South Korean supergroup BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan) issued a joint statement announcing that all seven members will not be submitting entries for this year’s Grammy Awards, emphasizing, “We hope our music will be listened to, not categorized by region or language.” The move is widely seen as a direct response to the Grammys’ newly added “Best Asian Pop Music Performance” category. After the news broke, fans further discovered that the Grammy’s official YouTube channel appeared to have removed all past BTS performance videos from the ceremonies, sparking fierce backlash globally and raising suspicions of deliberate targeting by the organizers.
BTS members RM, JIN, SUGA, J-HOPE, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook stated in their joint announcement that they have chosen not to take part in this year’s Grammy submission, hoping to bring music back to its purest value—to move listeners with the work itself, rather than have it separated by region or language. They also extended special thanks to ARMY, their loyal supporters, expressing deep gratitude for fans’ continuous companionship and encouragement.
BTS recently released their new album “Arirang,” which has smashed global sales records, with the lead track “Swim” topping the Billboard charts. Originally, both were seen as strong contenders for top honors such as “Album of the Year” and “Song of the Year.” However, this year the Grammys introduced the “Best Asian Pop Music Performance” category, specifying that entries must “prominently feature an Asian language.” Since “Arirang” and “Swim” both have over 80% English lyrics, they do not qualify. This has led many K-POP fans to criticize the move as effectively segregating Asian artists, arguing that it is unfair to international musicians.
What angered fans even more was that, shortly after BTS announced their refusal to submit, netizens found that the Grammy’s official YouTube channel seemed to have removed all previous BTS performance videos from the ceremonies, with only a few interview clips still available. In fact, the Grammy’s three most-viewed performance videos ever all belonged to BTS: 2022’s “Butter” accumulated 89.82 million views, 2021’s “Dynamite” reached 84.31 million, and their 2020 collaboration with Lil Nas X on “Old Town Road” garnered 81.45 million.
As the incident continued to escalate, large numbers of fans flooded social platforms to support BTS, leaving comments such as “They haven’t needed the Grammys to prove themselves for a long time,” “Creating an Asian category just further separates Asian artists,” and “What truly needs reform is the judging system, not separate categories for artists.” As a result, the Grammys have become embroiled in a fairness controversy.
Source: Apple Online News