Overview
- On Wednesday, July 29, all seven BTS members posted the same statement saying they will not enter any music for Grammy consideration for the 2027 awards.
- The decision was a direct protest against the Recording Academy’s June announcement of a Best Pop Asian Performance category, which BTS said would segregate music by region or language.
- As a result of the group’s withdrawal, BTS’s March album ARIRANG is no longer eligible for nomination in the 69th Grammys.
- HYBE, BTS’s management company, said the choice was personal to the members and not a company-wide boycott, and it said other HYBE artists remain free to submit works.
- Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. responded that he was sad about BTS’s decision, defended the new category as a way to expand recognition, and said entering genre categories does not bar artists from general-field awards; the dispute now raises questions about how major awards adapt to global, non‑English music and could influence future artist engagement.