When the Recording Academy announced that the 69th Grammy Awards would introduce a dedicated Asian Pop Music Performance category, the move was presented as a progressive step toward international inclusion. The reality has turned out far more awkward. Stray Kids have chosen not to submit their music for the 2027 ceremony, following the identical choice made by BTS. Within months of the category being finalized, the two biggest pop exports from South Korea have turned their backs on the proceedings entirely.
The decision came without fanfare or grand pronouncements. JYP, the agency behind Stray Kids, confirmed the boycott in the plainest terms possible, merely stating that the group did not submit their work. The submission window ran from July 7 through August 28, setting the stage for the February 7 gala. Stray Kids let the deadline pass without filing a single entry, a choice made all the more conspicuous by the fact that the group joined the Recording Academy as voting members earlier this year.
At issue is the very structure of the new Asian Pop Music Performance honor. Under Academy guidelines, the award was set up to reward artistic work originating from Asian markets, with an explicit rule requiring the meaningful use of one or more Asian languages. While administrators framed the category as a long overdue spotlight, skepticism spread quickly through the artist community and music commentary circles. Many saw it as a calculated quarantine, an easy way for voting members to push international releases into a side contest instead of considering them for premier honors like Album of the Year.
BTS had already staked out that moral ground when they announced their intention to bypass the 2027 ballot. In their public statement, the group expressed a straightforward wish that music might be heard and appreciated entirely on its own merits, unburdened by language or geographic origin, while thanking their audience for ongoing loyalty. By making the same choice, Stray Kids demonstrated that the initial refusal was not a one-off protest from an individual powerhouse, but an aligned response between the genre's premier live draws.
Recording Academy chief Harvey Mason Jr has maintained that the award should move forward regardless. Addressing the split, Mason acknowledged that he received sharp, candid criticism from inside the creative community, and noted that the organization tried to counter misconceptions surrounding the move. Even so, he insisted that the strongest and loudest voices favored keeping the award, coming from enthusiastic advocates and fellow music creators, though he conceded that the Academy would never please every constituency.
The absence leaves a massive crater in the 2027 nominations, because Stray Kids have spent the year operating at peak commercial strength. Their release This and That climbed to the top of the charts following its August debut. Over the summer, they secured a top billing at New York's Governors Ball, and later became the first K-pop outfit to headline Rock In Rio. Earlier in the year, during February, they sent their concert film, Stray Kids: The dominATE Experience, into movie theaters. They are, by every metric, an arena-filling force capable of competing on the widest global stage.
Instead of seeking out an isolated platform built to accommodate their origins, these acts are demanding parity on the general ballot or nothing at all. The Academy now finds itself in the strange position of hosting an Asian pop competition that the world's preeminent Asian pop artists refuse to attend.
