CEO Harvey Mason jr. initially defended the Best Asian Pop Music Performance category when BTS opted out of submitting, but new conversations with stakeholders might change his mind
When BTS announced their decision to not submit their latest album, ARIRANG, for consideration for the 2027 Grammy Awards, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. defended the creation of the awards show’s new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category. The new award “was created to celebrate the depth, diversity and extraordinary growth of pop artistry coming out of Asia,” he said last month. Now, it seems the Recording Academy will actually be taking criticism of the category into deeper consideration ahead of the 2027 Grammys.
“The Grammy organization exists to serve all music people, and part of that is working to ensure that no voice or community gets overlooked or misunderstood,” Mason jr. said in a statement on Friday, Aug. 14. “It’s clear from our numerous conversations with many stakeholders over the past two weeks that, regardless of our intent and desire to be even more inclusive, there are some artists in this space who feel that this category isn’t representing the music they work so hard to create, in the way they wish. As a musician myself, I take that to heart.”
He added, “Over the past six years, the Academy has shown that it can act decisively and move swiftly to meet the needs of our music community. The management and Board are committed to working together to keep pace with that progress and ensure the musicians we intend to honor feel truly seen and heard by our actions.”
While BTS did not explicitly call out the creation of the Best Asian Pop Music Performance category, their statement regarding their refusal to participate in next year’s show spoke specifically to their “hope that music can be heard and loved by itself rather than being divided by region or language.”
Best Asian Pop Music Performance was added as a Grammys category in June alongside four other genre-specific categories. “This Category recognizes artistic excellence in Asian pop music performances originating from or widely recognized within Asian markets, including but not limited to K-pop, J-pop and C-pop, with meaningful use of one or more Asian languages,” the description for the new addition read.
Online entry for the 2027 Grammy Awards closes in just one week, on Aug. 21. First round voting will begin on Oct. 12 with the official announcement of nominees on Nov. 16. The 2027 Grammy Awards will be hosted on Feb. 7, 2026.
