KOR
Amid growing controversy surrounding BTS's declaration that they will not submit their work to the Grammys, an explanation posted by an industry insider who stated they were involved in introducing the new Grammy category has sparked debate in overseas online communities.
Gina Coda, known to be an insider in the brand and entertainment marketing industry, posted her stance on the controversy surrounding the new Grammy category, "Best Asian Pop Music Performance," across three Instagram Stories on July 30. Rather than an official statement, it was in the form of a personal social media story, and the account is currently private.
Introducing herself as one of the people who pushed to establish the "Best Asian Pop Music Performance" category with the committee, she claimed, "It has become a media campaign based on a narrative completely unrelated to the purpose of creating this category."
She went on to explain, "The intention was to honor them at the highest level of the Academy. We also know that pop is not the only category where Asian artists exist, but this was intended as a first step in a larger direction to give us more voice and power."
She also directly expressed disappointment regarding BTS's decision. She wrote, "We were torn down by one of the biggest Asian artists. It is regrettable that rather than taking a bold action seeking attention, there could not have been more meaningful behind-the-scenes conversations to understand what the actual intent was," adding, "It makes me question whether we can truly unite as one."
In particular, she emphasized that the newly established category was not meant for BTS. Premising that "this is a new category and its first implementation, so it cannot be perfect," she added, "BTS has always been eligible to apply in other pop categories. This was for artists who need more spotlight than ever before, who had none previously, and securing representation was the true mission for many of us."
Many music fans responded that they could not agree with this explanation.
Rebuttals followed asking whether there was any need to grant visibility through a separate category, given that BTS are artists who have already been nominated for the Grammys five times and topped Billboard main charts multiple times. In particular, criticisms were raised that the category's standard of "Asian pop," which is difficult to divide by specific languages and cultures, lacks realism. Some BTS fans suspected that the timing of the new category's announcement—right after BTS's full-group comeback and album success, and just two months before the Grammy submission deadline—was very suspicious.
The origin of this controversy dates back to July 29. The seven BTS members stated through personal social media channels that day, "We have decided not to submit our work to the Grammys this year," and expressed, "We hope that music can be heard and loved for what it is itself, rather than being categorized by region or language."
The following day, July 30, the Recording Academy released a statement under the name of CEO Harvey Mason Jr., explaining, "It was newly established to celebrate the depth, diversity, and phenomenal growth of pop music coming out of Asia," and adding, "Submitting to a genre category does not exclude works from consideration in the General Field categories."
(Photo: Yonhap News) Reported by Kang Kyung-yoon, SBS E! Entertainment News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.
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