BTS's decision not to send the album "Arirang" to participate in the 2027 Grammy Awards continues to attract attention when Harvey Mason Jr., Executive Director of the American Academy of Recording, officially spoke out. The head of the Grammy organizing unit said he respects the group's choice but affirmed that much information about the "Best Asian Pop Performance" category is being misunderstood.
In a statement on July 29 (local time), Harvey Mason Jr. expressed regret for BTS's withdrawal from this year's judging process. However, he said that as a musician, he understands and respects the group's decision.
Notably, the Executive Director of the American Academy of Recording devoted most of the content to explaining the purpose of the "Best Asian Pop Performance" category - one of the new categories to be applied from the 2027 Grammys. According to him, this category was created to recognize the strong development of Asian pop music and expand the opportunity to be honored for more artists, instead of limiting them to a "private group".
Mr. Mason also rejected the view that artists when submitting works to the Asian Pop category will no longer have the opportunity to compete in important awards such as "Album of the Year", "Record of the Year" or "Song of the Year".
According to the head of the Recording Academy, General Field categories (main category) are still open for all qualified recordings, regardless of music genre or language of expression. The fact that a song or album is registered in a specialized category does not mean being eliminated from the race at major awards.
This announcement was made just hours after all seven BTS members simultaneously posted a notice on their personal Instagram, confirming that they would not send the products in the album "Arirang" to participate in the 2027 Grammys.
In a short message, the group expressed their desire for music to be listened to and recognized based on artistic value, instead of being divided by region or language. Although not directly mentioning the Recording Academy, this statement is seen as a reaction to the Grammys adding the "Best Asian Pop Performance" category, which requires works to use an Asian language to a significant extent.
BTS's decision not to participate in the award consideration quickly sparked much debate in the fan community and experts. Some opinions worry that the new category may cause Asian artists to be "framed" in a separate award group, instead of directly competing with international artists in the most prestigious categories.
However, the Academy affirmed that this concern does not reflect the current regulations. According to the new regulations, artists can still be considered in the main categories if they fully meet the criteria. The main change lies in the fact that a recording can only be registered in one performance category, similar to regulations that have been applied to many other genres such as R&B, rap or country.
Another notable detail is that BTS's song "Swim" - a completely English hit that once topped the Billboard Hot 100 - will also not be eligible to participate in the new Asian Pop category because it does not use Asian languages. However, if submitted for the award, the song can still compete in pop or main categories like other English works.
BTS is currently one of the K-pop artists with outstanding achievements at the Grammys with 5 previous nominations, including three consecutive years of appearance in the "Best Pop Duo/Group Performance" category thanks to the songs "Dynamite", "Butter" and "My Universe" in collaboration with Coldplay. The group has also performed twice at the awards ceremony, becoming one of the Asian faces that made a clear mark on the Grammy stage.
Feedback from the CEO of the Academy shows that the organizers are making efforts to explain more clearly about the direction of the new award system. However, BTS's choice not to participate in Grammy 2027 is likely to continue to be a topic of interest in the near future, as the debate about how to recognize artists outside the Western music market has not shown signs of cooling down.
