No wonder they were shocked to get the bare minimum from western industry that the host listened to their album, the ignorance and xenophobia is so loud.
There’s a lot to unpack here, and I’m going to say it directly. I dont care if I get cancelled but this needs to be said.
For years, BTS were told they weren’t big enough, mainstream enough, or "Grammy material." Then they became one of the biggest acts in the world. They broke records, sold out stadiums across continents, topped charts repeatedly, and built a global cultural impact that few artists in history can match.
And when they became too successful to ignore?
The Grammys nominated "Dynamite" and "Butter"—both English-language songs.
Let that sink in.
The songs that got BTS into the major Grammy conversation were the songs that fit most comfortably into the Western industry framework. Yet BTS's discography is filled with critically acclaimed Korean-language music that has had enormous cultural and artistic impact.
Now we have a "Best Asian Pop Music Performance" category.
And before anyone calls that progress, let's ask the obvious question: why does there need to be a separate category at all?
If Asian artists are good enough to dominate global charts, sell millions of records, headline festivals, influence culture worldwide, and compete with every major artist in the industry, then they are good enough for the same categories as everyone else.
Inclusion isn't creating a separate lane after Asian artists prove they can win in the existing ones.
Inclusion is treating them as equals.
That's why BTS's lyrics in "Aliens" hit so hard:
"어쩜 그래 shameless
예의를 차려 we aliens
해는 동쪽에서 risin'
Aliens, aliens"
No matter how successful some artists become, there are still systems and institutions that treat them as perpetual outsiders.
And that's exactly why this conversation matters.
Because when BTS were impossible to ignore, the response shouldn't have been to create another box and place Asian artists inside it. The response should have been to judge them by the same standards as every other artist competing for the biggest awards in music.
ARMYs, we have a mission.
Talk about Arirang everywhere. Put it in AOTY conversations. Put it in ROTY conversations. Write threads. Make edits. Share analyses. Start discussions.
If we believe it deserves those nominations, then let's make enough noise that nobody can pretend it doesn't belong in the room.
They ignored BTS until they couldn't.
Let's make sure they can't ignore Arirang either.
Grammy's unveiling a whole new category after seeing ARIRANG break major records on charts, sales, streaming, audience and industry milestones shows how loud their racism towards BTS is.
"How can you be so shameless, show some respect" aliens - arirang 2026
@RecordingAcad
Notice how grammys announced this new category after seeing ARIRANG break major records that even bigger western artists wasn't able to break this year? Yeah, this is blatant racism.
The Supreme Court handed down a one-year suspension to Atty. @jesusfalcis.
His offense? A 2018 tweet where he fiercely defended his brother by using vulgar language (“Paky* kayo mga g*ga”!).
The High Court ruled it as simple misconduct and declared that the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability (CPRA) strictly mandates lawyers to maintain dignified language, even on personal social media accounts.
Okay, if the baseline for "dignity of the profession" is THAT strict, how on earth is Vice President Sara Duterte, who is also a lawyer, still holding onto her law license?
If we are talking about actual violations, her verbatim, public receipts are entirely unhinged.
Let us enumerate some:
1. Sara Duterte didn't just casually throw bad words around.
In her streamed press briefings, she completely abandoned any shred of professional decorum and screamed on live broadcast:
“P*tang ina mo BBM! P*tang ina mo Liza! P*tang ina mo Martin! P*tang ina ninyong lahat!”
“Binastos pa nila sa pagsisinungaling nila na kesyo taksil, kesyo corrupt, abusado. P*tang ina ninyo, sino ang corrupt?”
2. Let's NEVER forget when she was a city mayor and an active member of the bar.
Instead of upholding the law, she literally used a court sheriff as a human punching bag!
She grabbed him and repeatedly punched him in the face and head on camera just for executing a lawful court order.
Kagalang-galang yarn?
3. She openly admitted on live television to hiring an assassin to target the country's top leaders if a supposed plot against her succeeded:
“I’ve talked to a person. I said, if I get killed, don’t stop until you k*ll BBM, Liza Araneta, and Martin Romualdez. No joke. No joke."
4. She casually bragged during a press conference about threatening to desecrate a former president's remains:
“Isang beses, sinabihan ko talaga si Sen. Imee. Sabi ko sa kanya, kung hindi kayo tumigil, huhukayin ko 'yang tatay ninyo, itatapon ko siya sa West Philippine Sea!”
5. She publicly detailed her thoughts of extreme physical violence against the sitting president:
“I wanted to remove his head. I realized the relationship was already toxic... [I] just imagine myself cutting his head."
An ordinary attorney gets a one-year suspension for typing profanities on Twitter to protect his sibling.
Meanwhile, a high-profile lawyer and the sitting Vice President can publicly brag about hitmen, look at a camera to detail cutting off the President's head, threaten to dig up a former president’s corpse, physically assault a court sheriff, and scream “p*tang ina ninyong lahat" on live broadcast with zero professional consequences!
Hello, IBP? Ano na?
The CPRA allows you to initiate disbarment proceedings motu proprio when a lawyer's misconduct is THIS flagrant and very public!
The rules apparently apply to everyone except her.
Time to strip her of that license!
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Namjoon on weverse:
Hello. On this beautiful day, I am writing to you for the first time in a while.I do not particularly like or deeply believe in the phrase "someone saving someone else." However, having undeservedly heard such words from time to time, it makes me look back and realize that perhaps I, too, was saved by all of you.I am trying to live my life more simply, cleanly, or perhaps more boldly than before. The moments I fall into deep sentimentality have decreased significantly. Even so, the fact that the world is still a sad place seems unavoidable, no matter how many happy days there are. Then again, maybe it is actually because I am just so happy.I have shared so many words and thrown so many sounds your way. I do not exactly know which melody or which pebble managed to reach each of you sitting here right now. Yet, I feel like I will always be someone who keeps sending and throwing things out like that—just as I did thirteen years ago, and just as I will in the future. As long as there is all of you to listen. It brings me immense joy that we can create memories together and grow older year by year. I love that I can still shout out to someone. Time and again, I see myself through you. Do you experience that too?Thank you once again for sharing this precious anniversary with me. Today is Saturday the 13th, an incomparably beautiful day. No matter what anyone says about what this means, I want to keep building anniversaries and memories that only we know deep in our hearts. As always, I look forward to our time together. I love you
Joon I love you so much🙁💙
…yeah so i completely understand why jungkook loses himself whenever his eyes land on taehyung. he looks Surreal and this video captures his essence really well 🥹🤍