Taylor Swift and Kanye West were the last-minute additions to the 64th Annual Grammy Awards nominations. Image Source: Pitchfork 

The 64th Annual Grammy Award nominations were announced recently, and The New York Times reported that the recording academy’s surprise decision to expand the number of nominees in four major Grammy categories was taken just 24 hours before announcing the nominations.

The surprise expansion of the academy in four major Grammy categories made way for artists including Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Lil Nas X, Doja Cat, ABBA, Brandi Carlile, and the two Best New Artist additions, Baby Keem and Arooj Aftab. The four major Grammy categories include Best Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best New Artist of the Year.

After a long discussion about a large number of great nominees, the jury stated that "this is an incredible opportunity for us to honor more artists and shine a light on more great music, and potentially offer a greater opportunity for more genres of music to be honored." Talking about the sudden decision, Harvey Mason Jr. said, "It's something that we've talked about for quite some time, but it ended up happening fairly recently. We looked at the voting and the number of submissions and saw it as a great opportunity. " He further added that the nominees that the nominations that were added to the extended category were simply the ones who had received the ninth and tenth-most votes.

Grammys changed their nominee-voting system this year after the exclusion of Weeknd last year and the controversy that followed. Image Source: Billboard 

According to Variety, the Recording Academy has been accused of insider dealing, including by the predecessor of Harvey Mason Jr., Deborah Dungan. Deborah Dungan was dismissed as she alleged conflicts of interest and covered up allegations of sexual misconduct and even a rape allegation before the 2020 award ceremony. The two parties eventually settled earlier this year, and according to Variety, Harvey Mason Jr., has pledged a new era of transparency, yet the controversies have continued.

On Thursday, he said in his statement, "Realizing that today is a time to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends, we reluctantly felt compelled to respond to the suggestive and sometimes erroneous reports we have seen in the media regarding the Academy’s decision to expand our general fields from eight to 10 nominees. The love and passion for what our community has produced have also led to one of the most robust nominating processes in the history of our academy. I applaud our Board of Trustees for having the agility and foresight to approve this expansion as a way to honor more music, more artists, and more genres. And yes, they did it quickly and decisively, and they did it without knowing who the additional nominees would be. For those who would suggest any counter-narratives to stir drama and drive clicks, I would ask that you please take a fresh look at the new Recording Academy. Happy Thanksgiving to all of this year’s nominees and music fans everywhere. "

In the wake of the Weeknd’s exclusion from all nominations last year, despite having one of the most successful albums and singles of 2020, the Grammys changed their nominee-voting system this year, which had previously been curated by "secret" nomination-review committees consisting of unidentified industry experts that made last-minute tweaks; those committees were eliminated in April.

Lil Nas X is also one of the names that were added last minute for the 2022 Grammys. Image Source: Complex 

The last-minute decision by the jury saw the albums by artists including Lil Nas X's "Montero (Call Me by Your Name)" and ABBA's "I Still Have Faith in You" in the list of records of the year. Taylor Swift's "Evermore" and Kanye West's "Donda" were the additional candidates for the album of the year. Taylor Swift celebrated her nomination by taking it to her social media and sharing behind-the-scene video singing "Champagne Problems" from the record and mentioning that she is stoked. It is to be noted that both Taylor Swift and Kanye West are extremely powerful artists and both are affiliated with Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, hence the last-minute inclusion in the nominations.

According to the reports, Doja Cat's "Kiss Me More" and Brandi Carlile's "Right on Time" were also added to the nomination for song of the year last minute along with, Baby Keem and Arooj Aftab for Best New Artist. Arooj Aftab becomes the first Pakistani woman to make it to the nomination list at the Grammys along with being the first Pakistani artist to be nominated under the Best New Artist category for her song 'Mohabbat'. Before her, in 1996, Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan received nominations for Best Traditional Folk Album and Best World Music Album at the Grammy Awards.

Valeisha Butterfield, Academy co-president, added that while the decision seemed like a rushed decision, it was a thoughtful, well-intentioned process that was also data-driven. Linda Chorney also raised the question of why she woke up to a Google alert that linked to a news story that showcased that she had been nominated for Best American Roots Performance for her song "Bored", but the official nomination list did not mention her song, instead Rhiannon Giddens’ song took that spot. She later explained that she wrote back to the publication, who in return told her that the information was cut-and-pasted from an incorrect source, but the singer had not heard who the source was. Linda Chorney is firm that she did earn a nomination at the GRAMMYs but somehow it got axed and there was no explanation about it.

Linda Chorney is firm that she did earn a nomination at the GRAMMYs but somehow it got axed. Image Source: Medium 

The 64th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony is all set to be held on January 31st, 2022 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. It will recognize the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021. Nominations for 86 categories have been announced, and the ceremony will be live-streamed on-demand on Paramount+ from 8-11:30 p.m.