Global K-pop supergroup BTS has sent shockwaves through the international music industry with a coordinated announcement that the band will not submit any of its work for consideration at the 2027 Grammy Awards. All seven members—RM, Jimin, V, Suga, Jungkook, Jin and J-Hope—shared the identical statement to their individual Instagram accounts, marking a unified stand against the awards body’s evolving approach to non-Western music.
The translated statement reads: “We have decided not to enter the Grammys this year. I hope that music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language.”
The decision comes amid widespread industry and fan scrutiny of the Recording Academy’s newly introduced Best Asian Pop Music Performance prize, announced last month. Under the award’s eligibility rules, entries must include what the Academy describes as a “meaningful use” of an Asian language. More than 80% of the lyrics on BTS’s latest comeback album *Arirang*—one of the highest-selling records of 2026, widely tipped to earn a nomination for Album of the Year—are performed in English. The album’s lead single *Swim*, which claimed the top spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, was also widely predicted to compete for Song of the Year, but it would have been ineligible for the new category due to its fully English lyrics.
The creation of the Best Asian Pop Music Performance award has divided the K-pop community online since it was announced. While some celebrated the move as a long-overdue recognition of Asian pop’s global cultural impact, many fans and industry observers have criticized it as a ghettoizing tactic that segregates Asian artists rather than integrating them into the awards’ mainstream major categories. BTS’s explicit reference to regional and linguistic division in its statement directly echoes this widespread criticism.
BTS’s relationship with the Grammys stretches back nearly a decade, but the group has never taken home a golden gramophone despite five nominations since 2020. In 2021, the band made history as the first K-pop act ever to earn a Grammy nomination, for their fully English track *Dynamite*. All seven members have held voting memberships in the Recording Academy since 2019, and the group has performed on the Grammy stage multiple times, picking up additional nominations in categories including Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Music Video. BTS is not the first high-profile act to distance itself from the Grammys; it joins a growing list of major artists that have boycotted the ceremony, including The Weeknd, Frank Ocean, Morgan Wallen and Will Smith. In 2020, Drake went a step further, calling for the awards to be scrapped entirely, arguing that the institution consistently overlooks impactful Black artistry, particularly hip-hop. “I think we should stop allowing ourselves to be shocked every year by the disconnect between impactful music and these awards and just accept that what once was the highest form of recognition may no longer matter to the artists that exist now and the ones who come after,” Drake wrote at the time.
Today, BTS closes its statement with a note of gratitude to its global fanbase, dubbed the BTS Army: “Thank you to Army and everyone who is always with us.”
Formed in 2013, BTS has grown from a South Korean underground act to one of the best-selling pop groups in history. Their ongoing world tour is currently projected to match or even exceed the record-breaking box office revenue of Taylor Swift’s iconic Eras Tour. The Recording Academy, which organizes the annual Grammy ceremony, has not yet issued a public response to BTS’s announcement, and BBC News has confirmed it has reached out to the organization for comment.
For years, the Recording Academy has faced mounting pressure to adapt its structures to reflect K-pop’s explosive global growth. In 2025, the Academy expanded its voting body to include a number of prominent Korean artists and producers, including Enhypen’s Jungwon, Seventeen’s Woozi and Vernon, Le Sserafim’s Huh Yunjin and all six members of Katseye. This year, the Academy added more K-pop representation, granting voting privileges to all members of Twice and Stray Kids.
The 2026 Grammy ceremony already marked a milestone for K-pop: *Golden* from the animated film *KPop Demon Hunters* became the first K-pop track ever to win a Grammy, taking home the award for Best Song Written for Visual Media. Ironically, *Golden* would also have been ineligible for the new Best Asian Pop Music Performance prize, as its lyrics are almost entirely in English—mirroring the situation BTS faced with *Arirang* and *Swim*.