Truly the best night of my life thank you @ArianaGrande for this incredible experience im so so proud of u baby thank u for being such a huge inspiration to me i love u so so much♡ #OurSWT
i think it's worth noting that bts made this announcement just after we watched in real time as fifa omitted their names from official posts and delayed putting up their performance. i think bts are very much as aware as we are that the industry doesn't like that their success.
bb changed their rules MULTIPLE times to directly hinder bts' ability to chart, Spotify has spent the last week glitching streams from Normal and splitting versions so bts can't claim more records. and everyone knows why the scammys made that category.
its genuinely the world against bts and army are all they have, save for ONE k-artist willing to stand by them.
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
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.