What Category Should the Grammys Add Next? Omar Apollo, Wet Leg, Kim Petras & More Weigh In

In June, the Recording Academy announced five new competitive categories for the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5, 2023, hosted by Trevor Noah. The additions spotlight performers, songwriters, video game soundtrack composers and more, with CEO Harvey Mason Jr. telling Billboard at the time, “We’re doing it in a way to make sure we’re representing music and that’s ultimately our goal.”

With the music industry always evolving, Billboard asked artists spanning several genres,What category would you like to see the Recording Academy add to the Grammys next and why? See their responses below:

Omar Apollo: I’d love for the Recording Academy to add an engineer of the year award. Engineers are so important to the musical process and should get as much shine as producers and writers. Thank you to my engineer, Nathan Phillips — he was a big part of the process for my album, Ivory.

Taylor Bennett: I would love to see hip-hop join the Grammy categories. For years now, I’ve seen record stores, digital streaming platforms and awards shows branding “hip-hop/rap.” Although hip-hop and rap can be considered close cousins, I do believe there is great distinction between the two.

Priscilla Block: Best new (genre) artist: As a new artist, it means the entire world to get recognized by an association as prestigious as the [Recording Academy]. There is so much new talent in every genre, so I think it would add a lot to the Grammys to recognize each one’s best new artist. These are the rising stars that will turn into music’s next superstars.

Robert Glasper: Best mixed genre album: This category doesn’t exist. It’s for the people who make albums that represent and speak to more than one genre of music!

Gryffin: I would like to see the Recording Academy add best electronic/dance producer. Due to the nature of dance/electronic music, most artists [nominated] are producers, and it would be incredible for the Recording Academy to recognize the producers in the space who are innovating and pushing the genre forward. I believe that there are so many incredible producers who are pushing the boundaries of electronic dance music whose songs may not qualify under the best dance/electronic song or album categories.

Wet Leg: Best lo-fi recording. Our track “Angelica” was recorded on the Isle of Wight in our living room on a laptop with just a few mics. It would be great to have a category that highlights other artists who are making music in this way despite not having access to many resources.

Lolo Zouaï: It would be cool to have a special bilingual album category — not language-specific — to highlight all the multilingual artists out right now mixing English with other languages. Either that or a category awarding independently released albums that doesn’t focus on genre necessarily.

Kim Petras: The category I would add to the Grammys would be “the biggest slay,” of course. Woo-ah!

A version of this story originally appeared in the Dec. 17, 2022, issue of Billboard.