Grammy Asian Pop Category Will Go Forward, CEO Says: ‘We Understand This Conclusion Will Not Satisfy Everyone’

Grammy chief Harvey Mason Jr. has issued a statement in which he says the Awards’ controversial newest category, Asian Pop, will go forward for the 2027 ceremony.

Mason had previously signaled that the Recording Academy was reconsidering the new category in the wake of decidedly split reactions after it was announced in June. BTS in particular objected to the category, implying that it effectively ghetto-izes a genre of music more than highlighting it and saying they will not submit their music for Grammy consideration in 2027.

“We hope our music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language,” the group said in a statement.

However, Mason is unequivocal about the award going forward, at least for 2027, based on conversations with multiple people in the community.

“Over the past several weeks the Academy has been conducting listening sessions and have been in dialogue with leaders of the Asian music community,” Mason’s statement reads in full. “The journey has been rewarding and inspiring. Our organization is at its best when we engage deeply with music people and go the extra mile to understand their lived experiences.

“In this case, we heard candid feedback from people in our community who don’t support the continuation of this category. We also heard from people who didn’t have accurate information about the category, and having space to clear up misperceptions has been especially valuable. But by far, the loudest feedback we heard was from people who were enthusiastic supporters of the category, fellow music creators expressing their encouragement for keeping it.

“We understand this conclusion will not satisfy everyone, and that never feels good. But at the same time, we are confident it’s the right conclusion for the music community overall. As is the case with all our categories, we will continue to diligently engage with the music community and keep striving to honor this music — and all music — in the best possible way. We look forward to celebrating the Asian Pop Music Performance nominees at the 2027 Grammy Awards.”

The Academy also noted that it has received a “robust” number of submissions for the category, signaling strong interest in its first year.

The introduction of the award revived a familiar issue with the Grammys’ genre-specific awards. While the intent may be to recognize music in a certain genre or language, many people within that community feel that it actually ends up being exclusionary, with voters relegating music or artists into those genre categories rather than more-mainstream ones; this has been a common complaint with regard to the Latin Grammys.

While BTS has been nominated for Grammy Awards five times, in pop and other categories, the group has never won. “Golden,” from the smash film “KPop Demon Hunters” and performed by the fictional group Huntr/x (vocalists EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami), is widely considered the first KPop Grammy win, taking the award for best song written for visual media earlier this year, although it did not win for best song.