BTS has firmly established themselves as one of the most acclaimed bands in the world, appearing on magazine covers around the globe, selling millions of copies of their albums, and easily filling stadiums in numerous countries. However, not all organizations have been equally ready to commend BTS for their success. To explore this point, we will look at how the three major music award shows in the United States have treated BTS over time.
A Brief Explanation of Award Shows in the United States
This article will look at two main facets of award shows in the United States: the types of awards won, and the times during the shows BTS performed. There are two types of awards given in the United States – those voted by the public and those selected by a committee. Awards given through fan-vote are typically seen as less prestigious and are occasionally used as a way for a ceremony to appease a certain audience without giving an artist a highly-coveted award.
Secondly, in the United States where an act performs during the show can often indicate how much the ceremony values the performer. Opening a show is seen as prestigious and being one of the final closing acts is also a good sign. As we will see in this study, however, this can sometimes be exploited, forcing an audience to watch the entirety of a ceremony in order to see their desired performer. We will now move on to analyzing the evolution of each award show individually.
The Billboard Music Awards
In 2017, BTS made their first award show appearance in the United States, by attending the Billboard Music Awards (BBMAs). The band was nominated for the fan-voted award Top Social Artists, which Justin Bieber had won from the award’s inception until 2016. BTS winning the award was groundbreaking, and it seemed to be a strong start for BTS on Western award shows. It also cast the BBMAs in a positive light to ARMY. The next year, BTS was still only nominated for the same award, but they were also given the chance to perform their song “Fake Love” live for the first time. It was seen as a great accomplishment that BTS could have their first comeback performance on a Western award show, and they were the second to last stage of the night. In 2019, BTS and Halsey performed “Boy With Luv” – once again in the second to last spot – and won Top Social Artist. However, they were also nominated for and won the non-fan-voted award Top Duo/Group.
Until 2020, it seemed that the Billboard Music Awards were the best of the Western award shows according to ARMY. But this soon began to wane. In 2020, BTS was still given the second to last spot in the show to perform “Dynamite,” but they were still only nominated for the same two awards as the previous year and did not win Top Duo/ Group. It was starting to seem that the BBMAs only cared about profiting off ARMY viewership and not rewarding the group’s talent and artistry. In 2021, BTS’ performance of “Butter” occurred in the middle of the show, which while previously may have been interpreted as a snub, was actually relieving for many ARMY who no longer had to watch the whole show just to see BTS perform. Furthermore, the band not only took home Top Social Artist for the fifth year in a row, but they also reclaimed Top Duo/Group and took home Top Selling Song with “Dynamite.”
The relationship between the BBMAs and BTS is complicated; they were the first of the big three US award shows to nominate BTS, but have still not given BTS the treatment ARMY believes they deserve. Additionally, sentiment toward the BBMAs’ parent company Billboard has deteriorated among ARMY due to a controversial interview. As of writing, the nominations for this year’s ceremony have yet to be released, but should BTS win Top Social Artist again this year, they will tie Justin Bieber’s win record.
The American Music Awards
Six months after their first United States award show appearance, BTS was invited to the American Music Awards (AMAs) in November of 2017. This was the first time that the band was asked to perform at a United States award show, and “DNA” was the penultimate performance of the night. In 2018, BTS did not perform, but they did win the fan-voted Favorite Social Artist. The band also did not perform in 2019 but took home three awards: Favorite Social Artist, Tour of the Year, and Favorite Duo or Group—Pop/Rock. In 2020, the band closed the show with performances of “Dynamite” and “Life Goes On.” They also took home Favorite Social Artist and Favorite Duo or Group—Pop/Rock.
2021 marked a banner year for BTS at the show. Favorite Social Artist was discontinued, but BTS still won three awards: Favorite Duo or Group – Pop, “Butter” won Favorite Song – Pop, and then BTS were crowned the biggest winners of the night when they won Artist of the Year. This was a huge accomplishment not just for the band, but also for the entirety of the United States music industry as they were the first Asian artists to win the award. The AMAs also gave BTS two separate spots to perform one near the start of the show and one at the end. Most of the history between BTS and the AMAs has been fairly simple and straightforward. Recently, however, the AMAs have gained the respect of ARMY for treating BTS as they would treat any other artist.
The Grammy Awards
The relationship between the Grammy’s and BTS has been complicated to say the least. BTS’ first foray into the Grammys was in 2019 when they presented the award for Best R&B Album. Their album Love Yourself: Tear was also nominated for Best Recording Packaging, but that nomination was credited to the art director Doohee Lee. In 2020, BTS returned, but because they still had not secured a nomination, they were unable to perform a solo stage. However, the band partnered with Lil Nas X as well as Billy Ray Cyrus, Diplo, Mason Ramsey, and Nas to perform several remixes of the hit song, “Old Town Road.” While many award shows were finally starting to recognize BTS’ hard work in 2021, the Grammys made a small step in the same direction. At last, BTS earned a Grammy nomination with the song “Dynamite” for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. They did not win the award, but this did allow them to perform a solo stage.
ARMY were dissatisfied by this, however, for several reasons. First, the category in which BTS was nominated was relegated to the pre-show instead of the main ceremony. But in the pre-show, the award was announced at the end of the program, requiring fans to watch the whole program, just to see the group lose. This was not enough of exploiting ARMY though. BTS’ performance was aired during the main show, but they were the second to last performer. While later performances are normally seen as an accomplishment, fans saw it for what it was: an attempt to use ARMY’s desire to see the performance as a way to sustain a large number of viewers for the duration of the show. ARMY wasn't the only ones to call out the Grammys; some publications released articles following the show discussing BTS’ snub.
While the 2022 Grammys have yet to air. So far, ARMY has been equally displeased. BTS was again nominated for just one category – Best Pop Duo/Group Performance – with “Butter.” It was also recently announced that BTS will be performing again. It remains to be seen if the Grammys can learn from their mistakes last year.
Conclusion
In the beginning, simply being invited to Western award shows was exciting for BTS. It was monumental for a K-pop act to attend these events, and they provided opportunities for BTS to expose their talents and abilities to new audiences. However, nearly five years later, an invitation isn’t enough. It’s time for award shows in the United States to recognize the successes of BTS and stop simply nominating and allowing BTS to perform at their shows only to use ARMY for viewership and money.
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Written By: Rachel
Edited By: Aury
Checked By: Esma