Grammy Announces New Categories Including 'Best Latin Song'; rule excludes songs in Portuguese

Grammy 2023 organization shows the gramophone, traditional award given to the winners
Frederic J. Brown / AFP
Main music award, the Grammy announced last Tuesday (16) the creation of five new categories that will be valid from the 69th edition, scheduled for February 7, 2027.
Among the new features presented, the introduction of the "Best Latin Music" category established a technical criterion that leaves the Brazilian music market practically out of the main dispute.
This is because, according to the new regulations, the award is intended exclusively for composers of new works written predominantly in Spanish, requiring that at least 51% of the lyrics be in the language.
New categories
The update package also made official the categories of:
"Best Asian Pop Music Performance" (focused on genres such as K-pop, J-pop and C-pop),
"Best Collaboration or Performance in R&B Duo/Group",
"Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance",
"Best Traditional Folk Album".
"The changes proposed by members of our Recording Academy demonstrate the breadth of today's music industry and the diversity of genres, techniques and creators that shape it", said Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Grammys, in an official statement about the guidelines for the 2027 edition.
The organization also revamped the its voting system with the introduction of the "Ballot Plus" mechanism.
The optional alternative will allow voting members with proven experience in multiple genres to expand their votes to up to 15 different categories, surpassing the restricted standard model.
The process aims to provide greater flexibility for professionals who have credits and technical contributions validated on different fronts of the global music ecosystem.

Source: G1