{"id":569989,"date":"2026-08-01T08:00:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T08:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/569989\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T08:00:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T08:00:26","slug":"bts-boycott-grammy-awards-will-other-artists-follow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/569989\/","title":{"rendered":"BTS Boycott Grammy Awards. Will Other Artists Follow?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOn July 29 \u2014 a month after the Recording Academy created a new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category for the Grammy Awards<\/a> \u2014 the seven BTS<\/a> members shared a collective message<\/a> on their individual Instagram accounts that made international headlines. \u201cWe have decided not to submit an entry for Grammy consideration this year,\u201d they wrote. \u201cWe hope music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language. We thank [our fandom] ARMY and everyone who has always stood by us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMany focused on RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook\u2019s choice to relay their message in Korean, rather than English. That choice was widely interpreted as indicating their unwillingness to be marginalized and then funneled into a niche category that is widely speculated to have been created as a way to deal with the popularity of K-pop<\/a> without rewarding the artists in more equitable general fields like Album of the Year or Record of the Year. (Grammy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. moved quickly to respond, saying<\/a> he was \u201csaddened\u201d by BTS\u2019 decision and adding, \u201cThe Asian Pop category was created to celebrate the depth, diversity and extraordinary growth of pop artistry coming out of Asia\u2026More categories mean more artists\u2019 work is recognized.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\n\tJust as notably, though, few other musicians have openly joined BTS\u2019 Grammy boycott. Experts say that\u2019s because BTS<\/a> occupy a unique position in the music business in 2026. Their surprising decision follows the immense success of their critically-acclaimed album Arirang<\/a>. The album was released in March after the group returned from fulfilling their mandatory military duty, a requirement of almost all able-bodied South Korean men; it immediately topped charts around the world and won rave reviews.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTo me, [BTS\u2019 decision] signals that they have reached a point in their career where they no longer feel the need to seek validation from Western institutions,\u201d Hye Jin Lee, a University of Southern California professor who specializes in Korean pop culture, tells Rolling Stone. \u201cThat\u2019s a very different position from where they were five or six years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if she believes other Korean and Asian artists might follow their lead, Lee points to reports<\/a> that BTS\u2019 management company, HYBE, plans to continue submitting work from other artists. \u201cHYBE made it clear that this was BTS\u2019 decision and that other artists under the label are free to make their own choices. More importantly though, there simply aren\u2019t many Korean or Asian artists with BTS\u2019 level of global influence at the moment. Even if another artist made the same decision, I\u2019m not convinced it would generate the same level of discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tAs expected, BTS\u2019 loyal ARMY have supported the group\u2019s decision and called out the Grammys for being clueless. Some well-known creatives have also celebrated BTS\u2019 stance online. Maggie Kang, the Korean Canadian co-director of the hit animated film KPop Demon Hunters<\/a>, shared a news article about BTS\u2019 statement and added the clapping emoji. Tablo<\/a>, the leader of the Korean hip-hop trio Epik High<\/a>, shared RM\u2019s Instagram story and added, \u201cARIRANG > Grammys.\u201d Likewise, Bang Yong-guk of B.A.P \u2014 a K-pop group that debuted in 2012 \u2014 shared a news story about BTS and the Grammys with his Instagram followers. Korean American actor Daniel Dae Kim, who also hosts CNN\u2019s K-Everything series, did the same.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\tFor some observers, this controversy recalls the Grammys\u2019 choice in 1989 to create a Hard Rock\/Metal category to honor those genres. In one of their most memorable mishaps, the voting members gave the inaugural award to the progressive rock band Jethro Tull, best known for its work in the Seventies, rather than to a current hard rock or metal act like Metallica<\/a> or AC\/DC.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Grammys couldn\u2019t differentiate between hard rock and prog rock back then. And now, almost four decades later, it appears they have oversimplified what Asian Pop even is \u2014 the most relevant point being that Asia is not a genre, it\u2019s a continent composed of about 50 countries. Are the Grammys hoping that most viewers will assume the category centers on East Asian countries like South Korea, Japan, and China that already have idol systems in place \u2014 rather than nominees from, say, Syria or Kyrgyzstan?<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Academy is made up of many people and I am sure some of them saw this [new category] as being inclusive,\u201d professor and K-pop expert CedarBough T. Saeji of Pusan National University tells Rolling Stone via email. \u201cBut nothing about Record of the Year, or Song of the Year, or Best Pop Duo\/Group Performance needs to exclude music made by non-Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnton Hur, one of the co-translators of the group\u2019s bestselling book Beyond the Story: 10-Year Record of BTS, wrote<\/a> on social media, \u201cI love what BTS did, this was the right decision. I often count the number of POC\/Asian nominees in a book prize longlist, and when I see just one, I can tell immediately it was the token pick. \u2026 BTS was always being used to shore up viewer numbers for the Grammys. Now they\u2019re telling the Grammys to fcuk [sic] off. Good for them. I hope the rest of Korea learns from this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tProducer and songwriter Sleep Deez was part of the Black Eyed Peas\u2019 Grammy-winning album The E.N.D. and has previously collaborated with BTS. \u201cI genuinely want Asian artists to receive recognition,\u201d he tells Rolling Stone. \u201cMy concern isn\u2019t with honoring Asian music, it\u2019s with how that recognition is structured. Same with the Best African Music Performance category Grammy [introduced in 2024]. It\u2019s a first step, but Africa has over 50 countries with different cultural and sonic influences that have trickled into western pop over the past decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn other words, recognition matters, but true, impartial inclusion matters even more. \u201cThe long-term goal should be for artists from Korea, Japan, the Philippines, India, or anywhere else to compete naturally in the same categories as everyone else,\u201d he continues. \u201cThat\u2019s what true global acceptance looks like. Music should be competing based on artistic excellence, not separated by geography or ethnicity. Imagine creating a category specifically because of where artists come from rather than allowing them to compete alongside everyone else. Even if the intention is positive, it can unintentionally reinforce the idea that they\u2019re playing in a separate league.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On July 29 \u2014 a month after the Recording Academy created a new Best Asian Pop Music Performance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":569990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1845,146,52559,85,46,715,409],"class_list":["post-569989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-bts","tag-entertainment","tag-grammy-awards","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-k-pop","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=569989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/569990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=569989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=569989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=569989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}