Zeena Koda and Frankie Yaptinchay talking about Asian Representation in Music.
It's fascinating to watch people talk endlessly about "Asian representation" while refusing to acknowledge the artists who fundamentally changed how the global music industry viewed Asian acts.
You cannot have an honest conversation about the globalization of Asian music market without mentioning BTS. Whether you like them or not, they broke barriers that many in the industry once insisted couldn't be broken. They topped charts, sold out stadiums, reshaped the industry's perception of non-English music, made stadiums all around the globe sing their songs word for word, bar for bar and made institutions to take Asian artists seriously.
So when people celebrate this new era of "representation" while conveniently leaving out one of the most influential acts in that story, it doesn't feel like representation. It feels like selective history.
(Zeena Koda used to work for Atlantic Records)
This small artist from Hong Kong's comments on the Asian pop category. She's also a voting member and shocked that this category got pushed without a conversation with Asian artists outside the US.
Glad to see this decision made by the tannies is pushing for this conversation, and that too BEYOND kpop because Asia is a very diverse and music rich continent
https://t.co/8ZEcpTRz6C
I don't even know why people act as if BTS makes good enough music to win a Grammy. Bruno Mars is literally Filipino and a multiple Grammy winner. Likewise, Bad Bunny is Puerto Rican and has won multiple Grammys too. BTS just makes shit music. I don't know how they expect to win a Grammy with those kinds of songs.
This just raises even more questions about the credibility of the category.
Zeena Koda posted multiple Instagram stories baselessly defending the new Best Asian Pop category. She is one of the people involved in its creation and she publicly acknowledged that the issue of Asian countries where English is a native or official language was a "really good point." EXCUSE ME?!
So let me get this straight.
You spent months creating an entire category for an entire continent...
...and only after people questioned it did someone involved say, "That's a really good point." (??!!?!??!!)
That's a significant admission because the category's eligibility is based on the "meaningful use of an Asian language".
If a fundamental question about who the category includes or excludes is only being recognized after the category has launched, it raises SERIOUS concerns about how thoroughly the criteria were developed in the first place.
Award categories should be built on clear, carefully considered standards not standards that appear to reveal major blind spots only AFTER the public starts asking questions.
Shame on you. @RecordingAcad
@luvonmaze@lpopchartmaster that doesn't warrant hate, haters got too full of themselves thinking their nastiness is warranted just because they don't like something
Writer: Carl Martin Agustin from Inquirer
A filo incel with a consistent pattern of hostility toward the group. This is not the first time, he previously published a similar article earlier this year and even cited his fellow incel, Joshua Minsoo Kim, to reinforce his narrative.
ppl pretending to not know the difference between asian acts and american acts who have asian ancestry like omg ur all dafttttt ur not proving anything😭
lets also talk about rpwp not getting a nod even in genre categories when most publications were including it on album of the year lists. you have to fucking laugh