Stray Kids Join BTS in Withholding Music From 2027 Grammy Consideration
BTS announced its boycott in July after the addition of a best Asian pop music performance category.
Hyunjin, Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Han, Felix and I.N of Stray Kids perform at the 2026 Governors Ball Music Festival held at Flushing Meadows Corona Park on June 6, 2026, in New York City.
Stray Kids is joining BTS in straying from the Grammys, with label JYP Entertainment telling outlets such as BBC and Variety on Friday (Oct. 2) that the boy band did not submit anything for consideration at the 2027 awards.
The company reportedly did not elaborate on the eight-piece group’s decision to skip out on Grammy submissions, but it seems likely that it comes in response to the Recording Academy’s recent installation of a best Asian pop music performance category. In July, the members of BTS announced that they would not be participating in the Grammys — despite their massive year with three-week Billboard 200-topping album ARIRANG — in protest of the awards “being divided by region or language.”
Billboard has reached out to reps for Stray Kids and the Grammys for comment.
The addition of best Asian pop music performance to ballots has been a hot topic for months leading up to now. At the time of BTS’ boycott announcement, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. stated, “I am saddened to hear that BTS has chosen not to participate in the Grammy Awards process this year, but as a music creator, I understand and respect their decision.”
“I do want to clarify something that seems to be getting lost in the conversation,” he continued, emphasizing that submitting in localized genre-based categories does not bar artists from consideration in the general categories. “The Asian pop category was created to celebrate the depth, diversity and extraordinary growth of pop artistry coming out of Asia. The spirit of this new category is to shine a dedicated spotlight on these important artists. More categories mean more artists’ work is recognized. It’s never to divide, but to expand who is recognized by our 15,000 Grammy voters.”
As recently reported by Billboard, the academy has continued its discussions about the category in light of the controversy. In early September, there was a virtual call with 80-plus artists, executives and stakeholders from the Asian music community with trustees and governors from the Recording Academy to review the efficacy of the new award.
On Thursday (Oct. 1), however, the academy confirmed its intentions to move forward with the best Asian pop music performance recognition.
“Over the past several weeks the academy has been conducting listening sessions and have been in dialogue with leaders of the Asian music community,” Mason Jr. stated. “In this case, we heard candid feedback from people in our community who don’t support the continuation of this category. We also heard from people who didn’t have accurate information about the category, and having space to clear up misperceptions has been especially valuable. But by far, the loudest feedback we heard was from people who were enthusiastic supporters of the category, fellow music creators expressing their encouragement for keeping it.”
“We understand this conclusion will not satisfy everyone, and that never feels good,” he added. “But at the same time, we are confident it’s the right conclusion for the music community overall.”
Though going without Grammy recognition, Stray Kids have had an incredible run as of late. In the past year alone, the group has topped the Billboard 200 twice with November EP DO IT and August’s THIS & THAT. The title track from the latter reached No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100.
