Nolala Appeals To Artists And Music Lovers To Add A Category For 'Best Story' To The Grammys

On Sunday, February 10th, the Grammy Awards ceremony, known for presenting the most prestigious music prizes in the world, will take place for the 61st time. The Recording Academy praises music professionals for achievements in 84 categories.

From Record of The Year to Best Recording Packaging, and Best Comedy Album to Best Long Form Music Video, all aspects of music production and performance are highly commended. That is except for one essential part of music: the lyrics.

Marjolijn Winten, founder of Dutch lyrics platform, Nolala, aspires to change this by appealing to the music industry and its audiences to support her mission. On Sunday February 3rd, she starts a campaign with the ambitious goal of adding a Grammy category for 'Best Story' in 2020. Singer-songwriter Gavin James, amongst other artists, has already shown his support for the initiative.

For four months, Winten will appeal to as many artists and music lovers as possible to share their most powerful stories about lyrics on Nolala.com.

Why do lyrics deserve more appreciation?

Research* shows that 2/3 of people cannot recall the message in a song. Even so, people who do pay attention to the meaning, state that the lyrics can make a huge difference:

• It makes the highs in your life even more powerful and carries you through the lows;
• The connection with an artist intensifies deeply when they move you with their lyrics;
• Your concert experience becomes more intense;
• It can prevent awkward situations. You wouldn't want to play a song about cheating on your wedding ceremony, right? This happens quite often!

Lyrics aren't just an essential part of music as an artform, but also in the experience of the listener. With this campaign, I want to raise more attention and appreciation for it , says Marjolijn Winten.

She proposes a new Grammy category for 'Best Story', in which the message as well as the form of a song are valued. Songs with societal themes like This is America by Childish Gambino or Pray by Sam Smith could be eligible. Additionally, songs about personal themes could be nominated, for example Natural from Imagine Dragons.

To convince the Recording Academy about the importance of the stories in music, Marjolijn will appeal to musicians, listeners and online audiences to support her. How?

• She will discuss the value of lyrics with artists and songwriters;
• She will gather the most beautiful stories of music lovers about lyrics that have a special meaning to them;
• At Nolala.com music lovers can nominate songs that deserve a Best Story award according to them.

The aim is to award the first Grammy for Best Story at the 62nd ceremony in January 2020.

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