BTS boycotted the Grammys after launching a new Asian award | BTS

BTS, the biggest music act in East Asia, has withdrawn from the 2027 Grammy awards, saying that their decision was made due to the addition of a new award for the best pop music performance in Asia.

Writing on Instagram, each of the seven members of the South Korean team said: “We have decided not to join Grammys this year. I believe that music can be heard and loved for what it is, instead of being divided by region or language. “

His comments are a surprising – if mildly worded – criticism of the new Recording Academy category announced last month.

The decision to add this group was due to “our music group that shares with us that it feels that it needs to have more opportunities to celebrate different types of music,” Academy President Harvey Mason Jr said in announcing the Asian pop award, along with another special regional award, the best Latin song.

This was perhaps a sad statement, because the pop markets of Asia and Latin are far from “new”: each commands a large amount of money and audience, including in the US, after many years of maturity. So there have been fears in Asian pop circles that the group could keep Asian artists out of contention in the mainstream.

The Recording Academy has not commented on BTS’s decision. The Guardian has requested comment.

Asian pop artists have been overlooked by the US-centric awards show – no K-pop The act was nominated until BTS in 2021 – but they performed well at this year’s ceremony. Golden, from the popular KPop film Demon Hunters, won best song written for a visual, a first for a K-pop act. Golden also received one of the “big four” awards, song of the year, along with another K-pop artist, Rosé, for her duet with Bruno Mars APT. The latter were nominated for record of the year and best duo/group performance but lost in all three categories to US or British artists.

Most of the songs in Golden and APT are in English, so maybe they didn’t qualify for the new Asian group, which wants to “use well” the Asian language. But BTS’s latest on their super hit album Arirang there is a lot in Korean, which makes them sure to join this new group.

This year’s Grammys also marked the first time that a Spanish album won album of the year, with Bad Bunny winning for Debí Tirar Más Fotos.

Other new categories being added in 2027 are best R&B collaboration or duo/group act, best pop culture and best traditional album.

The event will take place on February 7 in Los Angeles.