominations Review Committees.

Besides that, the Grammy Awards' rules and guidelines book will now be publicly available, announced Recording Academy.

"It's all part of what I hope will be a and a new chapter in our history. We're listening to and learning from our partners and constituents and stakeholders; we're trying to make sure we're able to pivot and change and adapt, and we want to be really inclusive," Variety quoted the interim president and CEO Harvey Mason Jr as saying.

The category of 'Best Urban Contemporary Album' has been renamed as 'Best Progressive RandB Album' in order to categorise and describe the subgenre more appropriately, as per Variety.

Another change is in the name of the 'Best Rap/Sung Performance' category, which has been renamed as 'Best Melodic Rap Performance.' This has been done to better represent the inclusivity of the growing hybrid performance trends within the rap genre.

The Recording Academy has also renamed the Latin Pop Album to Latin Pop or Urban Album and Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative has been renamed Latin Rock or Alternative.

The next change is in the eligibility criteria for the 'Best New Artist' category. As per the new rules, there is no specified maximum number of releases that prohibit artists from contesting in the category.

The final change is in the Nominations Review Committee. As per Variety, whenever an invitation will be given to a person to participate on the committee, the person will be provided with an interest disclosure form.

People invited to be a part of the committee must disclose several details like if the person would be in line to receive a nomination from GRAMMY or if the person has any direct or indirect financial, or family ties to the artists or the records being considered for award.

All these changes are a part of the annual changes in the rules and guidelines of the prestigious music awards.

( With inputs from ANI )