Grammys Adds Three New Awards Categories: African Performance, Pop Dance & Alternative Jazz

Netflix has rounded out the cast for Squid Game Season 2.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter “Squid Game” Season 2 at Netflix is rounding out its cast, with the addition of eight new cast members. New additions to the second season of the international hit series are: Park Gyu-young (“Sweet Home”), Jo Yu-ri, Kang Ae-sim (“Be Melodramatic,” “Move to Heaven”), Lee David (“The Fortress,” “Svaha: The Sixth Finger”), Lee Jin-uk (“Sweet Home,” “Miss Granny”), Choi Seung-hyun (“Tazza: The Hidden Card,” “Commitment”), Roh Jae-won (“Missing Yoon,” “Ditto”), and Won Ji-an (“D.P.”). A picture of the new cast members can be seen below. Netflix previously announced that Yim Si-Wan, Kang Ha-Neul, Park Sung-Hoon, and Yang Dong-Geun would also be joining the new season alongside returning cast members Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Gong Yoo, and Wi Ha-jun.

Christopher Vourlias The release of “Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire,” a pan-African Disney Plus Original animated series that will drop globally on the streaming platform on July 5, could be a game-changer for an African animation industry that continues to scale new heights. Executive produced by Oscar winner Peter Ramsey (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”), Anthony Silverston of South African animation house Triggerfish, and Tandayi Nyeke, the 10-part anthology series offers a dizzying blend of mythology, science fiction and Afrofuturism, presenting 10 bold, wholly original visions of the future from a distinctly African perspective. The series, which is produced by Triggerfish, features animators from six African countries drawing on their own ancient histories, folklores and contemporary urban landscapes to reimagine a world populated with cyborg cattle, flying minibus-taxis, radioactive octopi and robotic birds. Collectively, they present a portrait of the continent that’s never been seen before.

McKinley Franklin editor Veteran film producer Divya D’Souza has joined Invention Studios as senior VP of development and production. D’Souza will report to Invention CEO Nicholas Weinstock and oversee the company’s slate of TV series and features. She joins the company after seven years as an executive at Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone’s On the Day Productions. There, she served as a producer on projects including “Bob Ross: Happy Accidents,” “Betrayal & Greed,” “Thunder Force,” “God’s Favorite Idiot,” “Little Big Shots,” “Superintelligence,” “Happytime Murders,” “Nobodies” and “Life of the Party.” “Divya is a kind and creative superstar of an executive,” stated Weinstock, announcing D’Souza’s hiring. “I’m thrilled to have her big brain and big heart onboard as we welcome all kinds of writers, directors, and actors and help them to do the coolest things they possibly can.”

Naman Ramachandran The return of long-running Australian soap “Neighbours” will see a new family, the Varga-Murphys, featuring mums, Remi (Naomi Rukavina) and Cara (Sara West) and teenage sons, JJ (Riley Bryant) and Dex (Marley Williams), moving to the iconic Ramsay Street. West said: “Cara has a bold, impassioned love for her family and I love that her intentions have, so far, always been good. I hope having the Varga-Murphys on telly will help better reflect the beautiful LGBTQIA+ community that I’m proud to be a part of and I can’t wait to share the family with you.” Rukavina added: “As a stalwart of Australian drama television, the show is on the front foot of showcasing diverse and real representations of Australian families, not in a tokenistic way.”

It’s home renovation, Hough style!

Trevor Noah has his sights set on the world of podcasting.

Sir Elton John has said he will perform an entirely new show for his headline performance at Glastonbury this weekend.

The Last Of Us star Bella Ramsey over the topic of gendered award categories.Yesterday (June 18), The Good Place star spoke on the topic on Instagram, suggesting it could be “better to give non-binary people their own category” in awards shows.Ramsey, who confirmed earlier this year that they are gender-fluid and has previously spoken on feeling uncomfortable submitting for the 2023 Emmys, shared their thoughts in response.“I feel weird about there being a whole new category,” Ramsey wrote. “I think it’s more about language… I would love the award categories to be called ‘Actress/Non-Binary Performer’ and ‘Actor/Non-Binary Performer’ then the performer can be submitted to their preferred category.A post shared by Jameela Jamil (@jameelajamil)“It’s not a perfect solution but that’s my take on it.

For the past two years, the Recording Academy has expanded the field of nominees for its “big four” categories — Album, Song, and Record of the Year, as well as Best New Artist — from eight candidates to 10. The institution will return to the old number in 2024, the New York Times reports and raise the bar for Album of the Year eligibility, now requiring featured artists, producers, songwriters, and engineers to be credited on at least 20 percent of a nominated album to qualify for an award.

Easy Life and Mahalia have been announced as headliners for a new event titled Corona Sunsets Festival, set to take place in Hertfordshire.Taking place in Hatfield Park on Saturday, September 2, the one-day event will see Franc Moody, Newton Faulkner, Frankie Stew & Harvey Gunn and Elder Island along with the headliners. A line-up of DJs are set to be announced in the coming weeks.The festival will also feature live art installations and culinary experiences all inspired but the sunset which are designed to connect attendees with nature during golden hour.Tickets for the event will go on sale on June 14 at 10am.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Grammys Reduce Album, Song, Record of the Year and Best New Artist From 10 to Eight Nominees As it does every year, the Recording Academy has updated its rules and guidelines following its semiannual board of trustees meeting, and while three new categories were announced earlier this week, one major change was unveiled today among several less-impactful ones: The four top categories — album, song and record of the year and best new artist — have been reduced to eight categories from 10. An AI-related rule was also introduced, which effectively states that only human creators are eligible for awards, but, like all things AI, requires an extensive series of caveats to cover the vast possibilities that the technology makes possible in this still-developing area; the full list appears below.)

Afrobeats will be recognized among three new categories that will debut at next year’s Grammy Awards, the Recording Academy announced today.

The Recording Academy has announced the addition of three new awards categories beginning at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards next year.Awards for Best Alternative Jazz Album, Best Pop Dance Recording, and Best African Music Performance will now be their own separate categories. Two previous categories, Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, have been adjusted so that all Grammy voters can weigh in, regardless of genre.Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based sales outlet New Europe Film Sales has sold its 3D family animation “A Mystery on the Cattle Hill Express,” directed by Will Ashurst, to Viva Kids for North America. The third part in the “Cattle Hill” series is a detective story about the little cow Clara and her friend Gavin who join forces with the world famous detective Agatha Chichester to unveil the thief of a revolutionary Nano-seed stolen from a high-tech laboratory train. New Europe has also sold the film to South Korea (First Run) and South Africa (Red Dot Digitals) and, as previously announced, France (Alba Films), Poland (New Horizons), JUST4KIDS in Benelux, Neo Films in Greece, Birfilm in Turkey, FILMS4YOU in Portugal and Arthousetraffic in Ukraine.

2024 GRAMMY Awards will feature three new categories.The Recording Academy announced on Tuesday that next year's 66th annual GRAMMY Awards will include trophies for Best African Music Performance, Best Alternative Jazz Album and Best Pop Dance Recording. Additionally, the GRAMMYs are moving two categories -- Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical and Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical — to the General Field, allowing all GRAMMY voters to cast their vote for the categories.«The Recording Academy is proud to announce these latest Category changes to our Awards process,» said Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, in a press release. «These changes reflect our commitment to actively listen and respond to the feedback from our music community, accurately represent a diverse range of relevant musical genres, and stay aligned with the ever-evolving musical landscape.»«By introducing these three new Categories, we are able to acknowledge and appreciate a broader array of artists — and relocating the Producer Of the Year and Songwriter Of The Year Categories to the General Field ensures that all our voters can participate in recognizing excellence in these fields,» the statement continues. «We are excited to honor and celebrate the creators and recordings in these Categories, while also exposing a wider range of music to fans worldwide.»Read more about the new categories below: A track and singles category that recognizes recordings that utilize unique local expressions from across the African continent.

The Recording Academy has added three new categories for the 2024 Grammys!

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “The Inseparables,” Jérémie Degruson’s ambitious animated feature competing this week at Annecy festival, has been sold to a raft of territories by Octopolis and nWave. Based on an original idea by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow, the Oscar-nominated writers of “Toy Story,” “The Inseparables” follows the misadventures of Don, a runaway puppet with a boundless imagination and, DJ Doggy Dog, an abandoned stuffed animal toy in need of a friend. Don and DJ Doggy Dog cross paths in Central Park and pair up against all odds for an epic adventure of friendship in New York City. The film was penned by Bob Barlen and Cal Brunker. Budgeted at $25 million, “The Inseparables” was produced by nWave Studios in Belgium, Octopolis in France and A Contracorriente Films in Spain.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The Recording Academy has added three new categories for the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, it announced today: Best African Music Performance, Best Alternative Jazz Album, and Best Pop Dance Recording. Last year’s new additions included songwriter of the year and song for social change. Additionally, the existing categories of producer of the year, non-classical and songwriter of the year, non-classical will be moved to the general field — meaning that all Grammy voters will be allowed to vote in those categories, which previously were “craft” or specialized categories, along with engineering, packaging and the like, for which only members working in those areas voted.

Godfather of Harlem and a beloved member of the MGM+ and ABC Signature families,” MGM+ and ABC Signature said in a statement. “Working on the series was a labor of love for Paul who based the show in part on his family’s personal history.