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The Recording Academy hired\u00a0Valeisha Butterfield Jones\u00a0as\u00a0chief\u00a0diversity, equity and inclusion officer. (Photo: Courtesy of the Recording Academy)<\/span><\/p>\n It also hired\u00a0Valeisha Butterfield Jones\u00a0as\u00a0chief\u00a0diversity, equity and inclusion officer. She previously worked in a similar role\u00a0for Google and was\u00a0the Obama for America campaign’s youth vote director.<\/p>\n “I think that really started our momentum in the right direction,” Mason\u00a0says\u00a0in a joint interview with Butterfield Jones. She added that the tone for diversity, equity and inclusion starts at the top and that she feels supported in her work.<\/p>\n “I’ve been in the space now for over 20 years, and I’ve never seen such an appetite and real commitment for change than I do now, from this organization,” Butterfield Jones says.<\/p>\n She\u00a0points\u00a0out this year’s new membership class\u00a0is the most representative\u00a0across race and ethnicity, age and gender that the academy has had in years.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lil Nas X,\u00a0Victoria Mon\u00e9t and Le’Andria Johnson were among the 2,300 people\u00a0invited to join the academy’s ranks.\u00a0Of the invitees, 48% were women, 21% of African American\/African\u00a0descent,\u00a08% Hispanic and\u00a03% Asian American\/Pacific Islander descent (before the invitations, membership was 26% female and 25% traditionally underrepresented\u00a0communities).\u00a0Nearly three-quarters accepted\u00a0invitations to become members, according to the academy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n “It’s one thing to invite new members, it’s another thing for them to say yes,” Butterfield Jones\u00a0says. “To me, it signals that the community is watching and really believing in the change that we hope to be.”<\/p>\n Grammy predictions 2021: <\/strong>Who will and should win this year’s biggest awards?<\/span><\/p>\n More on the Color of Change work: <\/strong>After Grammy nominations outcry, Recording Academy steps up efforts to support Black musicians<\/span><\/p>\n The\u00a0Recording Academy\u00a0recognized the Black community with nominations this year in major categories \u2013 Beyonc\u00e9 got nine, the most for any nominee, including record of the year and song of the year, and\u00a0hip-hop chart-toppers\u00a0Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby and\u00a0Roddy Ricch\u00a0were recognized with record of the year nods.\u00a0<\/p>\n The major categories of record of the year, song of the year and best new artist honored Black and female musicians. Women in country music and rock had a strong showing, too. Ashley McBryde, Brandy Clark, Miranda Lambert and Ingrid Andress scored best country album nominations. Andress is also nominated for best new artist. For the first time in Grammys history, all the\u00a0best rock performance nominees are women or women-fronted groups.\u00a0<\/p>\n "It's been a challenge to always make everybody happy,\u00a0and that's something that is constantly at play for the academy, probably any awards show, for that matter," Harvey Mason Jr. says. (Photo: Courtesy of the Recording Academy)<\/span><\/p>\n Mason is hoping to avoid vitriol from fans this Grammys night \u2013 though it seems inevitable no matter who wins, given the fact chart-topper\u00a0The Weeknd failed to score a nod, prompting him to tweet\u00a0“The Grammys remain corrupt. You owe me, my fans and the industry transparency.” On Thursday, just days before this year’s ceremony, the signer whose real name is\u00a0Abel Tesfaye, said\u00a0he plans to boycott the Grammys \u201cbecause of the secret committees,\u201d according to a\u00a0statement.<\/p>\n “It’s been a challenge to always make everybody happy,\u00a0and that’s something that is constantly at play for the academy, probably any awards show, for that matter,” he says.<\/p>\n Mason says focusing on having a voting body with membership that\u00a0is up-to-date, relevant and representative will ultimately make a difference.\u00a0<\/p>\n “That’s where we have to continue to focus and continue to improve and continue to invest our resources and making sure that we’re attracting the right members, so that we can continue to honor and respect the right music,” he\u00a0says.<\/p>\n A deeper look at 2021 nominations: <\/strong>Grammy nominations show Recording Academy has made progress on diversity goals \u2013 but not enough<\/span><\/p>\n Trio of best children’s group Grammy contenders decline nominations<\/strong>over lack of diversity<\/span><\/p>\n Sean “Diddy” Combs, winner of the Industry Icon award at the\u00a0Clive Davis pre-Grammy Gala\u00a0before last year’s ceremony, challenged the industry to get its act together in the next year when it comes to diversity.<\/p>\n “Truth be told, hip-hop has never been respected by the Grammys,” he said. “Black music has never been respected by the Grammys to the point that it should be.”<\/p>\n In case you missed: <\/strong>‘Hip-hop has never been respected’: Diddy slams Grammys in scathing Clive Davis event speech<\/span><\/p>\n His call to action and efforts from the Recording Academy\u00a0did not improve this year’s album of the year nominations.<\/p>\n Those nominees were glaringly not inclusive, with only two out of eight nominations going to Black artists (Jhen\u00e9 Aiko\u00a0is also Japanese, Dominican, and Native American.) Nominee\u00a0Jacob Collier\u00a0is part-Chinese.<\/p>\n “I was at that party,” Mason recalls. “I had just given (Diddy)\u00a0his award. I shook his hand,\u00a0I went down, sat down at my table. And then he started and honestly,\u00a0Itended to agree with him in some respects. And I know that’s slightly controversial, but I ran as chair because I thought the academy could\u00a0be better, and\u00a0I thought we could do things differently and I thought there needed to be some change. I thought it was overdue.”<\/p>\n As soon as Butterfield Jones saw Diddy’s speech, she wanted to be a part of the solution.<\/p>\n “My grandparents used to always say some people are burned by the fire, others are defined by it,” she says.<\/p>\n Changing how Black music is viewed at the Academy\u00a0has been a priority for Mason, as all as how\u00a0Black\u00a0music is represented\u00a0in its awards.<\/p>\n “I hope that\u00a0anyone who may still be critical of the work that’s done, I invite you to join us and be our partner,” Butterfield Jones says. “We have not taken\u00a0our foot off the gas since that speech. And quite frankly, the work began before that.”<\/p>\nWhat will a successful Grammys look like?<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\n‘I thought the Academy could do better’<\/h2>\n