BTS, popular all over the world, refused the Grammys after the introduction of the Asian category

South Korean K-pop group BTS refused to participate in the battle for the international Grammy Music Award this year. The team announced this on its page on the social network.

Instead of openly criticizing the National Recording Academy, which is the organizer of the ceremony, each of the band's musicians published a diplomatic post on their personal account.

"We have decided not to submit our works to the Grammy Awards this year. We hope that music will be appreciated and loved for itself, and not divided by language or region of origin. Thank you to ARMY (fans of the group) and everyone who always supports us," the BTS members said in a statement.

A month earlier, the Recording Academy announced the introduction of new categories in which musicians will compete in 2027. In particular, the Best Asian Pop Music Performance category (The Best Asian Pop Music) has appeared, in which it is planned to celebrate artists in the genres of K-pop, J-pop, C-pop and others.

Some fans of the group regarded the new category as a manifestation of racism.

The BTS group itself has never won a Grammy, although it has been nominated for the award five times in different categories. This year, for the first time in the history of K-pop, a track was awarded an award. Golden from the animated film "K-pop Demon Hunters" (KPop Demon Hunters) received an award in the category "Best Song written for visual media". The statuette was given to Ijae, Audrey Noona and Ray Ami, who joined the fictional group Huntr/x.

As reported by EADaily, in the summer of 2022, the BTS group announced the suspension of activities, since all participants must undergo urgent service. The issue of exemption of musicians from military service was considered at the government level.

As a result, all the musicians of the collective served their time in the army, the full band returned to the "citizen" in July 2025. BTS promised to release a new album in early 2026 and kept the promise by releasing the ARIRANG album and immediately going on a world tour with it.

The fifth album of the band received recognition not only from fans who missed their idols, but also from critics. He not only re-introduced the group to the whole world after a break due to military service, but also recalled BTS's stay at the center of world pop music culture. The live broadcast of the first BTS concert in four years gathered 18.4 million viewers, the Netflix streaming service reported.

The BTS group was among the stars who performed during the break of the final match of the World Cup, which recently ended in the USA.