The Recording Academy‘s newest award is off to a rocky start. Grammy-tracking site The Grammy Guru reports, via The Korea Times, that no artists from K-pop’s four biggest companies, HYBE, SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment and YG Entertainment, put music forward for best Asian pop music performance at the 69th Grammy Awards.
If accurate, that leaves several of the genre’s most recognizable acts, including BLACKPINK, TWICE, Stray Kids and Hearts2Hearts, out of the category, along with artists from HYBE labels such as Belift Lab, ADOR and Source Music.
From new category to standoff
The academy introduced the award on June 16 as one of five additions, presenting it as a home for K-pop, J-pop, C-pop and other Asian pop scenes. Just over a month later, BTS announced they would sit out this Grammy cycle entirely, saying in a shared statement that they hoped music could be appreciated on its own terms instead of being sorted by region or language. The group, despite several past nominations, has never won a Grammy. Stray Kids withdrew as well, one day after the academy said it would keep the category.
CEO Harvey Mason jr. spent the summer meeting with artists, labels and managers and brought the full board into the review before deciding to proceed. His position is that the award adds recognition instead of fencing anyone off, and that Asian acts can still compete in the general field.
The category does have defenders. Filipino groups SB19 and BINI told Billboard they see it as an opportunity for their scene to be heard.
First-round voting opened October 12, and the ceremony is set for February 7, 2027, at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. The nominations will show how much the boycott reshapes the field.
Image: BTS at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, Las Vegas, April 3, 2022. Photo: Brian Friedman/PMC, via Billboard.
Sources: The Korea Times, Billboard, VICE.