The 2025 Grammy Awards season is officially underway with the highly anticipated nomination ceremony taking place today, Friday, 8 November 2024.

As the Recording Academy gears up for another year of celebrating musical excellence, this year marks a turning point with significant changes to the awards structure.

In an effort to “enhance the integrity and inclusivity” of the GRAMMYs, the Academy has redefined several award categories, aiming to better reflect the diverse and evolving landscape of the music industry.

These updates were outlined in a recent statement from the Academy, and are designed to celebrate a wider variety of musical genres and styles.

Notable changes include the introduction of the new Best Dance Pop Recording category, which replaces the previous Best Pop Dance Recording category, as well as a reshuffling of the Best Remixed Recording category, now positioned within the Pop & Dance/Electronic Field.

These adjustments are in line with the Academy’s broader commitment to evolving with the industry’s shifts, ensuring a more inclusive awards process.

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. shared that the changes are part of a broader effort to “empower creators” and better support the industry’s evolution.

In a message to voting members, Mason emphasized the GRAMMY Awards’ legacy, noting that the prestigious event has been a staple of the music industry for 67 years and that “every vote can shape the future of music.”

The Grammy nominations are the result of months of voting and deliberation, starting with the entry period in July and the initial voting rounds in October.

The official announcement today sets the stage for the grand finale—the 67th GRAMMY Awards ceremony on Sunday, 2 February, 2025, to be broadcast live from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

In addition to the category updates, the Academy has made revisions to eligibility and submission guidelines, particularly in the Songwriter of the Year category. This year, songwriters will qualify with fewer songs, broadening the pool and allowing more voices to be heard.

Bimbo Manuel, the ace Nigerian actor, has shared his opinion on the realities of the country’s film industry.

In a recent appearance on TVC’s ‘Your View,’ Manuel also argued that no Nollywood actor can afford a Range Rover solely through acting fees.

During the conversation, the actor addressed a host’s observation that Hollywood actors openly disclose their fees, whereas Nollywood actors rarely do. He attributed this disparity to differing industry norms.

The 66-year-old also responded to one of the hosts’ questions about actors riding Range Rovers.

“The actors you see flaunting Range Rovers and mansions in Ikoyi are living fake lives. There is no actor in Nigeria that would say he or she can buy a Range Rover from acting fees alone,” he said.

The starting prices range from $42,650 (N72,505,000) for the Range Rover Evoque base trim to $178,500 (N303,150,000) for Range Rover top-level trim.

Several entertainers previously aired their opinions on the long-standing controversy surrounding Nollywood actors’ sources of income.

In 2022, Ali Baba, the comedian, took a swipe at Nollywood actresses who flaunt unexplained wealth.

Funsho Adeolu, the Nollywood actor, also echoed the comedian’s sentiment, questioning the sources of wealth of some of his female colleagues.

Responding, Ini Edo, the film star, slammed critics who question the sources of wealth of actresses, saying such a “conversation is a sad one”.

Edo said actors and actresses do not need an open declaration of assets because of “people’s validation”.

One Direction star Liam Payne consumed cocaine, alcohol and a prescription antidepressant before falling to his death from a Buenos Aires hotel balcony last month, Argentine prosecutors said Thursday.

The prosecutor’s office added that three people were charged with supplying him with drugs and one of them was also charged with abandoning a person in a vulnerable state.

“The results of the toxicological studies, which have been communicated to his family, revealed that, in the moments prior to his death and over a period covering at least his last 72 hours, Payne had traces of polydrug use of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his body,” the prosecutors said.

Payne was found dead on October 16 after plunging from the balcony of his third-floor room at the CasaSur Hotel in the Argentine capital.

An autopsy found he died after sustaining “multiple traumas” and “internal and external hemorrhaging” from the fall.

One of the highest-grossing live acts in the world in the 2010s, One Direction went on indefinite hiatus in 2016.

Payne went on to enjoy a degree of solo success but his career had languished recently.

His death at age 31 prompted a global outpouring of grief and condolences from family, former bandmates, fans and others.

– Three charged with drugs supply –

Prosecutors said one of the three people charged in the case had accompanied him on a daily basis during his stay in Buenos Aires and was charged with abandoning a person who later died as well as supplying him with narcotics.

The second suspect is a hotel employee accused of twice supplying Payne with cocaine while he was staying at the CasaSur. A third person is also accused of supplying him with the drug on October 14, two days before his death.

The prosecution ruled out self-harm and the “physical intervention of third parties” as the cause of Payne’s death, saying that the injuries he sustained were compatible with those caused by a fall.

“Payne was either not fully conscious or was in a state of markedly diminished or absent consciousness at the time of the fall,” the report said.

He was found dead after hotel staff called emergency services to report “a guest who is overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol, and destroying his room.”

The toxicological report was published a day after the singer’s father Geoff Payne repatriated his body to Britain aboard a flight from Buenos Aires to London.

Payne’s death has prompted a debate about whether the music industry has a duty of care for the mental health of stars who find fame at a young age.

The singer from Wolverhampton in central England had spoken publicly about struggles with substance abuse and the pressures of teenage stardom.

He first auditioned for the hugely popular television talent show “The X Factor” at the age of 14 but was unsuccessful.

Two years later he hit gold on the program, which teamed him up with Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik to form One Direction.

Over the next six years, the group enjoyed global fame and legions of screaming fans, selling more than 70 million copies of their five albums. They went on four world tours and won nearly 200 awards.