BTS Withdraws From 2027 GRAMMYs, Recording Academy CEO "Saddened" Over Group’s Decision

Summary

All seven BTS members announced they will not submit music for consideration at the 69th GRAMMY Awards

The decision follows the Recording Academy's rollout of a new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category that requires meaningful use of an Asian language

GRAMMY CEO Harvey Mason Jr. responded that he respects the group's choice while defending the category's intent

BTS is officially sitting out the 2027 GRAMMY Awards. In a coordinated statement shared across all seven members’ personal Instagram accounts, the group announced they will not submit their comeback album ARIRANG for consideration. The boycott arrives just a month after the Recording Academy announced the creation of a new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category.

Rather than capping their reunion with a push for the golden gramophones, the septet is taking a principled stance against the Academy’s categorization. In their shared announcement, BTS was direct about their reasoning. “We decided not to participate in the GRAMMYs this year,” the message read. “We hope our music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language. We thank Army and everyone who has always stood by us.”

Following the announcement, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. took to social media to clarify the Academy’s intent and address the fallout. “I am 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,” Mason Jr. stated. “I do want to clarify something that seems to be getting lost in the conversation. The Asian Pop category was created to celebrate the depth, diversity and extraordinary growth of pop artistry coming out of Asia. The spirit of this new category is to shine a dedicated spotlight on these important artists. More categories mean more artists’ work is recognized. It’s never to divide, but to expand who is recognized by our 15,000 GRAMMY voters.”

Mason Jr. also emphasized that the new category does not restrict artists from top tier nominations. “I also want to be very clear: submitting music in a genre category such as Asian Pop, or Jazz or Country does not exclude an artist from also submitting and being considered in the General Field categories, including Record of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year,” he added. “Those categories remain open to any eligible recording, regardless of genre. Recognition in a genre category and recognition in the General Field are not mutually exclusive. An artist can absolutely pursue both. The GRAMMY organization is here to serve music and all the people who make it. As we continue to expand the reach, our membership and our awards, regardless of geography or language, I want to emphasize that we will continue to listen to the global music community and work to honor and celebrate all the artists whose music moves the world.”

The timing gives the move its weight. The announcement lands just over a month after the Recording Academy unveiled a new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category, one of five additions introduced in June. Per the Academy’s rulebook, eligible recordings must feature meaningful use of one or more Asian languages, a stipulation that has drawn criticism from those who argue it risks corralling Asian artists into a separate lane rather than opening the main categories to them. BTS never named the category directly, but the subtext of their statement, and the reaction from fans reading it as a rebuke, has been hard to miss.

Complicating the picture is the group’s own catalog. BTS returned from hiatus in March with their fifth studio album, which topped Billboard’s main charts on the strength of lead single “Swim,” a track performed largely in English. Under the new rules, “Swim” might not have qualified for the Asian pop award at all, underscoring the awkward fit between the category’s framing and the music BTS is actually releasing. Expectations for a first win, potentially in a top field like Album of the Year, had been building ahead of next year’s show.

That history is the other half of the story. Across five previous nominations, spanning three nods for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, an Album of the Year mention tied to their work on Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres, and a Best Music Video nomination for “Yet to Come,” BTS has never taken home a GRAMMY. All seven members have been voting members of the Recording Academy since 2019, which makes their decision to step back from the process read as a deliberate statement rather than a scheduling footnote.

 

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