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BTS have declined to submit their latest album, Arirang, for consideration at the 2027 Grammy Awards — and there’s a reason for it.
“We have decided not to submit for Grammy consideration this year,” the seven band members — RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook — wrote in a joint Instagram statement shared Tuesday, July 28. “We hope our music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language.”
They concluded, “We thank [BTS] Army and everyone who has always stood by us.”
Just one month earlier, the Recording Academy introduced a new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category for the upcoming Grammys.
“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,” a description of the category reads. “Awards are presented to the performing artist(s).”
BTS dropped their sixth album, Arirang, in March, which was their first since the band’s 2022 hiatus. (The K-pop group took a break from releasing music together during members’ respective mandatory military enlistments and other solo projects.)
“I realized it’s probably not something I can stop just because I want to stop it,” J-Hope, 32, told Rolling Stone in an April profile of the band’s reunion. “Personally, I’m very affected by the people around me, so I have to think about whether I can handle the emotional effect my decisions will have on so many others. In the end, I felt that keeping the flame burning is what I truly want, and the choice that’s most authentically me.”
As for Suga, 33, he claimed to the outlet that the singers went solo because they “couldn’t work in a group at the time.”
“Before going into the military, I knew we were always gonna get back together. But I can see how it could be surprising from a foreign perspective,” he stated. “But for us, staying together just felt obvious. So, nobody really had opinions about that. I just thought, ‘Yeah, of course we’re doing this.’”
Upon its release, Arirang sold 641,000 copies in the United States in its first week alone and topped Apple Music’s charts in more than 115 countries.
“I’ve been saying to the members, ‘If we don’t challenge anymore, then I think there’s no reason that we should keep doing this as a team,’” RM, 31, told Rolling Stone. “We have to show the world that we are still ongoing and still exploring. It’s so complicated sometimes. But still, I think we have to push it to the edge even more, even more, and it’s still not enough.” He smiles at his own intensity.”
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