Stray Kids joins BTS in boycotting the Grammys over new 'Best Asian Pop' category

Stray Kids has joined BTS in withholding its music from Grammy Award consideration, agency JYP Entertainment confirmed this week, deepening a standoff between some of K-pop's biggest acts and the Recording Academy over a new category created to honor Asian pop music.

The Recording Academy introduced the "Best Asian Pop Music Performance" category in June, intended to recognize contemporary Asian popular music including K-pop, J-pop and C-pop. But several artists and critics have argued the category is effectively segregating, placing Asian musicians in a separate lane rather than letting them compete directly in the Academy's marquee pop and record-of-the-year fields now that K-pop has become a dominant global commercial force.

BTS set the precedent in July, when all seven members announced in an online post that they would not submit any music for Grammy consideration this cycle, in any category. The group said it wanted its music judged on its own terms rather than divided along regional or linguistic lines. JYP Entertainment confirmed this week that Stray Kids would not submit for the 69th Grammy Awards either, according to reporting from the Korea Times.

The Recording Academy has signaled it intends to proceed with the category despite the pushback. According to reporting out of Seoul this week, Billboard reported the Academy confirmed on Thursday that it would move forward, saying internal support for the category had outweighed opposition to it.

Reaction within the K-pop community has been mixed. ATEEZ member Hongjoong told reporters he sympathized with BTS's position and was weighing his own group's stance: "No one can recognize the real reason, but it seems like, for me — and this is very individual thinking — I think I agree a little with what BTS did." Industry observers have noted that BLACKPINK, among the best-selling girl groups globally, would also be eligible for the new category rather than the Academy's top pop fields under the current structure, intensifying scrutiny of how the category is being applied. With two of the genre's most commercially dominant acts now opting out, pressure is likely to grow on the Recording Academy either to revise the category's scope or clarify eligibility rules before nominations are finalized.