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K-pop superstars BTS will not submit their music for consideration for 2027 Grammy Awards.
Writing on Instagram, each member of the South Korean band said: “We have decided not to enter the Grammys this year.” A translation of the message continued: “I hope that music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language.”
That last segment of the posts seemingly refers to the addition of a new award for Best Asian Pop Music performance.
According to Academy president Harvey Mason Jr, the new category was added due to “our music community sharing with us that they felt they needed to have more opportunities to celebrate different and new genres of music.”
However, the decision to add this category, as well as the regionally specific Best Latin song award, has been met with backlash. Many see it as a way of sidelining acts from markets which are hardly “new” and distancing artists from territories like Asia from the top categories.
BTS has been nominated for a Grammy five times but never won, and Asian pop artists have traditionally been ignored by the US-centric awards show.
This year, ‘Golden’ from KPop Demon Hunters did win best song written for visual media, but stood out for being the first win for a K-pop act. Many fans felt that this win was long overdue, and that the new Grammy categories will only erect barriers and limit chances of winning in other categories.
The new Asian pop category requires “meaningful use” of an Asian language. BTS’ recent material on their hugely successful album ‘Arirang’ is predominantly sung in English, meaning that it may not have been eligible for the new category anyway, despite its traditional Korean title and themes.
Released in March, ‘Arirang’ debuted at No.1 in various territories, including the Billboard 200 in the US, South Korea’s Circle Chart, Japan’s Oricon Charts, and the UK Official Albums Chart.
BTS fans, known as ARMY, have taken to social media to share their reaction to the group not submitting their music for the 2027 Grammys, calling out the organisation but applauding their favourite band for doing the right thing.
One fan wrote: “The gag is BTS knew they would’ve had a near guaranteed Grammy win with this new Asian pop category but understand that cosigning this category wld mean that ultimately asian language acts would be gatekept out of the main/general categories.”
“Watching BTS go from wanting a Grammy more than anything to realizing they’re bigger than the Grammys,” one commented, while another said: “Some people spend their careers trying to get invited. BTS simply decided they don’t need an invitation anymore. Their music has already reached millions of people around the world. That’s worth more than a Grammy.”
The 2027 Grammy ceremony will take place on 7 February in Los Angeles.