On Feb 4th (local time), the 66th Grammy Awards will be held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, USA, and broadcasted live in Korea through Mnet.
The Grammy Awards are renowned as the most prestigious music awards worldwide, ranking among the top three music awards ceremonies in the United States alongside the American Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards. Despite being nominated for 3 consecutive years, BTS failed to win an award.
Amidst gaps in group activities due to members’ sequential military service, solo albums from some BTS members, as well as submissions from other K-pop acts like Stray Kids, TXT, FIFTY FIFTY, TWICE, were sent in. However, the nominations announced in November last year revealed that not a single K-pop act managed to break through the Grammy stronghold.
While BTS members Jimin and Jungkook were considered for their solo tracks “Like Crazy” and “Seven”, respectively, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart this year, they ultimately missed out on inclusion in the final list. Despite significant achievements in the North American market, acts like BLACKPINK, SEVENTEEN, Stray Kids, NewJeans and FIFTY FIFTY were also not nominated.
While many, including local media outlets like USA Today, criticized the Grammy Awards for their conservatism, some in Korea linked the absence of K-pop nominations to ongoing discussions about the crisis in the K-pop industry that emerged since last year.
In 2023, K-pop album sales surpassed 100 million units, marking a record high annual sales volume. However, paradoxically, there have been discussions about a crisis in the K-pop industry. Views suggesting a slowdown in the export growth of K-pop, as articulated by HYBE’s chairman Bang Si-hyuk, have emerged, indicating limitations in expansion. Some argue that musical evolution is necessary to overcome this.
The Grammy Awards have been criticized as a conservative ceremony. Unlike other award ceremonies based on charts or voting, the Grammy Awards are judged based on musicality and artistry. Criticism has been directed at the conservative nature of the selection committee, which is predominantly composed of white males over the age of 40, leading to the dominance of English-speaking white male artists in the awards.
In response, the Grammy Awards have been making efforts to increase diversity by adding non-white, female, Asian and young judges since the year before last. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in awards for artists of color and female artists at the Grammy Awards. Despite these changes, K-pop’s failure to break through the Grammy stronghold suggests unresolved issues in the Korean music industry.
An industry insider commented, “The results of this year’s Grammys indicate that K-pop music’s artistic quality fell short of satisfying Western critics. While it’s not necessary to tailor K-pop to Western standards, the fact that not a single K-pop act was nominated for a Grammy at the peak of the K-pop era suggests that K-pop has yet to present new music significant enough to challenge the Grammy Awards.”
Another insider emphasized, “The Grammys give high scores to singer-songwriters who create original songs. Even in idol music, each group must demonstrate qualitative growth by finding its own unique color beyond simply producing similar styles.“
Meanwhile, Mnet plans to broadcast the excitement of the Grammy Awards this year through live coverage by Yoo Young-seok, Shin Ah-young and Kim Young-dae. Singer-songwriter SZA, nominated in the most categories including “Album of the Year” and “Record of the Year”, along with prominent artists like Victoria Monét, Jon Batiste, Boygenius, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift, are expected to make their mark in the major categories.
Source: Daum
