I don't disagree with you. But it would be very hard for an artist like Diana to compete with contemporary artists in the R&B category. Perhaps they are using this category to also honor the classic artist, who couldn't compete fairly in the other categories. It should not be that way. That is like categorizing music by age. The link gave this definition of the category
The Recording Academy introduced this category in 1991 as a way to honor the music that by that point had a hard time competing in the pop categories. The first winner was a single, Natalie Cole’s “Unforgettable,” a duet with her late father Nat King Cole, but all subsequent winners have been full-length albums.
Here’s the description of the category from the current Grammy rules and guidelines booklet: “This category is for performances of a type and style of song that cannot properly be intermingled with present forms of pop music. This includes older forms of traditional pop such as the Great American Songbook, created by the Broadway, Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley songwriter of the period between the 1920s and the end of World War II, as well as cabaret/musical theater-style songs and previous forms of contemporary pop. This would also include contemporary pop songs performed in a traditional pop style – the term ‘traditional’ being a reference, equally, to the style of the composition, vocal styling and the instrumental arrangement, without regard to the age of the material.”
Kind of confusing, but when I read between the lines, it kind of says that this category is for older artists who could not fairly compete in the regular categories. Of course we can make between the lines say anything we want them to say, so that proves nothing
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