BTS
The male group BTS has chosen the path of preserving its dignity as an artist rather than a Grammy trophy.
It is neither because the possibility of winning an award was low that they withdrew, nor because they had no connection with the Grammys that they pulled out of the game. BTS, who climbed step by step up to the Grammy nomination and a solo performance, instead decided not to submit their application at the moment when they were closest to a first award.
All members of BTS revealed their position on July 29 via their personal social media: ““We have decided not to submit our application to the Grammys this year. We hope that music can be heard and loved as music itself, rather than being divided by region or language.”“
BTS received love globally by occupying both the top of the main album chart and the single chart of Billboard in the United States with their 5th studio album ““ARIRANG”” released last March. Furthermore, with this album, they also received the grand prize “Artist of the Year” at the “2026 American Music Awards”, one of the 3 major popular music award ceremonies in the United States. What is more, ““ARIRANG”” is an album with high creative participation from the artists, something to which the Grammys attach importance.
Despite these results, the view that the recently created category “Best Asian Pop Music Performance” had a direct influence on the decision of BTS not to submit their application is dominant. The interpretation is that they revealed their critical awareness of the problem through the method of refusing to apply when the Grammys grouped music from the Asian zone like Korea, China, and Japan last month by language category.
The Recording Academy, which organizes the Grammys, decided to introduce the category “Best Asian Pop Music Performance” starting from the 69th edition of the “Grammy Awards” which will be held next February. Pop music started or widely recognized in the Asian market like K-pop, J-pop, and C-pop is the subject. Although it judges according to musical style rather than the race or nationality of the artist, the condition according to which one or more Asian languages must be used significantly is added. Songs made solely in English cannot submit their application in this category.
The title song “Swim” from ““ARIRANG”“, which occupied 1st place in the main Billboard single chart “Hot 100”, has its lyrics written solely in English and cannot become a candidate for the newly created category. Although the group representing Asia released an album named ““ARIRANG”” containing a Korean sentiment, it was excluded from “Asian pop” for the reason that the lyrics of the title song are in English.
In the end, the application qualification for Asian music defined by the Grammys is separated by the language used in the lyrics rather than the cultural context of the artist or the context of the work. This contrasts with the “Best African Music Performance” newly created by the Grammys in 2024, which did not require the use of a specific language and took as criteria the musical expression and cultural characteristics of Africa and the diaspora.
The problem is not to know whether BTS can become a candidate in the newly created category. It resides in the structure where an Asian artist is classified in existing pop if they sing in English, and in a separate regional music if they use an Asian language. While the Grammys can no longer ignore the influence of Asian music like K-pop, suspicions arise as to whether they have not created a separate channel for non-English music instead of widening the door to the main categories. According to the regulations, songs using an Asian language can also challenge other categories, but if a separate category is created, the fear that they will only be evaluated inside of it is great.
The Grammys have been criticized for this problem for a long time. Although they have not officially divided candidate qualifications according to race, the remark according to which they concentrate the music of Black artists into specific genre categories like rap and R&B, and do not recognize it sufficiently in the major main prizes like “Album of the Year”, “Record of the Year”, and “Song of the Year”, has been repeated.
The designation urban, which broadly grouped Black music, also became a controversy in the same context. TYLER, THE CREATOR criticized in 2020 the fact that even if a Black artist creates music that exceeds the boundaries of genres, they are classified in the rap or urban categories. As this remark spread to the whole musical world, the Recording Academy changed ‘Best Urban Contemporary Album’ to ‘Best Progressive R&B Album’.
The same year, “Best World Music Album” also changed its name to “Best Global Music Album”. It was a measure reflecting the criticism according to which the expression “World Music” contained a colonialist perspective placing the music of the Western world at the center and grouping the rest of the music as “non-American music”.
The fact that the Grammys recognized in the past the problems of encompassing regional designations but again placed Asian music into the sole category of ‘Asian pop’ therefore appears all the more as a discriminatory step backward.
The fact that “Swim” is not the subject of the newly created category makes on the contrary the meaning of this refusal to apply clearer. BTS gave up even the opportunity to challenge the existing pop category and the major main prizes with ““ARIRANG”” and “Swim”. They posed the problem of the criterion itself which divides music by region and language rather than by the trophy.
For “Best Asian Pop Music Performance” to be recognized as an inclusion, Asian music must continuously be nominated and awarded outside of this category as well. If the distinction according to which it is global pop if one sings in English and “Asian pop” if one sings in an Asian language consolidates, it is not an extension of opportunities but a discrimination.
Music has no boundaries. However, the Grammys have raised a fence around music with language. The responsibility to prove whether this boundary is the entrance leading Asian music toward the main categories, or another ceiling making it remain solely inside, now falls upon the Grammys.
Journalist: Shawn
Translator: Shawn
Source: SNS BTS
