Nominees for the 64th annual Grammy Awards were announced on Tuesday. The leading nominee for this year is bandleader, pianist and composer Jon Batiste, who was nominated in 11 dizzyingly wide-flung categories, including Album of the Year (for his album We Are), Record of the Year (for the song “Freedom”), Best R&B Album (also for We Are), Best Jazz Instrumental Album (for his album of music from and inspired by the Disney/Pixar film Soul), Best American Roots Song (“Cry”) and Best Contemporary Classical Composition, for his piece Movement 11′.
This year’s roster is the first since the Recording Academy, the organization behind the Grammy Awards, made significant alterations to the nominations process. The group had come under heavy criticism for an insular, secretive process of specialist committees that pared down huge fields of potential nominees to a final, select few in most of the Grammys’ dozens of categories. (NPR correspondent Anastasia Tsioulcas, one of the reporters for this story, is a former Grammy voter and judge.)
Additionally, a host of well-known Black artists, including Jay-Z, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Drake, Frank Ocean and Tyler, the Creator have spoken out about concerns that Black performers are frequently overlooked in the most prominent award categories, including Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best New Artist.
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