There it is again, that funny feeling … that the Grammys are making another controversial decision. As the Recording Academy prepares to vote on nominations for the 2022 awards, Bo Burnham’s album Inside (The Songs) will not be eligible in the Best Comedy Album category where it was submitted, Billboard reports. Instead, it will be moved to Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, a category that traditionally honors film and television soundtracks, per a decision made by an Academy genre-screening committee. The move comes despite Inside (The Songs) being one of the highest-charting comedy albums in recent years, hitting No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Comedy Albums chart and No. 7 on the Billboard 200. It’s the second such public genre switch in recent days, after the Recording Academy moved Kacey Musgraves’s Star-crossed from Best Country Album to Best Pop Vocal Album against the wishes of her label.
In Burnham’s case, the rules and guidelines for the upcoming 64th Grammy Awards note that “musical/novelty recordings” are eligible for Best Comedy Album, as are albums recorded “as part of a video project.” Meanwhile, Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media recognizes albums that are “predominantly song or non-original instrumental compositions, created specifically for or as a companion to, a current legitimate motion picture, television show or series, video game, or other visual media production.” If Inside (The Songs) is nominated for Best Compilation Soundtrack, the main difference would be that it would compete primarily against movie and TV soundtrack albums, rather than other comedy-special albums. Burnham has also submitted the song “All Eyes on Me” for Best Song Written for Visual Media, the counterpart songwriting category, as well as Best Pop Solo Performance, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year, while Inside (The Songs) is submitted for Album of the Year.
