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By Ananya Gondesi, staff writer and editor
The 63rd annual Grammy’s was held on March 14, 2021, with approximately 9.23 million viewers watching from home. However, award shows are in a very weird place due to the pandemic. Prestigious awards like the golden globes are being torn apart over racism claims as well as claims of bribery and buying out nominations. The nominees of the Grammys were dominated by the names of Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Megan Thee Stallion and Dababy. Among these powerful and well known names, a new group was introduced to the awards: BTS.
BTS is not new to the American music industry; in fact they’ve been around due to the obsession with K-pop, or Korean pop music. They consist of 7 members, formed in 2010, and have since released 19 studio albums, with loads of popular and successful music. Most of their music is in Korean; after all, they are a Korean pop music group. However, they snagged their first Grammy nomination with their all English song Dynamite, which was extremely popular and topped the Billboard hot 100 chart 3 times.
K-pop stans were ecstatic, as were the group. It was international recognition, and the idea of having a Grammy meant they made it. It meant the world to fans, and they all held hands in anticipation of what would happen. BTS was nominated for Best pop duo/group performance, which is a major Grammy category, on the level of Best New Artist and Record of the Year. However, this time, it was moved back to the pre-show ceremony. The millions of K-pop fans were disappointed, but still held out hope as they watched the pre-show, only to find out that BTS lost their Grammy to Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande for Rain on Me. Fans then knew that they were going to perform their set and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. The Grammy’s let them know multiple times that it was coming up, and it never did. BTS ended up being the last performance of the evening, right before Record of the Year was presented and the awards came to an end. While the performance was stunning, with a complete recreation of the red carpet created in Seoul, South Korea, the fans went home tired and disappointed.
The reason why BTS was nominated, the weird timings and the pushbacks is obvious; they were using BTS for ratings. They were NEVER going to give BTS the Grammy in the first place. ARMY, or the fan base for BTS, consists of almost 40 million people. This means more ratings and more money for the network. The pre-show is for the lesser known awards, and they are always streamed on Youtube or on a network. So why would they move such a big award like Best Pop Duo to a pre-show? Ratings. They wanted the army to continue watching to rope them in. Throughout the show they continued to say their name, tease the performance, but it never happened until the end, AFTER a lengthy speech from a member of the academy who spoke all about “representation”. If their idea of “representation” is a way to attract viewers, then the awards aren’t there for being there. They are there only for the select few.
This is not to say that the artists who have been nominated were bad; it could’ve been better. Otherwise, the performances did well and the awards went to whoever, but fans were left disappointed at the end of the day. The Grammy’s almost set out a trap for the K-pop group and fans fell into it, only realizing it was a trap when they realized that BTS was the last performance of the night.
The diversity in the Grammy’s should not be coming from a place of getting more ratings or just being exempt from being called out, but it should come from a place of sincerity. With the rise in Asian hate crimes and the black lives matter movement stronger than ever, it’s incredibly important we make sure that everyone is represented, especially underappreciated musical artist. Do better.
