BTS walks away from the Grammys, sparking questions over Recording Academy's 'authority'

BTS made a bombshell announcement Wednesday that it will not pursue a Grammy nomination this year, walking away from the one major accolade that has eluded the group.

While fans celebrated the decision as a stand against an institution long criticized for alleged racial bias, experts say that it also points to a more fundamental question: Should the Grammys be treated as the ultimate benchmark for BTS’s — or even K-pop’s — success in the first place?

At around 2 p.m. Wednesday, all seven BTS members simultaneously posted the same message on their respective Instagram accounts: “We have decided not to submit to the Grammys this year. We hope music can be heard and embraced for what it is, beyond region or language. Thank you to ARMY [BTS’s fandom] and everyone who continues to support us.”

The decision appears to be a pointed rebuke of the Recording Academy’s introduction of five new categories announced in June, including Best Asian Pop Music Performance, which the academy described as part of “its ongoing commitment to reflecting today’s dynamic musical landscape.”

As the newly introduced Asian Pop Music Performance recognizes performances “originating from or widely recognized in Asian markets,” BTS had been widely regarded as the most obvious contender to receive the inaugural trophy for its fifth full-length album, “Arirang,” which came after a nearly four-year hiatus.

BTS has already earned widespread recognition and the hardware to go with it from nearly every major mainstream U.S. music awards show, most recently winning Artist of the Year for the second time at the American Music Awards in May. The Grammys, however, remained the one major honor missing from the group’s long list of accolades, prompting repeated speculation every awards season over whether BTS would finally secure a win.

The academy's latest rule change, however, drew strong backlash from fans, who criticized the new category as exclusionary rather than inclusive. Some interpreted it as segregating Asian pop from the Western mainstream and potentially justifying its continued exclusion from major honors, including nominations in the so-called Big Four categories — Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist.

“The announcement could be seen as a challenge to the Grammys’ conservative stance,” said music critic Lim Hee-yun, noting that this was not the first time the academy has faced criticism over its award categories.

One prominent example was Best Urban Contemporary, which was renamed to Best Progressive R&B Album in 2020 following objections from the music industry, including blunt criticism from Tyler, the Creator after he won Best Rap Album at that year’s Grammys.

“When an artist with BTS’s social influence argues, ‘do not confine us to an Asian pop category,’ and that message gains widespread traction, the Grammys could end up moving in a more inclusive direction,” Lim said.

At the same time, however, Lim argued that whether the Recording Academy introduced such a category should not be assigned too much significance, as the Grammys were never designed as a celebration of global music nor as a comprehensive representation of the global music scene.

“It is essentially a case of people selling records in the American market sorting their products according to their own criteria,” Lim added. “The backlash may be fiercer because of the myth surrounding the Grammys’ authority, but I do not believe there is any need to obsess over winning one.”

Pop culture critic Kim Hern-sik described BTS’s decision as “dealing the Grammys a blow,” saying that he viewed the apparent boycott positively, particularly given BTS’s symbolic position in the global pop landscape.

“With Asian pop separated into its own category, it seemed almost certain that BTS would win,” Kim said. “It does not matter much whether BTS wins the award or not in the separated category.”

But Kim also pointed out that the Recording Academy’s criteria cannot gauge K-pop’s influence or success. Western notions of pop artistry, he argued, have largely centered on individual creators making music that listeners passively receive, while K-pop is built around interaction between artists and fans.

The Recording Academy is currently accepting entries for the 69th Grammy Awards, with the online entry period running from July 7 through Aug. 21. The nominees will be announced on Nov. 16, and the ceremony will take place in Los Angeles on Feb. 7 next year.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [[email protected]]