[NEWS] Three time Grammy winner Indian musician Ricky Kej speaks about the Grammys, BTS and the Illusion of Inclusion
“By creating geographically bounded categories like “Best Asian Pop” or “Best African Music Performance,” we aren’t fully integrating world music into the main stage and risk excluding diverse regions from the historically prestigious categories that carry the most weight. It inadvertently sends a message that international excellence is celebrated primarily within a designated corner”
"Another fundamental issue is that “global diversity” is still frequently viewed through an American-centric lens, focusing primarily on the vibrant diaspora within the U.S."
https://t.co/SQoRs2BXTO
BTS withdrawing from the nominations really got under the grammys skin to the point that they deleted the Butter and dynamite performances.. this is so embarrassing for them my god 😭😭
I don't think people fully understand the magnitude of this decision.
Some of the music industry's most respected producers, writers, engineers, and creatives worked on ARIRANG. A project built to the highest artistic standard. One producer even spoke publicly about hoping the album would receive Grammy recognition.
Then the Recording Academy introduced a category specifically for Asian pop.
And BTS chose not to submit.
Think about that. The biggest musical project of the year. One of the strongest commercial and artistic contenders. A project that could have competed across multiple major categories. It simply won't be in the race because the artists chose principle over prestige.
Moves like this don't happen often. When artists at BTS' level willingly walk away from the biggest stage in music, the conversation shifts because of what they refused to endorse.
Critic Lim on #BTS’s decision “The fact that a single Asian artist has rebelled against a massive awards ceremony and opened a forum for public discourse demanding change demonstrates immense influence in itself.”
They are the only asian artist that have the nerve to do that! 👏🔥
#WeStandWithBTS
BTS announces they will not submit their music for the 2027 GRAMMY awards, following the Recording Academy’s addition of an Asian-focused category:
“I hope music itself can be heard and loved rather than being distinguished by region or language.”
This hurts cause I always heard from my parents “You should reach out to your friends to do stuff!” and while I’m happy to do that, I realized how little if ever anyone reached out to me and it made me wonder if I’m wanted around all that much
”You know, I find it so funny that BTS is facing a lot of racism from people who didn’t even go to the World Cup. Y’all are sitting on your old, busted couches at home, hating on BTS from a distance. Meanwhile, the locals the people who were actually there and watched the performance said they loved it. They didn’t even know BTS could perform like that. They didn’t even know the group was so talented.
But you people sitting at home, hating from outside the club because you weren’t even there and didn’t have the chance to go, have so much to say about BTS. You racist, illiterate people. I hate y’all”
Anyway, Alyssa, go play Aliens. Thank you.