BTS Pulls ARIRANG From 2027 Grammys Over Asian Pop Category
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- BTS announced through individual Instagram Story posts on July 29 that they will not submit comeback album ARIRANG for 2027 Grammy Awards consideration, releasing a Korean-translated statement that they hope 'music can be heard and loved by itself rather than being divided by region or language.'
- The Recording Academy announced in June five new Grammy categories including Best Asian Pop Music Performance, which recognizes 'artistic excellence in Asian pop music performances originating from or widely recognized within Asian markets, including but not limited to K-pop, J-pop and C-pop, with meaningful use of one or more Asian languages.'
- BTS has earned five Grammy nominations over five years — starting with 'Dynamite' for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in 2020, then 'Butter' in 2021, and three more in November 2022 including Album of the Year as featured guests on Coldplay's Music of the Spheres; three of the five nominations were in the pop duo/group category.
- Fan speculation has tied the withdrawal to the new category structure, with the source explicitly raising whether ARIRANG would be 'automatically assigned to this new Asian Pop Music category, rather than the more general pop categories' — a question that goes unanswered unless BTS reverses course.
- Jin told Rolling Stone that ARIRANG marks a return to a sound 'more connected to their roots,' saying internal debate convinced him 'our identity is in the music we used to make' after earlier pop crossover hits had drawn criticism for 'filler lyrics.'
- Online entry for the 2027 Grammys opened July 7 and closes Aug. 21, with first-round voting starting Oct. 12, nominees announced Nov. 16, and the ceremony on Feb. 7 — leaving a narrow window for BTS to submit if they change course.
- RM told Rolling Stone the group is eyeing a Super Bowl halftime slot, citing Bad Bunny's Spanish-language set and Bong Joon Ho's Parasite winning Best Picture as proof that 'if time goes by, and the thoughts in the people change,' a Korean-language moment could come.
Why it matters: BTS's withdrawal lands in the middle of a still-open 2027 Grammy entry window (closing Aug. 21) and frames the Recording Academy's new Asian Pop category as a potential trap rather than a win — the category was designed to recognize K-pop, but BTS's read is that it boxes the music into a regional silo. With five nominations already and ARIRANG positioned as a deliberate artistic reset, the group is the highest-profile act to test whether the new category rewards or constrains the very artists it was built for.
