The US Recording Academy has defended its decision to introduce a Best Asian Pop Music Performance category at next year’s Grammy Awards after BTS announced they were bailing on the big awards show seemingly in protest at what they see as pigeonholing by the new category. 

The K-pop superstars – who twice topped the IFPI global artist chart prior to their military service hiatus – have announced they will not be putting their comeback album ‘Arirang’ forward for consideration at the 2027 Grammys, adding that they “hope that music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language”. 

The Recording Academy, which organises the Grammys, announced last month that five new categories would be added at its 2027 edition, seemingly concerned that the 96 awards that were dished out during its 2026 event simply weren’t enough. Rumours that the 2030 Grammys will include 407 categories and take place over a full week are – apparently – mere hearsay. 

In its announcement heralding the new awards categories, the Academy said that the new Best Asian Pop Music Performance award would “recognise artistic excellence in Asian pop music performances originating from or widely recognised within Asian markets, including but not limited to K-pop, J-pop and C-pop, with meaningful use of one or more Asian languages”. 

Although the new category aims to ensure that more artists from those countries have the opportunity to benefit from some Grammy-nomination exposure, BTS presumably fear it could result in K-pop being sidelined into its own category rather than being championed through the general awards – like Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year and Song Of The Year – which inevitably get much more attention. 

However, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr is very keen to stress that groups like BTS can put themselves forward for both specific and general categories. 

“Submitting music in a genre category does not exclude an artist from also submitting and being considered in the general field categories”, he said in a statement last night, explaining that “recognition in a genre category and recognition in the general field are not mutually exclusive – an artist can absolutely pursue both”. 

Mason added that he was “saddened to hear that BTS has chosen not to participate in the Grammy Awards process this year”, although he “understands and respects their decision”. 

He then went on, “The Asian Pop category was created to celebrate the depth, diversity and extraordinary growth of pop artistry coming out of Asia. The spirit of this ​new category is to shine a dedicated spotlight on these important artists. More categories mean more artists’ work is recognised. It’s never to divide, but to expand who ‌is recognised ⁠by our 15,000 Grammy voters”. 

However, he concluded, “I want to emphasise that we will continue to listen to the global music community and work to honour and celebrate all the artists whose music moves the world”.  

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