K-pop group Stray Kids have not submitted their music for consideration at the upcoming 69th Grammy Awards, their agency JYP Entertainment announced.

This news came to light right after the Recording Academy, the organization that hosts the Grammy Awards, announced that it would proceed with the awards ceremony as planned despite controversy surrounding the creation of a new Asian pop category.

In an outlook article for the 69th Grammy Awards released on the 1st local time, Billboard in the U.S. mentioned Stray Kids as major contenders in this category, but Stray Kids had not even submitted their work.

Back in June, the Grammys announced the creation of a new category, "Best Asian Pop Music Performance," which separately classifies music from Asian regions such as South Korea, China, and Japan.

Criticism arose that this move attempts to segregate K-pop into a separate category rather than having it compete in existing categories. In July, BTS stated that they would not submit their music to the Grammy Awards, saying, "We hope music is heard for what it is, without being divided by region or language."

As the BBC forecasted that Stray Kids' boycott, following that of BTS, would be a major blow to the Grammy organizers, attention is also focused on the possibility of other K-pop artists joining in.

Nominations for the 69th Grammy Awards are scheduled to be announced on November 17, and the ceremony is set to take place in Los Angeles on February 7 of next year.
(Photo: Yonhap News)