K-POP Undercover: Is the Grammys new Asian Pop Award respecting or restricting Asian Music?
Of all the famous music awards, the Grammys remain among the most anticipated by music lovers worldwide. Spanning from general awards, like Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist to more specific categories based on genre, like Best Reggae Album, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Contemporary Gospel Album, the Grammys have made room for different styles of music to be recognized and appreciated for their impact. This year, the Grammys sought to continue that tradition by introducing five new categories for the 69th year. These categories include Best R and B Collaboration, Duo Group performance, best traditional vocal performance, best traditional folk album, best Latin song, and most controversially best Asian pop music performance, which has been defined as Asian pop music performances with ‘“meaningful use” of one or more Asian languages. The Grammys go on to explain that “an Asian language should play a significant role within the song and bilingual or multilingual structures such that the recording is identifiable with that language; recordings performed entirely in an Asian language are eligible. Recordings performed entirely in English are not eligible in this category and remain eligible in other appropriate categories.”
The Grammys have intended that this category specifically, “recognizes artistic excellence and Asian pop music performances,” giving them their own recognition in their own unique field. Though the Grammys have tried to clarify the purpose of this category, artists and fans alike have received its introduction with considerable controversy.
In recent years, K-pop has become one of the most successful up-and-coming musical genres around the world. Caroline Huber, a writer for Yale News, reflected in her article titled The Rise of K-pop and What it Reveals about Society and Culture that, “initially a musical subculture popular in South Korea during the 1990s Korean pop, or K-pop, has transformed into a global cultural phenomenon. Characterized by catchy hooks, polished choreography, grandiose live performances, and impeccably produced music videos, K-pop, (including music by groups like BTS and BLACKPINK), now frequently top the Billboard charts, attracts a fiercely dedicated online following, and generates billions of dollars.”
K-pop is loved around the world, and groups like BTS are now household names because of the impact that they have made on the music scene in countries of their origin. With their massive success in the world of music, BTS is one of the main groups most awaited by fans for Grammy nominations and performances. In the past, BTS has performed at the Grammy Awards in 2020, 2021, and 2022, before the group had to split temporarily for mandated military service in South Korea. Even with multiple performances at the Grammys and BTS’ five total Grammy nominations over the years, BTS has never won a Grammy award. Still, the group has taken massive strides as they’ve made history as the first Korean group to be nominated for any category at the Grammys. Because BTS has made such great leaps and bounds in the music industry, fans everywhere eagerly anticipated their attendance at the Grammys in 2027, especially after the group’s return to create their newest smash hit album, “ARIRANG”.
However, two months ago in July, the group shocked fans as each of the seven members took to their Instagram accounts to let netizens know that they would not be submitting their music for the Grammys in 2027. In a recent article, The Hollywood Reporter explained that each member posted a message saying that, “I hope that music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language. Thank you to ARMY and everyone who is always with us.”
Unsurprisingly, this shocked fans as BTS’ comeback album and hit song, “Swim”, did exceptionally well in the Billboard charts, with 15.3 million streams within its first week of release, and was a shoo-in for nominations this year. Making it clear with the message that BTS ultimately decided to opt out of the Grammys this year as a direct response to the new “Asian Pop Music Performance” category. The idea that the Grammys inherently ‘divides music by region and language’ through creating new, specific categories that compartmentalize particular artists is actually a conversation that has been discussed by fans before in a different context, particularly with Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” album.
At the Grammy Awards in 2017, Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” album was one of the nominees for the general category, Album of the Year; however, the night would end in what netizens describe as a legendary snub as Beyoncé ended up winning in the Best Urban Contemporary Album category for “Lemonade” instead of the Album of the Year award. Many fans attributed the subcategory win to be one of the many reasons behind why the Academy would not let her win again in the general Album of the Year Category. It was also thought that race played a role in Beyoncé’s snubbing. John Vilanova, a writer and scholar of Africana Studies, explained in a personal blog post that, “Unequaled artists have long bumped up against the glass ceiling that awards shows impose on black excellence.” Many fans online shared this sentiment. In many ways, it seemed that the win in the subcategory was a way to acknowledge the album without letting it interfere with white artists on the larger playing field in the general category. Though BTS never directly brought up race or subcategory snubbing when explaining why they weren’t attending the Grammys, for many K-pop fans the same concern exists as to why the Asian Pop category will be limiting for Asian Artists. In an interview for DW News, Professor Grace Kao of Yale University, a researcher of the sociology of music, remarked on the ‘celebration vs. separation’ issue presented by the new category in her statement: “BTS has been around for a while now, they are as mainstream as it gets, so it just seems like it’s a weird way to say ‘oh you know, you’re really included now, but actually we’re going to try to make a new category that reminds us that you’re actually foreign, you’re not really one of us.”
In the same vein, Yahoo Entertainment writer Jazmine Rodriguez wrote about fan’s feelings towards the new category: “Almost immediately, fans of the genres, especially the extremely online K-pop faction, decried the award, arguing that instead of honoring Asian artists, the new Grammy pigeonholes them, providing a consolation prize from mainstream pop categories.”
The fear that subcategories are used as consolation prizes is a valid concern for Grammy watchers, especially for artists of color. Though the Grammys have remarked that this category is meant to celebrate Asian music and that winning in a subcategory does not disqualify an artist from being considered or winning a general category, it still can be used as a way to award Asian artists on a smaller scale so that the larger scale is left open for other artists, outside of Asia, to fill. As BTS remarked, music is music, and their music should be able to be fully considered in categories with other languages and genres. It should be awarded for its impact and artistry rather than being confined to compete within its own region. The introduction of the new category does present the possibility of inherently separating Asian music like K-pop from being fully weighed on the same scale as other global music.
Looking forward, the inclusion of this category in the Grammys can mean completely different award possibilities for Asian music artists. With an entirely separate category for Asian music, there is a possibility that K-pop, J-pop and C-pop may in the future continue to grow into their own sector of competition in the Grammys rather than being set to compete on a worldwide scale. As of Oct. 10, other K-pop groups like Stray Kids have now joined BTS in this boycott of the Grammy Awards for similar reasons. Even if the Asian Pop Music category was added in supposedly good faith, examining trends in the past, with subcategories being used more like hush awards, or “consolation prizes,” Asian music fans have a valid reason for opposing the category.
Ultimately, this new category (claimed to be for honoring meaningful use of the Asian language) does technically separate K-pop, J-pop, and C-pop music from being considered in the same realm of pop that is not of Asian origin. Though K-pop, J-pop, and C-pop have had an incredible impact globally, this new category pulls on a string of fear that has always existed with the Grammys award show, that subcategories can be used as weights to hold certain artists from flying in the general categories. With BTS and Stray Kids pulling out of the Grammys after such great success globally, the future of this new award and the impact it will have on Asian artists getting proper recognition remains a mystery that the future holds.
