K-pop group BTS announced Wednesday that it would not submit its music for the 2027 Grammys in co-ordinated Instagram posts shared on each of the seven members’ accounts.
“We’ve decided to not submit our music to the Grammys this 12 months. We hope music will be heard and loved as music itself, fairly than being divided by region or language. Thanks to ARMY and everybody who has at all times been with us,” a translated version of the statement reads, in response to The Associated Press.
The announcement follows an almost four-year hiatus while members accomplished their mandatory military service, and a record-breaking return, with the band’s fifth studio album Arirang topping the Billboard 200 after achieving the most important first-week sales of the 12 months.
Their album also broke records on Spotify, becoming the most-streamed album debut of 2026, in response to Variety, setting Grammy buzz in motion.
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Last week, Forbes published a story suggesting the band could have its biggest Grammy 12 months yet due to Arirang and the introduction of a brand new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category announced last month by the Recording Academy.
The album’s lead single, Swim, which went to primary within the U.S., was also a predicted contender for song of the 12 months; nevertheless, it will have been excluded from the Asian pop category because its lyrics are in English. The category specifies that nominated songs need to include “meaningful use of a number of Asian languages.”
Greater than 80 per cent of the lyrics on Arirang are sung in English, the BBC reported.
BTS’s statement outlining its decision to not submit its music for 2027 was written in Korean.
The introduction of the brand new award category led to suggestions that, as an alternative of celebrating Asian artists, it sets them apart and moves the goalpost ahead of a 12 months when BTS seemed poised to win in established categories.
South Korean boy band BTS accepts the Artist of the 12 months Award on stage throughout the American Music Awards on the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 25, 2026.
VALERIE MACON / AFP via Getty Images
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said the Recording Academy’s decision to introduce recent awards spoke to “the breadth of today’s music industry and the numerous genres, crafts and creators shaping it.”
“We’re excited to see these updates come to life within the 12 months ahead as we rejoice the music people who find themselves driving music forward,” he continued.
BTS has never won a Grammy, though it has been nominated for five: 3 times in the perfect pop duo/group performance category in addition to album of the 12 months (for its contributions to Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres) and best music video for Yet to Come, and was the primary ever K-pop band to receive a nomination.
No K-pop act had ever won a Grammy before this 12 months, when Golden from the Netflix animated film KPop Demon Hunters took home the trophy for best song for visual media.
It capped a highly visible night for K-pop on the Grammys — an establishment where the genre has long been undercelebrated despite its massive international following.
— with files from The Associated Press
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