BTS has announced that they will not be submitting music from their comeback album Arirang for consideration at the 2027 Grammy Awards.
All seven members of the K-pop supergroup — RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook —simultaneously posted an identical statement on their individual Instagram accounts on Wednesday (July 29): “We have decided not to submit to the Grammys this year,” a translation of the message reads. “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.”
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Their message takes an implicit swipe at the guidelines for the Recording Academy’s newly created Best Asian Pop Music Performance category, which was one of five new Grammy categories introduced last month.. The group members’ choice to specify both “region” and “language” is relevant, as the category specifies that songs must include “meaningful use” of any Asian language.
Ironically, BTS’s smash, English-language hit single, “Swim,” which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, would have been excluded from this new Asian pop category anyway.
The boycott comes during a banner comeback year for BTS. After completing their mandatory military service, they released their fifth studio album, ARIRANG, in March 2026. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 641,000 units, marking the biggest opening week for a group album in over a decade.
BTS has received five Grammy nominations, including three consecutive nominations in the high-profile best pop duo/group performance category, for “Dynamite” (2021), “Butter” (2022) and “My Universe,” the latter a collab with Coldplay (2023). In 2023, the group received two other nominations – album of the year as a featured artist on Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres and best music video for “Yet to Come.”
BTS’ decision not to enter their music is a blow to the Grammys’ prestige, but the biggest impact could be the Grammy telecast losing a powerhouse draw. The group has performed on the Grammy telecast twice. They contributed a remote performance from a Seoul skyscraper in 2021 and a live, spy-themed rendition of “Butter” in Las Vegas in 2022.
Other artists have declined to submit their music for Grammy consideration, often in reaction to what they saw as snubs, including Drake, The Weeknd and Morgan Wallen.
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Some have criticized the new best Asian pop music performance category, which sits in the Pop & Dance/Electronic Field, fearing that it will lock Asian acts into a subcategory and deny them the opportunity to compete in the higher-profile General Field categories or in pop performance categories. The former fear is unfounded. All artists from all genres can compete in the General Field categories – which include album, record and song of the year and best new artist.
But it is true that a specific recording can compete in only one performance category. If a recording is entered for best Asian pop music performance, it cannot be entered for, say, best pop duo/group performance. The same act can, however, be nominated in multiple performance categories with different recordings.
K-pop achieved its first-ever Grammy win earlier this year when “Golden” from Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters won best song written for visual media. The song was also nominated for song of the year but did not win.
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The Recording Academy’s description of the new award, in full, reads:
“This category recognizes artistic excellence in Asian pop music performances. Eligible recordings include contemporary popular music originating from or widely recognized within Asian markets, including K-pop, J-pop and C-pop.
“Asian pop is a distinct and globally recognized form of popular music characterized by its integrated approach to music, performance, and presentation. Eligible recordings typically feature melody-driven composition, mainstream pop songwriting, and commercially oriented production, as recognized within their respective markets, and may incorporate elements of pop-adjacent styles such as pop-rock, pop R&B, and other related forms. Recordings in this category are often characterized by genre-blending arrangements, layered production, and dynamic structural shifts designed to support both audio and performance-based delivery.
“Recordings must feature meaningful use of one or more Asian languages. An Asian language should play a significant role within the song in bilingual or multilingual structures such that the recording is identifiable with that language. Recordings performed entirely in an Asian language are eligible. Incidental or minimal use (e.g., isolated words, adlibs, or brief phrases) does not qualify. Recordings performed entirely in English are not eligible in this category and remain eligible in other appropriate categories.
“The musical style is determinative of eligibility, not the ethnicity or nationality of the performer(s).
“Other popular music forms which originate in Asia or the Asian diaspora but do not meet the genre criteria for this category are eligible in other categories as appropriate.
“Only one version of a recording is eligible in a performance category in any year. A recording which is eligible and entered in another performance category is not also eligible in Best Asian Pop Music Performance for a different version featuring an Asian language performance.
“Nominees are Artist(s).
“Grammy statuettes awarded to Artist(s).”
The Recording Academy has yet to issue a statement on BTS’ decision.