BTS’ Grammys Performance Videos Have Disappeared After The Group Announced It Is Boycotting The Awards
“We hope that music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language.”
Videos of BTS Grammy performances of their hit songs “Dynamite” and “Butter” have disappeared from the Recording Academy’s website, shortly after the group announced it would not submit its music for consideration at the 2027 Grammy Awards.
The seven-member South Korean group said it would not submit its comeback album, “Arirang,” or any of its songs for consideration at the 2027 Grammys after the Academy introduced a new category for Asian music.
In June, the Recording Academy announced five new categories for the 69th Grammy Awards, which will be held in February 2027.
One was Best Asian Pop Music Performance, which the Academy said would recognize music “originating from or widely recognized within Asian markets,” including K-pop, J-pop and C-pop, that meaningfully uses an Asian language.
The Academy described the category as a step toward greater inclusion.
However, under Grammy rules, a song can only be entered in one performance category.
Critics said the rule could push Asian artists out of categories where they compete against mainstream Western performers and place them into a separate regional category.
BTS became the first K-pop group to receive a Grammy nomination in 2020 for “Dynamite” and has since received four more nominations without winning.
The group was expected to compete in several major categories after Arirang became one of the year’s best-selling albums, according to BBC.
“We have decided not to submit to the Grammys this year,” RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook said in identical statements in Korean shared on Instagram.
“We hope that music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language.”
The statement did not directly mention the new category, but it came about a month after the Recording Academy announced the change.
Fans noticed the videos were no longer accessible following BTS’s announcement on Wednesday, July 29.
However, BTS’s own upload of its 2022 “Butter” Grammy performance remains available on the group’s BANGTANTV YouTube channel, where it has more than 115 million views.
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