Grammy Chief Responds to BTS 2027 Awards Boycott
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- BTS announced all seven members—RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook—will not submit for Grammy consideration in 2027, posting a joint statement on Instagram saying they hope their music is "heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language."
- Harvey Mason Jr. said he was "saddened to hear" the decision but respects it, pushing back on the narrative that the new Best Asian Pop category was designed to sideline K-pop artists.
- The Recording Academy unveiled the Best Asian Pop Music Performance category just over a month ago, defining it as recognizing artistic excellence in Asian pop including K-pop, J-pop and C-pop with "meaningful use of one or more Asian languages."
- Mason stressed that submitting in a genre category like Asian Pop does not exclude artists from the General Field, meaning acts can simultaneously pursue Record of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year alongside Best Asian Pop.
- BTS has previously earned Grammy nominations in Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Music Video but has never won an award.
- Drake, Jay-Z and the Weeknd have all previously opted out of the Grammys, a pattern Mason has historically worked to reverse.
Why it matters: The Academy's new Asian Pop category was pitched as additive recognition, but its highest-profile potential beneficiary read it as a regional ghetto. Mason's clarification that genre and General Field submissions aren't mutually exclusive hasn't persuaded BTS, leaving the Recording Academy defending a category one of the world's biggest acts is now publicly bypassing.
