Pop royalty BTS has decided not to submit their record-breaking comeback album Arirang for next year's Grammy nominations. All 7 members of the band announced the decision on their Instagram accounts in identical posts.
Leader RM’s post read, “We have decided not to submit (our music) to the Grammys this year. We hope that music can be heard and loved for its own sake rather than being distinguished by region and language. Thank you to ARMY and everyone who is always by us.” Fans supported the announcement online.
In June, the Recording Academy introduced the controversial ‘Best Asian Pop’ category, which would include K-Pop groups such as BTS. The Grammys said that the intention behind the new category was to highlight pop in Asian languages such as K-pop, Japanese J-pop and Chinese C-Pop.
"Asian Pop is one of the most important and enduring forces in the global music industry," the Recording Academy explained. This is the first time the Academy have introduced a special category exclusively for ‘Asian music’.
The introduction of the category instantly received backlash from music fans as it left out other Asian countries from the category. Entertainment media outlets also immediately named BTS as the leading contenders for a win in the category.
Fans of the band expressed their concerns online, questioning the intentions behind the category. They claimed that it was a method to 'segregate' Asian music from entering the main Grammy categories.
Out of the 100 Grammy awards given annually, only six are considered the main categories: Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Non-Classical Producer, Non-Classical Composer, and Best New Artist.
Analysts say that the introduction of the new category was also a deliberate move targeting BTS, Korean outlet Chosun reported. This is because its criteria for nominations explicitly state that they would exclude songs that use words, ad-libs, brief phrases or lyrics written in English from being nominated. The rules state that songs being nominated must contain "meaningful use" of an Asian language.
BTS mentioning "language and region" in their statement is being seen as a direct reference to this criterion.
About half of BTS’s new album ARIRANG features lyrics in English. The title track Swim and the follow-up single Normal are both entirely sung in English. Swim topped the US charts in the week it was released. ARIRANG, released in March, topped the Billboard 200 with 641,000 units, the biggest week for a group album in more than a decade.
Other major music awards in the US have also introduced specific 'K-Pop' categories after BTS broke into the country's music market.
BTS had previously earned three consecutive nominations for the Grammys’ Best Pop Duo/ Group Performance from 2021 to 2023. They were the first Korean music act to receive nominations for the awards.
The 69th Grammy Awards will be held on February 7, and submissions will continue until August 28.
