Is the Grammys Canceling Its New Asian Pop Category After Backlash? Here's What's True This Week So Far

Despite growing public backlash following BTS's decision to boycott next year's Grammy Awards, the Recording Academy has given no indication it plans to cancel or eliminate its new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category. The category remains in place, submissions are proceeding on schedule, and the Academy's leadership has publicly defended the decision rather than walking it back.

The controversy traces back to July 29, when all seven members of BTS announced through matching Instagram posts that they would not submit music for consideration at the 69th Grammy Awards, set for Feb. 7, 2027. The group wrote that they hoped their music could be "heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language," a statement widely interpreted as a direct response to the new category, which the Recording Academy had introduced a month earlier alongside four other additions.

What the New Category Actually Does

The Best Asian Pop Music Performance award, according to the Recording Academy, is intended to recognize 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 a requirement of meaningful use of one or more Asian languages. Critics have argued the category functions less as recognition than as a structural barrier, one that risks steering K-pop and other non-English Asian pop acts away from the ceremony's marquee general-field categories, such as Album of the Year, rather than expanding their access to those honors.

The Academy's Response So Far

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. addressed BTS's withdrawal directly in a statement shared with multiple outlets, saying he was "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." Rather than signaling any reconsideration of the category itself, Mason used the same statement to defend its creation, saying the Asian Pop category "was created to celebrate the depth, diversity and extraordinary growth of pop artistry coming out of Asia," and adding that "more categories mean more artists' work is recognized."

Mason has also pushed back specifically on the idea that the new category limits artists' opportunities elsewhere, stating that submitting music in a genre category, whether Asian Pop, jazz or country, does not exclude an artist from also being considered in the ceremony's General Field, which includes Record of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year.

Following the wave of criticism that followed BTS's announcement, Mason issued an additional statement saying the Recording Academy will "continue to listen to the global music community, and work to honor and celebrate all the artists whose music moves the world." While that comment acknowledges the ongoing conversation around the category, it stops well short of announcing any plan to cancel, rename or restructure the award, and the Academy has taken no formal action to remove it from the 69th Grammy Awards lineup.

Submissions Are Continuing on Schedule

Practically speaking, the category remains fully operational. The eligibility window for Best Asian Pop Music Performance runs through Aug. 28, and K-pop labels across the industry have continued weighing whether to submit music for the award despite the controversy surrounding its creation. According to reporting on the submission process, artists including Seventeen, Twice, Stray Kids, Ateez, Riize, Tomorrow X Together, aespa, IVE and Le Sserafim submitted work for Grammy consideration during the prior award cycle, and industry observers expect competition for the new category to proceed with nominees expected to be announced in mid-November, well ahead of the February ceremony.

Why Few Other Artists Have Joined the Boycott

Despite the intensity of the online backlash, relatively few other prominent artists have followed BTS in withdrawing from Grammy consideration. Experts have suggested this reflects BTS's unusual position within the music industry rather than broad consensus that a boycott is the right response. Hye Jin Lee, a University of Southern California professor who studies Korean pop culture, said BTS's decision signals that the group has reached a point in its career where it no longer feels the need to seek validation from Western institutions, a stance not every K-pop act can afford to take given the continued commercial value many artists still place on Grammy recognition and exposure.

A Debate Over the Term 'Asian Pop' Itself

Beyond the question of exclusion, some academics have raised a separate critique focused on the category's framing. Writing for The Conversation, researcher Dorothy Finan noted that the new award's wording appears to privilege idol-group pop production, the model most associated with K-pop, while giving comparatively little consideration to other forms of Asian pop music, including Japanese singer-songwriters like Kenshi Yonezu, who have little connection to idol-group production, or the diverse regional and linguistic subgenres that make up C-pop across Greater China. That critique suggests the category's problems extend beyond simply whether it limits access to general-field awards, raising broader questions about who was consulted in shaping its definition in the first place.

A Familiar Pattern Across Award Shows

The debate over Best Asian Pop Music Performance echoes a longer-running critique from Black artists, some of whom have accused the Grammys of similarly pigeonholing them into specific genre categories in ways that limit their path to the ceremony's most prestigious general-field honors. That parallel has featured prominently in commentary surrounding the BTS controversy, with critics arguing the Recording Academy is repeating a pattern of genre-based categorization that has drawn criticism for years, rather than addressing the underlying structural concerns those earlier critiques raised.

With the Aug. 28 submission deadline still weeks away and nominees not expected until mid-November, the Recording Academy has ample opportunity to make further statements or adjustments before the 69th Grammy Awards air on Feb. 7, 2027. Based on everything said publicly so far, however, there is no indication the category is being canceled, and the Academy's leadership has consistently defended its creation even while acknowledging the controversy it has generated. Barring an unexpected reversal, Best Asian Pop Music Performance appears set to move forward as planned, with its inaugural winner determined by voting members later this year regardless of BTS's absence from the pool of eligible nominees.