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🔥HYBE, SM, JYP and YG all skipped the Grammys' Asian pop category

7MinjaeAm2026.10.16 05:32👁 4141💬 35♥ 79

The big four all sat out Best Asian Pop Music Performance. BTS said no back in July, Stray Kids didn't submit either, and now it turns out HYBE, SM, JYP and YG skipped the category entirely. Only around three K-pop teams ended up entering. The category got 116 submissions in total, a lot of them from Japan, while the new Latin song category got 519. Korean fans are split. One side calls it good team play and is side-eyeing the few agencies that did submit. The other side shrugs and says Japan will just take it home, so what was the boycott for. I'm with the boycott, mostly. A category built around which continent you come from instead of how the music sounds is a strange idea, and the Academy says it held listening sessions and then kept it anyway. I still can't get mad at a small company taking the shot though. Statements are a luxury for agencies that can afford to skip a Grammy.

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Comments 35

7Geonwoo2026.10.16

116 entries vs 519 for latin. category is still stuck in the tutorial

7Kettlecorn2026.10.16

LATIN GOT 519 BECAUSE THEY ACTUALLY WANT THE TROPHY. meanwhile the big four skipping feels like the cool kid who says they don't care about the party but still shows up late

7Soomin2026.10.17

I keep wondering what the entry paperwork looks like. If it's a form and a fee, the big four skipping sounds more like a calculation than a statement.

7Geonwoo2026.10.16

The cool kid who skips the party never has to explain losing at it. That's strategy, not vibes.

7orbit_kid2026.10.17

cool kid skipping the party is fine. cool kid skipping it and then complaining nobody invited him to the afterparty is the actual problem

8Dabin2026.10.16

OMG WAIT only 3 kpop teams?? the category basically has kpop written on it and kpop just. didnt show up lmao

7Haneul2026.10.16

the big 4 agreeing on something for once 😭✨ someone write this date down

7Kettlecorn2026.10.16

ok but dragging the small companies for submitting feels unfair. if my group had a real shot at a GRAMMY i'd want them in too

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8Taeho2026.10.16

I think the push back is less about the companies and more about the label itself. 'Asian pop' groups music by where the artist is from, not by genre.

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7MinjaeOP2026.10.16

Same, that's the part I can't get mad at.

7Geonwoo2026.10.16

116 entries vs 519 for latin. category is still stuck in the tutorial

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7Dahye2026.10.16

튜토리얼에 갇혀 있는 카테고리에서 빅4가 컷신을 스킵한 셈이네

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7Kettlecorn2026.10.16

LATIN GOT 519 BECAUSE THEY ACTUALLY WANT THE TROPHY. meanwhile the big four skipping feels like the cool kid who says they don't care about the party but still shows up late

7marigold.mp32026.10.16

japan winning it by default would be so funny honestly

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7Nari2026.10.16

Reckon that's exactly how it goes, and then everyone acts surprised.

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7Gaeun2026.10.16

Japan winning by default is funny until you remember the category literally says Asian pop. Nobody gets to be mad.

7Nari2026.10.16

116 submissions and I still can't name the three K-pop acts that entered. boycott or not, that's a bad look for the category.

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7Dahye2026.10.16

I check the charts every day and I couldn't name them either. that's a rough sign for the category

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7Haneul2026.10.16

I tried naming the three too and got two. now I feel bad 🥹 the category really is invisible ✨

7Nari2026.10.16

Calling it a stand is generous. Skipping a field where Japan has the numbers is also just not wanting to lose publicly. Both can be true.

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7Haneul2026.10.17

'not wanting to lose publicly' is colder than I expected 😭 but it makes sense ✨

7Junseo2026.10.16

feels like 'boycott' and 'just didn't bother' get blended in the headlines. can't tell which one this is without a statement from them. thoughts?

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7paperlantern2026.10.16

Those two are only different if somebody explains. No company is going to put out a statement saying 'we didn't bother', so 'boycott' wins the headline by default.

7paperlantern2026.10.17

I teach English. The kid who skips the spelling bee never gets told they lost. Same logic, bigger podium.

7Soomin2026.10.17

Genuine question for anyone who knows: does entering cost a label real money or is it mostly paperwork? If it's paperwork I'd enter just in case.

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7velvetcrow2026.10.17

no idea what the fee is, but if it were free i'd assume at least one of the big four would've entered just to say they were there

7Soomin2026.10.17

I keep wondering what the entry paperwork looks like. If it's a form and a fee, the big four skipping sounds more like a calculation than a statement.

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HYBE, SM, JYP and YG all skipped the Grammys' Asian pop category · KOMMU.LIVE