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BTS have taken themselves out of the running for the 2027 Grammy Awards just weeks after the Recording Academy introduced their new Best Asian Pop Performance category.
Choosing not to submit their music for consideration ahead of the ceremony, happening on February 1st, in LA, the decision has come in after the fans noted that one of the BTS’ chart topping English language single SWIM wouldn't have qualified for in the first place because it requires meaningful use of an Asian language.
In a coordinated statement shared in Korean across all seven members' Instagram Stories, the group said they hoped music would be "heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language."
Last month, the Recording Academy unveiled five new Grammy categories, among them Best Asian Pop Music Performance, created to recognize artists working across K-pop, J-pop, C-pop and other Asian pop traditions. On paper, the move was apparently meant to expand recognition. In practice, it has reopened a conversation that has followed international music for years, and continues to do so.
Many artists and fans have questioned why Asian pop needs a separate category at all. Western pop is rarely ever defined by where it originates from, while music from Asia continues to be viewed through a ‘regional’ lens, even if it caters to similar audiences, or tops the same charts. Rather than directly criticising the Recording Academy, the group questioned the idea of music being categorized by geography or language primarily.
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. responded soon after BTS's announcement, saying he was saddened by the group's decision but respected it.
In a public statement, Mason said the Best Asian Pop Music Performance category was introduced to celebrate the "depth, diversity and extraordinary growth" of pop artistry coming out of Asia. He also emphasized that artists entered into the category remain eligible for the General Field awards, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year, adding that recognition in a genre-specific category and the General Field are "not mutually exclusive."
The Recording Academy has said the category is meant to expand recognition rather than create divisions, arguing that more categories simply allow more artists and more kinds of music to be acknowledged.
The same questions have come up around other artists. Earlier this year, Bad Bunny's Debí Tirar Más Fotos became the first Spanish-language album to win Album of the Year, before the Recording Academy introduced a new Best Latin Song category. Around the same time, following Beyoncé's historic success with Cowboy Carter, the country field was split into Contemporary and Traditional categories. For many artists and listeners, changes like these have raised concerns that recognition is increasingly being tied to narrower classifications rather than allowing music to compete on the same stage.
Awards shows have attracted criticism for their blind spots over the years, and the Grammys are no exception. Artists including The Weeknd, Frank Ocean, Drake and Morgan Wallen have all publicly distanced themselves from the awards or questioned their relevance for different reasons.
ARIRANG was widely expected to appear across several major Grammy categories this year. Even then, BTS decided not to put the album forward. What BTS has done is bring the question of how global music is recognised back to the centre of this year's Grammy cycle. While some fans have applauded the decision, others are understandably disappointed that the group will not be in contention for music's biggest prize. The bigger question however, is this: as the Grammys continue to evolve, how should they recognise music that has travelled beyond linguistic boundaries?
