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.
Christopher Nolan admits he almost never made The Odyssey until reading one heartbreaking scene about a dog from the original 3,000-year-old ancient Greek text completely broke him.
"I spent a lot of time before I would write just familiarizing myself with the Odyssey... trying to remind myself what I remembered it to be."
"You get to the bit with Argus... his loyal hunting dog."
"As a new dog owner... I did not grow up with dogs."
"Finally got a dog... and yeah, changes your life."
"I got to the bit with Argus... and it just killed me."
"I think it was honestly a major reason that I knew I had to make the film."
when you’re singing about the psychological cost of fame and how warped your sense of normalcy has become and also you have your shirt off and are lying seductively in bed
The way this is their normal and abnormal coexisting in the same frame. Dancing in front of strangers is literally their job and their passion, so it’s completely normal to them. At the same time, that same normal becomes abnormal because they’re doing it in a public park, not at a concert, not at an audition, and not during rehearsals. It’s the coexistence of the normal and abnormal in one frame, and I love it. I love how they’ve finally been able to reach that balance.
Growing up hearing “Wikipedia isn't a valid source” and then entering a workplace where people say “just ask ChatGPT” is a surprisingly strange timeline