BTS Announces Boycott of 2027 Grammy Awards Submissions

ISLAMABAD (GNP): K-pop supergroup BTS has announced it will not submit its music for consideration at the 2027 Grammy Awards, a decision revealed through a coordinated Instagram post in which all seven members shared an identical statement on Wednesday.

The message, translated from Korean, stated that the group had decided against entering the Grammys this year, expressing hope that music could be appreciated for its own merit rather than divided along lines of region or language. The band closed the note by thanking their fanbase, known as the BTS Army, for their continued support.

The announcement comes at a moment when BTS had been widely tipped for major nominations, following the success of their comeback album Arirang, one of the year’s top-selling records.

The album’s lead single, Swim, which reached number one in the United States, had also been considered a strong contender for song of the year honours.

However, the group’s eligibility for the Recording Academy’s newly created best Asian pop music performance category became a point of contention, since the award requires nominated songs to feature substantial use of an Asian language, and more than 80 percent of Arirang’s lyrics are performed in English. The category’s introduction drew a mixed response within K-pop fan communities, with some arguing that rather than celebrating Asian artists more broadly, the new award risked confining them to a separate, narrower space.

By explicitly referencing both region and language in their statement, BTS appeared to echo those concerns directly, aligning their decision with broader frustrations expressed by fans and industry observers. The Recording Academy has not yet issued a public response to the announcement.

BTS, formed in 2013, has grown into one of the best-selling acts in pop music, with their ongoing world tour expected to rival Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in box office performance. The group made history in 2021 as the first K-pop act nominated for a Grammy, recognised for their English-language single Dynamite, and all seven members have held voting membership in the Recording Academy since 2019. Despite multiple stage performances and additional nominations in categories such as best pop duo/group performance and best music video, the group has yet to win a Grammy.

BTS now joins a list of prominent artists who have opted out of the Grammys in the past, including The Weeknd, Morgan Wallen, Frank Ocean and Will Smith. Drake similarly criticised the award show in 2020, arguing that it consistently overlooked Black artistry and rap music, and suggesting that the ceremony no longer carried the same significance for contemporary artists that it once did.

Also Read: Senior Actor Syed Mohammed Ahmed’s Green Room Incident Sparks Industry Backlash

The Recording Academy has faced ongoing questions in recent years over how to better represent K-pop’s global rise. In 2025, it expanded its voting membership to include several Korean artists and producers, among them Enhypen’s Jungwon, Seventeen’s Woozi and Vernon, Le Sserafim’s Huh Yunjin and the members of Katseye, with Twice and Stray Kids granted voting rights this year as well.

The most recent Grammy ceremony featured notable K-pop moments, including Blackpink’s Rosé opening the show with her collaboration APT, and the song Golden from KPop Demon Hunters becoming the first K-pop track to win a Grammy, taking the award for best song written for visual media. That track, too, would have fallen outside the new Asian pop category, since its lyrics are also performed almost entirely in English.