BTS Boycotts Grammys Over Asian Pop Category
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- BTS members RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook announced on July 29 via individual Instagram accounts that they won't submit for Grammy consideration this year, framing the decision as wanting music heard "for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language."
- The boycott comes roughly a month after the Recording Academy created a new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category, which critics interpret as a way to absorb K-pop's popularity without awarding artists in general fields like Album or Record of the Year.
- Grammy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. responded that he was "saddened" by BTS' decision, arguing the new category "celebrates the depth, diversity and extraordinary growth of pop artistry coming out of Asia" and that "more categories mean more artists' work is recognized."
- Few other artists have openly joined the boycott; USC professor Hye Jin Lee told Rolling Stone "there simply aren't many Korean or Asian artists with BTS' level of global influence," while HYBE made clear other label artists remain free to submit.
- BTS's stance follows the immediate worldwide chart success of their album Arirang, released in March after the group returned from mandatory South Korean military service and earned rave reviews.
- Public supporters included Epik High's Tablo ("ARIRANG > Grammys"), KPop Demon Hunters co-director Maggie Kang, B.A.P's Bang Yong-guk, and Korean American actor Daniel Dae Kim, alongside BTS's ARMY fanbase.
- Producer Sleep Deez and Pusan National University professor CedarBough T. Saeji drew a parallel to the 1989 Hard Rock/Metal category — where Jethro Tull beat Metallica and AC/DC — arguing that geographic categories flatten roughly 50 Asian countries into a single genre lane and "can unintentionally reinforce the idea that they're playing in a separate league."
Why it matters: BTS, riding the chart-topping success of Arirang, are using their unmatched global leverage to publicly reject the Academy's inclusion model; Sleep Deez and CedarBough Saeji argue the new category, like the 1989 Jethro Tull debacle, solves a diversity optics problem by creating separation rather than dismantling it, while HYBE's continued submissions ensure the category persists regardless of the boycott.
