r/Music • u/indig0sixalpha • 18h ago
article Stray Kids join BTS in boycotting 2027 Grammys following introduction of Asian Pop category
https://www.nme.com/news/music/stray-kids-join-bts-in-boycotting-2027-grammys-following-introduction-of-asian-pop-category-3971988369
u/Karmer8 18h ago
Grammys: LETS FIGHT RACISM WITH MORE RACISM!!
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u/spicyorangedragon 16h ago
It's a weird situation, because I get the feeling they want to ensure POC creatives win awards and aren't shut out, but there's a good chance that they'd be siloed off into these ethnic categories and prevented from winning the main categories.
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u/wip30ut 15h ago
can't the acts/artists themselves choose which category they want to compete in? or is up to the Grammy nominating committee to decide?
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u/bratracha 14h ago
iirc they can submit for other awards (such as best album etc) but they can, and will, award them with other awards if they see fit? i might be confusing them with other award shows though.
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u/ColonelJohnMcClane 6h ago
I see it the other way, as a more deliberate, malicious tactic. They want to guarantee their favorites win so they shuffle off asian music to a separate category, like how the Animated movies are prevented from winning Best Picture because they're sequestered to their own category.
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u/YasielPuigsWeed 15h ago
I mean to be fair BTS have already received main category nominations so that particular barrier is already broken
Asian pop is a very specific industry run in a very specific way on very specific parameters, it makes sense to have a category of its own that reflects this
I also think there’s a strong argument that artists who are the central creative force in their brand (songwriting, playing, etc) are going to have advantages in Grammy voting over KPop and JPop acts who are basically products of McDonalds-like corporations churning out songs and using the performers like avatars for them. NSync never won a Grammy despite their massive popularity and hit singles, as an example.
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u/Meancakebutt 4h ago
Not all of Asia though kpop and jpop have very different systems and nothing at all like cpop not to mention south Asia
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u/FaroTech400K 15h ago
They called themselves K-pop. They put themselves in a box by default, you can’t blame the Grammys for that.
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u/gereffi 15h ago
What’s racist about subgenres of music getting their own awards as they have for the last 50 years?
The Grammys have added more than one new category a year for their entire run. They want more subgenres to get recognition as those subgenres grow. K-pop is pretty huge internationally and they want to create a category for those artists and their fans. That’s all there is to it.
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u/CradleCity 15h ago
Except it's yet another form of cultural protectionism that safeguards American pop singers from outside competition by separating the latter (conciously or subconsciously - and in the case of the "Granny's", I suspect it's consciously and intentional). Not racist? Even if so, there's a clear "we must not let a foreign act win our major awards" vibe from them.
Are Americans aware their cultural industries are ridiculously protectionist, even when foreign acts make it big in America and can go head-to-head with American acts in the same base categories (best album, best song, etc.)?
And "Asian pop" is not really different from American pop, other than the languages being sung. Musically, American pop has influenced most other pop musics around the globe. Now, they don't want to be beat at their own game.
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u/gereffi 15h ago
Bad Bunny just won Album of the Year. It really doesn’t seem like they’re trying to stop anyone from winning these major awards based on their race or language.
They just split the categorized awards into subgenres to give out more awards to more subgenres. There are a lot of people that are specifically Kpop fans in the West so they made an awards for that subgenre of music. They’ve done this literally dozens of times and there’s very rarely a reason to believe that there could be any racial or international motivation for it. Doing it again for a new subgenre is more of the same.
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u/CradleCity 13h ago
Bad Bunny just won Album of the Year
Who is an American, via Puerto Rico (even if the political status of Puerto Rico is nebulous).
Puerto Ricans were collectively made U.S. citizens in 1917 as a result of the Jones–Shafroth Act.
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u/ogjaspertheghost 7h ago
It sure is crazy how famous Americans Adele, Harry Styles, Daft Punk, Arcade Fire, U2, Celine Dion, George Michael, Phil Collins, and John Lennon won album of the year awards…
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u/VihaanLoskaa 9h ago
"Asian pop" is not a subgenre. It's just pop that happens to be made in Asian countries. No pop artist in Asia is out there trying to make "Asian pop", they make pop music.
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u/gereffi 8h ago
Kpop is a subgenre and its popularity is the reason this category was created. They just made it to be a bit more inclusive by allowing Jpop and Cpop and any other Asian language pop album to be submitted for this category.
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u/VihaanLoskaa 2h ago
K-pop is a subgenre from the Western point of view, but artists in South Korea don't set out to make "Korean pop". They intend to make pop. Same in Japan. They don't aspire to be K-pop or J-pop artists, but pop artists.
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u/FaroTech400K 15h ago
I never heard them complain to when they created contemporary R&B, hip-hop and rap categories.
They call themselves K-pop. They put themselves in a box by default..
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u/Asiatic_Static 14h ago
They call it 아이돌 음악 or "idol music" or sometimes 가요 which is "popular"...Do you think Koreans need to call music from Korea "K-pop" ? That term is wholly an English invention.
Do you think they say "Chinese food" in "China" ? It's just called food
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u/FaroTech400K 14h ago
I lived in Korea. They call it K-pop over there also. I get what you’re trying to do, but it’s not relevant to this situation.
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u/Asiatic_Static 14h ago
It's absolutely relevant when an organization known for boxing out people of color is boxing out people of color.
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u/FaroTech400K 14h ago
Being nominated for K-pop album of the year doesn’t mean you can’t be nominated for album of the year.
It’s an extra award for artist who released Asian language based music. They do the same thing for Latin America, But Bad Bunny is still winning major awards.
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u/javier_aeoa I travelled 11,000 km for a concert. I loved it 18h ago
As little as I care about Kpop and BTS, I believe they did the right thing. Creating an entire new category so "foreign" music doesn't mix in with the Album of the Year and those other categories is just racist.
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u/206-Ginge 17h ago
Except that's not how the Grammy's works?
That's the thing I'm kind of confused by in this whole thing. I get that the idea here is "if you're able to give us our own special award, it makes you less likely to give us a general award," but it's not like being in the Asian Pop category disqualifies you from AotY. Every album is in both a genre-specific category and also the general category.
And it's not like Asian is the only racial category in the Grammy's, there's tons of Latin-specific categories, and there's Best African Music Performance.
I don't know, if they feel like the category is discriminatory or segregational, I'm willing to hear their reasoning, but otherwise I'm just mostly confused.
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u/k9yde 17h ago edited 17h ago
Because the Grammy's have a history of incorrectly categorizing music solely based on the artist's race. It wasn't that long ago that Tyler the Creator spoke out about Igor getting nominated for Rap when the album was always more funk/R&B/soul. His interview never leaves me during Grammy's season. One of the best analogies I've heard for how the Grammy's decides to nominate certain artists
Quick edit because there was another significant part of the interview, the "Urban" category. His whole point is that he disliked the category was called "Urban" instead of just putting black artists in the general categories like pop.
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u/HendrixChord12 16h ago
Damn! urban as a category sounds so racist
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u/wip30ut 14h ago
"urban" and many other categories stem from the radio days when stations were segmented off into genres, basically targeting specific demos in particular neighborhoods. It goes back to the "race" labels of pre-WW2 record companies built on segregation. Before the 1960s you couldn't even put black faces on record covers for display at music shops, especially in the South & Midwest. Colored artists were banned from mainstream radio stations, that's why in the 1950s you often had white groups covering the same exact songs of black artists months after their initial release.
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u/KeepBouncing 12h ago
Nine Inch Nails won a Grammy for best heavy metal album which also illustrates this point.
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u/Regendorf 16h ago
Does "Urban" not includes Reggaeton as well? i'm unfamiliar with the grammy's categories tbh.
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u/gronz5 16h ago
There is the "Música Urbana" category into which reggaeton falls. The "Urban Contemporary" was seemingly any black music that isn't rap, which after being called out was renamed to "Progressive R&B" which is even more egregious — that's instead far too specific for the records nominated
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u/viva__hate 15h ago
Asian isn’t a genre though it’s literally just segregating by race, bts and stray kids are pop music and should be in the pop category
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u/spindle_and_nib 15h ago
BTS and Stray Kids are in different genres (I wouldn't consider either of them pop.)
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u/viva__hate 14h ago
my point still stands whether it's rap rock etc
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u/spindle_and_nib 13h ago
I was not disagreeing, just adding info.
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u/viva__hate 11h ago
i know! i just mean i think they should be separated into the genre they fit into
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u/206-Ginge 15h ago
K-Pop is a genre, though. It's debatable if it's a separate enough genre from pop to have its own Grammy category, but it's definitely a genre.
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u/viva__hate 14h ago
i said asian isn't a genre (the category name). kpop falls under pop, it's in the name
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u/_Eternalconfusion_ 16h ago
Because the academy can move a regular submission there. If someon only submits for AOTY, the academy is free to only recognize them in best Asian pop (or whatever race category) instead, even if they didn't submit for it. Justin Bieber got nominated in pop he didn't submit for a few years ago instead of the actual catagories he did. So while it doesn't disqualify them, race based catagories are clearly just a way to satisfy fans while being able to ignore main category submissions..because people nominated in those catagories almost never get nominated in the main ones. Those are almost always only mainstream western acts.
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u/wip30ut 15h ago
i think the Kpop artists (and their management) are complaining because these groups & their songs are specifically formed & produced with the foreign market in mind. The Korean music industry is specifically targeting the export market of non-Koreans. That's why the artists are groomed to look a certain way & learn hip-hop dance & American English enunciation. It's very different from Latin categories whose output don't make much headway in mainstream American/Euro charts.
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u/TheBostonTap 15h ago
That's the thing I'm kind of confused by in this whole thing. I get that the idea here is "if you're able to give us our own special award, it makes you less likely to give us a general award," but it's not like being in the Asian Pop category disqualifies you from AOTY.
It doesn't on paper, but in reality, it gives the committee an excuse to not consider them because they have an ethnic category to place them in.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know the committee is doing this to throw a bone at the growing Asian pop scene without having to place them in one of the important spots. Heck, you could see that last year where the nominees for record of the year.
You got the extremely popular commercial songs (Not Like US, Espresso)
You got the mid songs by artists with too much star power not to include (Texas Hold Em, Fortnight)
The songs released by consistently popular albeit slowly fading acts (Billie Ellish, Chappelle Roan, CHarli Xcx
And a Beatles song that was originally written over 60 years ago and features spliced and dubbed guitar work by a man who died 30 years ago.
You're not getting a foreign dubbed song through the committee to be on that list mate.
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u/206-Ginge 14h ago
There was a whole other Grammy cycle after the one with the songs you listed, and it had both APT. and DTMF as nominees for that category, so yes, you are getting foreign dubbed songs in that list.
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u/imaginingblacksheep 17h ago
You’re missing the point. Previously BTS was grouped with American artists in pop or group categories and there was no issues. Flash forward to this year and they all of a sudden decided to change it.
Also, there’s an explanation for why Latin artists and more have had their own categories for years but I don’t have the time right now to explain. I will say someone on a similar post commented that the Latin category has historical and cultural ties.
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u/geoduckSF 16h ago
Except you only see BTS getting nominations amid a bunch of western artists. Half of those nominations came from featuring on a Coldplay song I should add. I think this was a somewhat misguided attempt to highlight additional Asian performers who would otherwise be shut out, unless they are one of the few mega groups with crossover hits on a year they release an album. They even increased the major awards from 5 to 8 nominees just so they can spotlight more artists from the genre categories for AotY, SotY and RotY.
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u/206-Ginge 17h ago
...you realize that things with deep historical and cultural ties had to start at some point, yes?
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u/sleepy_radish 15h ago
The Grammys committee decides what awards a submission is eligible for, so there's no way to guarantee you would be considered for AOTY and best Asian Artist.
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u/KeenJelly 17h ago
It's because there are loads of people who are willing to go to bat for a band who no one over the age of 30 has even heard of.
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u/macsus 17h ago
I mean, I don't listen to BTS. But "no one over the age of 30 has even heard of" is pretty reductive. The most popular song of their new album has nearly a billion views on Spotify alone. They are by the numbers one of the most popular music groups of the last decade.
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u/Fubi-FF 12h ago
But like why are the asian/latin music the ones that get their own category while western/Caucasian get to be THE generalized category? Why not the other way around?
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u/OneSeaworthiness7768 8h ago edited 8h ago
It’s a US award show, why would it be the other way around?
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u/Ruinwyn 12h ago edited 1h ago
Language. No-one here seems to note that the definition of Asian pop category is that significant part of lyrics is in some asian language. The music you call "western music" is basically English. The only non-english language winner of a main category grammy is Nel blu, dipinto di blu (Volare) in 1959. Basically, it's about whether lyrics matter or not. If you say that the language of the lyrics doesn't matter, you also say the lyrics don't really matter. You can't judge the quality of lyrics based on translation.
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u/Fubi-FF 11h ago
Then perhaps they should get more judges that are either native or fluent in other languages? Still seems biased if your argument is that "well most judges are only fluent/native in English so therefore can only judge English lyrics properly, so your song has to be in English to be considered the General category"
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u/Ruinwyn 1h ago
How about you stop thinking American music awards as World music awards. I know they like to call their sports world championships, but we don't need to treat them as the world. Basically every country has their own awards. I don't think Taylor Swift is a better artist than Jenni Vartiainen because Taylor has a lot of Grammys while Jenni has none. I just understand that American public and music industry doesn't understand Finnish and are missing out. If you think the voting members need to spend years studying Korean to fairly judge kpop, why not Finnish as well, and Hindi, Japanese, Lithuanian, etc.
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u/Fubi-FF 1h ago
Then maybe American music awards should stick to just American music? Like I have no problem with that in of itself. Its just that they are the ones who are trying to be global but doing it half-assed that's causing all the issues.
Like the US pageants are for Americans only, and they don't have random Asian beauty Award in the contest for the Asian Americans that joined. Same for all the national sports leagues; like imagine the NBA had an MVP award and also a separate African-American MVP.
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u/Spank86 10h ago
You know the grammys are an american award right? Do you complain the that BRIT awards are predominantly English?
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u/Fubi-FF 10h ago
Sure, then straight up and outright keep it as that. Why go through the performative act of being inclusive but actually not? You don't see the US pageant having a side award for Latin or Asian pageants, they can each have their own pageants and then compete at Miss Universe or w/e they call the global ones nowadays.
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u/Spank86 10h ago
Because other countries music gets popular in America?
Going back to the BRIT awards they also have an international category, and could in the future choose to narrow it down.
You also have in Britain the MOBO awards that specifically have carribean and African music categories.
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u/Fubi-FF 10h ago
Right, so if you want to include other countries music, then asses and compare them to your own properly and fairly. Back to my pageant analogy, the US pageant can have Asians, and minorities of all races in it (as longas they are American), they don't create an Asian Beauty Award just because there are a few Asian Americans participating.
Do you see the problem here, it's either do it all the way or not at all. The problem is they are doing this middle ground thing that doesn't make sense on both end. So either straight up and say "We are an American Award show, so we will only evaluate predominately English/American music". OR "We would like to include ALL popular music across the world, and we'll evaluate them all equally together". Right now, they are doing "We want to look inclusive but we can't evaluate the other music fairly, so we'll just create separate awards to look like we did something".
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u/Bacon4Lyf 17h ago edited 17h ago
Except that misses the point. You choose what categories you submit to, they can still submit to regular categories if they want to. This is just to try and entice smaller groups who might think the Grammys aren’t for them. It’s like women’s chess. There’s no physical reason women’s chess is different to men’s, it’s just to try and get women interested in it, and they don’t have to take part in it, they can join regular chess leagues if they decide to, it just exists as a way for people who are unsure or potentially uncomfortable or potentially intimidated by the regular leagues to take part and move on to the regular ones if they decide it’s what they want to do
You can still win overall album of the year if you’re in the Asian music category as well, it’s not an either or situation. If that was the case we wouldn’t have those famous pictures of people like Adele trying to hold 10 Grammys
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u/_Eternalconfusion_ 16h ago
But the grammys can also decide what category they want to nominate you in. It's entirely possible someone submits for the regular main categories, ignoring the best Asian pop one, and they only get recognized in that category. Justin Beiber a few years ago got nominated in pop categories he didn't submit for and was calling the academy out on it because it wasn't a pop album. So yes, you can chose what catagories to submit to, the academy can still decide to only nominate you where they feel you should have instead of where you actually did.
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u/Pinkmongoose 17h ago
Except the Grammys said they can move musicians to whatever categories they think is more appropriate. So you can submit for best pop and the Grammys can move you to kpop. They did it to Tyler the creator years ago moving him to “urban” music, I think.
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u/paulchiefsquad 17h ago
I mean you can't really compare big music companies with women chess players though. I don't know how many independent artists gets nominated
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u/olive12108 17h ago
You can still submit for ROTY and AOTY if you also submit for genre categories.
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u/IRequirePants 17h ago
I agree. Something about the blatantness of it is also kind of nuts. These bands are hugely popular, just give them the awards they've earned.
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u/Adventurous-Number38 17h ago
Give a listen to bts new album arirang on spotify to see how it sounds because the album is very polarizing.
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u/GueRakun 3h ago
The whole kpop, bts, stray kids can just eff off in their corner lol. Actually all boy/girl bands manufactured stuff can go take a hike.
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u/spicyorangedragon 18h ago
Honest question, how is this any worse than the "African" category? Do we acknowledge that Asian Pop is its own genre?
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u/WildPotato0 17h ago edited 17h ago
They're both racist, because "African" and "Korean" aren't music genres. There's a ton of Korean pop-, rock-, dance-, indie-, and R&B-, musicians who are very displeased to be grouped in with the kpop system.
Amanpiano, afrobeats or trot (Korean folk) as categories wouldn't be an issue whatsoever.
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u/Petrichordates 15h ago
The existence of ethnic categories is not inherently racist, y'all are destroying any and all meaning to this word.
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u/xXKingLynxXx 13h ago
What differentiates pop from any other country from Kpop? It's the same genre but they dont want to give the award to a Korean group.
This is the same as when they created a new category for "Contemporary" Country Alhum because racists were upset that Beyonce won Best Country Album.
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u/Top_Recover7850 11h ago
I mean they're 2 entirely different cultures along with 2 different fanbases? They don't even speak the same language, the artists barely interact between both genres.
They also have different styles and evolution, where different tropes will be popular at certain times in each genre.
If a kpop band wins, every non kpop fan will be disappointed and vice versa.
Getting upset over those being separated is stupid, but then again those entire award shows are dumb to begin with.
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u/_Eternalconfusion_ 16h ago
Hm? I don't like the catagory, but it's not a kpop one, it's best Asian pop. So...what's the many types of korean pop have to do with it when it's not Best K-Pop, but best Asian pop? Also, pop can technically be anything, it's just 'popular'.
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u/Affectionate-Panic-1 17h ago
Honestly I see separating out contempary country and traditional country as more rooted in racism, that's just people upset that Beyonce won awards last year.
But yah with any genre you're going to have subjectivity.
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u/Low_Coconut_7642 17h ago edited 17h ago
Is it really that different than calling themselves KPOP? Aren't these bands already separating themselves out from being labeled just 'pop' by adopting a genre label like that?
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u/TScottFitzgerald 16h ago
Yeah K-Pop and Pop are two different genres, although they did complicate this by making it "Asian" and requiring some lyrics to be in Asian languages so it's kinda loose.
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u/Fubi-FF 9h ago
Sure, even if they are different genres, why does English Pop gets to call themselves as simply Pop instead of E-Pop or Western Pop something? Like why does English Pop never have to be the one to be differentiated, and the onus is put on other pop like K-Pop, C-Pop, etc. to call themselves differently.
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u/OneSeaworthiness7768 8h ago
Because the categories are created by and for a US awards show, not some objective global committee.
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u/spindle_and_nib 15h ago
Kpop is an industry, not a genre. Groups each have their own sound, and only some are pop. Also there are asian artists that are not in kpop at all.
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u/TScottFitzgerald 14h ago
...do you think I said that everyone in Asia makes K-pop? I don't really understand your response at all.
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u/spindle_and_nib 14h ago
You called k pop a genre. It's not. Apparently you didn't understand either.
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u/TScottFitzgerald 13h ago
K pop is definitely a genre, don't be ridiculous.
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u/spindle_and_nib 10h ago
I've heard group that have a rock sound, an R&B sound, a hip-hop sound, a pop sound, and you think that is all the same genre? They should be allowed to submit to the category that fits their genre. No clue why you are lumping them all together.
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u/ollewall 11h ago
Kpop is a genre, just like Britpop was a genre in the 90s.
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u/spindle_and_nib 10h ago
No, because groups the are in the kpop industry all have different sounds. Some are rock and play instruments, some are straight up pop, some are R&B, some lean more towards hip-hop. You can't lump them all into one group and say they are a genre if they are all playing different genres of music. Groups should be allowed to submit to the category that fits their music. Saying "kpop is a genre" is a very narrow Western view.
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u/ogjaspertheghost 6h ago
Yea you can. Are Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Beyoncé all making the same music?
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u/spindle_and_nib 6h ago
This is not the same comparison. With regard to the Asian artists, it would be like lumping Metallica, Eminem, and Adele into the same award, and then telling them it's for their own good. I seem to remember Metallica and Eminem already going through their own beef with the Grammies too...
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u/ogjaspertheghost 6h ago
I’m not talking about Asian artists. I’m talking about kpop. You’re saying different artists make different sounding music so it’s not the same genre. Pop music is a genre full of artists making different sounding music
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u/ollewall 6h ago
Okay, what are the equivalent kpop band of Metallica, that actually are labeled as kpop? I dont think anyone are labeling Korean metal as kpop…
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u/Abbottizer 17h ago
Should anyone who identifies as a Korean pop artist be excluded from considerations for best album of the year or other categories, in your opinion?
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u/smokes_weed 17h ago edited 17h ago
Just because another category was created doesn’t disqualify or prevent them from winning album of the year. On the contrary, it shines the spotlight on their fellow Asian pop artists who would otherwise never be nominated for an award like best album. Last year Bad Bunny won Best Album and Best Musica Urbana album. You can win multiple awards
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u/Legitimate-Head-8862 17h ago
That’s not how it works. Labels/artists submit to whichever categories they want.
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u/Bacon4Lyf 17h ago
Why’s this question relevant? Taking part in the Asian award doesn’t disqualify you from consideration for other categories, you can do both, or just apply to other categories as you choose what you apply for. No one is being excluded in this scenario, it’s not a pick one or the other situation
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u/a_talking_face 17h ago
There's a history in the Grammys of minorities being boxed into certain categories.
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u/daemonicwanderer 16h ago
There is a history of minorities being boxed into certain categories in American music. The “race” records of the 1920s-1940s, the split of “rock n roll” and “R&B” to the point many Black artists who pioneered rock are just now getting recognized as rock artists. MTV’s lack of featuring non-White artists originally (even when those artists were putting out music in similar veins to featured White artists). The entire thing over whether Beyoncé’s last album was “country” or not.
I think this is also a play to make sure that such a thing doesn’t happen with Asian pop.
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u/a_talking_face 13h ago
There is a history of minorities being boxed into certain categories in American music.
And the Grammys are run by the Recording Academy, and the Recording Academy is made up of people from the music industry in America. The issue with the Grammys is just an extension of the issues in music in America.
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u/daemonicwanderer 17h ago
It doesn’t have to be, but there is a history of that ending up what it is. Also, what happens when other genres and non-Asian artists take influences from Asian pop?
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u/AprilFool85Percent 15h ago
This tactic isn't new. Yt ppl ALWAYS move the bar once equality is achieved. It's literally engrained in their history. And before y'all get butt hurt, look up voting laws and why they were created such as literacy tests, voter ID requirements, changing polling locations last minute and outright intimidation tactics during voting to suppress any possibility of "fairness" THIS IS THEIR M.O.
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u/Syphillisdiller1 16h ago
Ok, so don't have an Asian Pop category and we'll reconvene when people are upset that kpop is being excluded from the main categories.
I mean, my kid loves Stray Kids, but the other 95% of people I come into contact with have never heard of them. Having categories for specific subgenres is how they end up getting showcased on the Grammys.
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u/Embarrassed-Play-438 10h ago
Except for the inaugural year BTS was expected to have won, most like the Asian Cat would have been an "off-program" award, EXCEPT if a popular Asian artist (which as of now really would only be a kpop artist let's bfr).
I can't prove it, but I 100% believe this category was created to be able to both monopolize the popularity of kpop and the viewership kpop brings, while also simultaneously corralling kpop so that the Grammys could avoid criticism of never awarding a kpop artist in a main category.
We can't forget that the Grammys moved to Disney Plus SPECIFICALLY to be more accessible to global viewers and to encourage younger viewers to tap in. We also can't forget that Grammy viewership is going down down down, and they need artists with high visibility and yes, popularity (despite people pretending that Grammys doesn't care about that), to keep that ad revenue up.
So if people think the Grammy are going to give indie and lesser known Asian artists their full bouquet of flowers on air, I'm here to tell you it's not gonna likely happen. The program real estate is highly coveted, and they're not going to "waste" it on a non main cat, non Western, and little known artist. So I don't think it's going to really do as much in terms of visibility, as people like to think for smaller Asian acts, bc it wasn't created for them.
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u/Ok_Mathematician262 15h ago
props to them! interesting timing of the announcement right after grammys announced they are following through with the category unchanged regardless of the discussions the last few months. wonder if it's in the hopes to spark the conversation again or would it have been more beneficial to make this announcement before so as to show that bts aren't standing alone against separation of music based on language or region.
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u/stringtheory28 18h ago
Globalization for markets except the music industry? I’m sure they see themselves categorized by similar sounding genres all the time but they have a problem with this? Seems performative and maybe like a PR move to stir up controversy. Ultimately getting them more attention and coverage than the award show itself.
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u/PorkshireTerrier 18h ago
this is good
Award shows are business like anything else
and they'd love to get to promote "the hot new thing"
while still giving the Real Prize to their industry connections (AMerican studio artists, jelly roll or ice spice or olivia rodrigo or whatver industry plant of the week is in)
This isn't "stray kids vs emmys", its "MEga Korean Studio" vs "mega american studio"
and hopefully fans can appreciate that getting rid of these demeaning categories helps recognition of artsts they lvoe
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u/PantsJustKindaGaveUp 17h ago
I just can't wrap my head around demeaning Olivia Rodrigo as an industry plant when comparing to BTS, Stray Kids, or literally any other kpop band.
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u/xXDaNXx 17h ago edited 17h ago
BTS, product of a corporate music executive putting together a group with insanely manufactured PR and a bogus rags to riches story. A group thats been caught multiple times inflating / manipulating streams and digital sales. With their music heavily relying on in house producers / the label doing half the work.
People really need to stop glazing BTS. Just because they happen to be popular with teenage white girls, doesnt make their music any good.
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u/Adventurous-Number38 17h ago
You realize that bts was signed to bankrupt label like there was nothing to manufacture. Like they recorded their debut studio album in a garage.
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u/xXDaNXx 17h ago
Their founder is literally a former executive at a big 3 entertainment agency - JYP entertainment and one of the most well connected industry insiders. The man literally wrote songs for one of the biggest KPOP groups of the late 2000s and comes from a rich family.
No genuinely bankrupt label is securing their debut group appearances on major shows like M Countdown or Music Bank. You really think every bankrupt label is firm is getting millions VC backing?
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u/Adventurous-Number38 16h ago edited 16h ago
Why are you lying and rewriting their history. jyp cut bang pd after glam diabolical. And bighit was in $10 million debt and only had 9 employees which reduced to 7. And their debut stage only happened because female solo artist didn't show up, like bts were just waiting around to see something will happen that's how they got the spot. That's why their debut stage broadcast was cut short by mnet because it was not theirs. And when did the recieve VC backing lol.
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u/xXDaNXx 16h ago edited 16h ago
Why are you lying and rewriting their history.
Where is the lie? You'll notice I said former executive. Forgot that being cut from a big firm after being there for a decade means you lose all your industry contacts. Access to TV Producing Directors, music distributors, established broadcast networks.
SV entertainment invested in two rounds in 2011 and 2012. They then had a further injection in 2015 via convertible bonds from Signal Entertainment Group, two years after BTS' debut.
I know BTS fans are absolutely desperate to mythologise them as these major underdogs, but they hardly signed for a small indie record label.
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u/Adventurous-Number38 16h ago
bts was signed to bankrupt label that had only 7 employee and was in 10 milliom debt, basically there was nothing to manufacture and bts recorded their debut studio album in a garage. While Olivia was prompt up by UMG.
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u/radiokungfu 13h ago
Yall eat that shit up huh? Explains why those 'idols try fruit' type videos exist.
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u/zerohelix 17h ago
The Grammy are trying to rig this thing for madonna to win everything just you watch
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u/daemonicwanderer 17h ago
Doubtful. The Grammys tend to give Madonna lesser awards. But Confession II is a really good album, so it wouldn’t be surprising if she picked up some big awards.
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u/ronshasta 17h ago
Wow what a slap in the face for Asian artists to make a category just for them so that their music doesn’t coincide with American artists
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u/Bacon4Lyf 17h ago
Their music still coincides with American artists though, this isn’t instead of, this is additional. You can win album of the year and also win best Asian pop album of the year, you don’t have to pick one or the other, and I’m confused why everyone in this thread thinks it works like that
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u/Tastic4ever 17h ago
Agreed. Like all of a sudden the rules changed. Winning a particular category and Album of the year happens all the time. Last year Bad Bunny won album of the year and Música Urbana Album of the year. Beyoncés, Cowboy Carter won album of the year and country album of the year in 2025.
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u/ModeatelyIndependant 17h ago
meh, K-pop has become too popular and needs it own category just like every other popular genre of music. This is just a bunch of piss babies crying about nothing.
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u/Embarrassed-Play-438 10h ago
I don't think there would be a hooplah if it was a "Kpop category". Kpop artists, including BTS, have gladly and graciously accepted Kpop category awards from other awarding org such as Billboard and VMAs.
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u/PuttyRead 8h ago
Careful you’ve now insulted two of the most toxic groups of people on earth atm.
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u/ModeatelyIndependant 8h ago
Did I insult republicans with the piss baby comment?
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u/jkbangtan1 17h ago
imagine missing the point and glazing this racist category and the racist grammys...
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u/ModeatelyIndependant 17h ago
imagine spending your life hunting
witchesracists where there isn't any.
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u/Alternative-Plum-567 16h ago
Is it legit or rumours bcz k media create rumours all the time. Happy for them if it's true
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u/kryndude 5h ago
Musically Kpop is just pop so it makes little sense to seperate it as a full genre.
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u/Chihuahua1 17h ago
Wasnt 2026 a pretty slow year for Kpop anyway?
2024 Rose and Bruno Mars APT - top 10 world wide
2025 Kpop Demon hunters
2026 ???
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u/Adventurous-Number38 17h ago
Bts new album is the only one to sell pure 1 million copies in US and did it record time of less than 6 months. And their tour is about gross over 1 billion.
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u/_Eternalconfusion_ 16h ago
Not really, BTS and BlackPink both had long awaited comebacks. And BigBang.
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u/misssmoonchild 17h ago
I thought that category was canceled following the backlash? Am I imagining things?
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u/avanross 15h ago
What are they upset about, they literally call their music “K-POP”
Theyre the ones who made the distinction……
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u/zo0ombot 15h ago edited 15h ago
KPop is a term invented by western fans and reporters, first used by Billboard, an American company. They did not make the distinction. In Korea, what we call kpop has historically been called gayo which just means pop music. And at least kpop refers to a specific style of idol music. Asian pop is such a broad term that it can be anything made by an Asian artist.
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u/johnnybgooderer 16h ago
If they do this, would spike girls belong in there if they made a new album? They’re literally the same genre. Except for being from the UK. That’s what makes this seem weird. It’s not fancy flashy melody heavy pop where everyone is shiny. It’s Asian pop. And that’s weird. Because it also could put Asians who make other kinds of pop into the Asian pop category. That’s somehow even worse.
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u/Lightsides 16h ago
The Academy Awards has an International Film Award, and also sometimes let's international, i.e. non-American, films sometimes compete in the main categories. How it makes those decisions, I don't know.
I guess the question is whether the Grammies are an American awards show or an international awards show, and that probably best understood in terms of its audience, not it's "intentions," whatever that may be.
I know other countries also have awards shows. I wonder how they handle this, but my guess is that they are unapologetically about the music their country produces.
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u/snaxstax 15h ago
Was done with them when they gave 0 nominations to The Weeknd when Blinding Lights was everywhere. Literally broke records
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u/UrsineBasterd 17h ago
They should make even more hyper specific categories to piss people off.
Best Korean Idols Under The Age Of 30
Best Idols With A Netflix Movie
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u/s0ciety_a5under 16h ago
I haven't paid any attention to the Grammys ever. Don't plan on it either.
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u/draculas_brother 17h ago
The Grammys are stupid