Stray Kids withdraw from Grammy submissions next year... second non-submission following BTS

Stray Kids, following BTS, has decided not to submit works for the 69th Grammy Awards. JYP Entertainment announced on the 2nd (local time) that Stray Kids did not submit for next year’s Grammy Awards. Earlier, BTS also announced their intention not to submit for the Grammys in July. At that time, the members of BTS expressed their hope that ″music would be heard and loved as music itself rather than being divided by region or language.″ The Recording Academy, which organizes the Grammy Awards, announced in June this year the establishment of a new category, ’Best Asian Pop Music Performance.’ The purpose was to recognize the growth and influence of Asian pop and provide more opportunities to musicians. However, there was backlash against separating Asian music into a separate category, and both BTS and Stray Kids showed resistance to this and did not submit. Stray Kids is a team that has topped the US Billboard main album chart, the ’Billboard 200,’ with nine consecutive albums. All eight members were invited as voting members of the Recording Academy this year. BTS and Stray Kids are representative teams often mentioned when explaining the growth and global influence of Asian pop. Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, stated on the 1st that after hearing opinions from the Asian music industry, supportive voices were greater, and the awards would proceed as planned. He also emphasized that a sufficient number of submissions had been received. Hongjoong of ATEEZ recently said in a Variety interview, ″Personally, I somewhat sympathize with BTS’s stance. I also want to think about that issue.″ The Grammys cited the combination of music and performance, genre blending, and dynamic song composition as characteristics of Asian pop such as K-pop, J-pop, and C-pop. However, they explained that these elements are also found in pop outside Asia. The Grammys stated that Asian pop submissions can also be judged in major categories such as ’Album of the Year,’ ’Record of the Year,’ and ’Song of the Year.’ The 69th Grammy Awards are scheduled to be held in February next year.