BTS won’t submit ‘Arirang’ for the 2027 Grammys after a new Best Asian Pop category. Grammy CEO Harvey Mason jr. responds
BTS will not submit its music for consideration at the 2027 Grammy Awards, the seven-member group announced Wednesday (July 29), a decision that removes one of the year’s most obvious contenders from the field and sharpens a growing debate over how the Recording Academy classifies music from Asia. RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook each posted the same statement across their individual Instagram accounts, framing the choice as a stand for music without borders. The move lands just over a month after the Academy unveiled a new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category for next year’s ceremony.
We have decided not to submit for Grammys this year” the group’s statement read.
Rather than music being divided by region or language, we hope music itself can be heard and loved for what it is.” The members added a familiar note of gratitude to their fanbase, writing, “We are always grateful to ARMY and everyone who is always with us”
A Category Meant to Include, Now at the Center of a Boycott
The timing is difficult to separate from the message. In June, the Recording Academy announced several new categories, including Best Asian Pop Music Performance, which recognizes work “originating from or widely recognized within Asian markets, including but not limited to K-pop, J-pop and C-pop, with meaningful use of one or more Asian languages.” Critics quickly argued the framework risked pigeonholing the very artists it claimed to celebrate, and BTS’ withdrawal has become the loudest response yet.
There is also a technical wrinkle. The new category’s rulebook requires “meaningful use of one or more Asian languages,” specifying that an Asian language must play a significant role in the recording. BTS’ current lead single, “Swim,” is performed largely in English, which could have complicated its eligibility for the very award the category was built to house. That tension underscores the group’s central objection: that sorting global pop by geography and language creates more walls than doors.
What BTS Is Walking Away From
Commercially, the stakes are enormous. BTS returned from a years-long hiatus in March with “Arirang,” its first full-length studio album of new material since 2020, following the completion of the members’ mandatory military service. The set debuted atop the Billboard 200 with 641,000 equivalent album units, the biggest opening week of 2026 at the time of release. “Swim” bowed at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the group’s seventh career chart-topper and extending its record as the K-pop act with the most No. 1s in U.S. chart history. Expectations for a first BTS Grammy win, potentially even an Album of the Year nomination, had been running high.
Over the years, BTS has earned five Grammy nominations without a win, including three consecutive nods for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Dynamite,” “Butter” and “My Universe.” All seven members have been voting members of the Recording Academy since 2019, which makes the decision to opt out of submission a pointed one rather than a passive one.
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. responded the same day, saying he was
saddened to hear that BTS has chosen not to participate in the Grammy Awards process this year, but as a music creator, I understand and respect their decision”
He pushed back on the framing that the new category divides artists, clarifying that submitting in a genre field such as Asian Pop does not exclude an artist from also competing in the General Field categories. “It’s never to divide, but to expand who is recognized,” Mason wrote.
Whether that reassurance is enough to bring BTS back into the fold remains an open question. Mason has a track record of coaxing alienated stars, including Drake, Jay-Z and The Weeknd, back after Grammy standoffs. For now, the biggest group in pop has drawn a clear line, and the industry is watching where it leads.
