What is the zenith of achievement in life? A soccer player’s answer may be winning the world cup; a doctor’s answer may be saving as many lives as possible; an actor’s answer may be winning an Oscar, and a musician’s answer may be winning a GRAMMY. There is a whole socio-political history lesson on how an American award has become the zenith of achievement for musicians around the world, and I will not be dissecting it here. My blog simply wants to ask “do the GRAMMYs have equal respect for all who want to achieve them?”
BTS earned a GRAMMY nomination in 2020 -- a monumental moment for K-pop. But why does the story have to end there? “Dynamite,” BTS’ first English single, broke records on almost every platform it was played on, and yet, it was not enough. I am not trying to question the music that won against BTS in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category. This is not about them. This is about seven talented, hard-working Korean men whose life is synonymous with music and who have been creating absolutely beautiful music since 2013, and yet being snubbed by the institution that claims to reward hard work.
BTS has one of the largest fan communities in the world, a fact well-known by production houses. It is a common tactic to save BTS’ performance for the last slot to rake up as many views as possible. Therefore, it was no surprise when the GRAMMYs, a ceremony that has been losing its popularity for the past few years, decided to push back BTS’ performance to increase views.
Very few people succeed on their very first attempt. It hurts to witness hardships, but you know you can come back stronger and make the world see your worth. Maybe “better” music took home the prize on that night, but BTS knew they would come back with more the following year.
The year gone by has witnessed BTS grow stronger and reach greater heights. Their second English single, “Butter,” charted number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a record 10 weeks and was also declared as the Song of the Summer by Billboard. On release, “Butter” managed to break five Guinness World Records as well. Next, BTS went on to release their third English single “Permission to Dance,” a song designed to give hope to this pandemic-ridden world. The music video for the song gave out strong messages of inclusion, hope, and anti-racism. One would naturally expect such effort and productions to be rewarded by the prestigious Recording Academy. BTS thought so too and submitted their music in seven different categories for the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards.
The nominations for GRAMMYs were announced on November 23, and it is safe to say that BTS was robbed yet again of accolades they deserve. Being nominated yet again for the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category, BTS was left out of the major categories such as Record of the Year and Song of the Year despite their many records broken and reset. It is nothing new for the Recording Academy to leave BTS out of the major categories and rope them in on every occasion possible to increase their views. It was not a surprise when they got BTS to announce a nomination on the 23rd, but what feels so personal is the disregard for them as musicians.
Before you assume that this is an angry, hormonal teenager penning down her rants because her favorite boys did not get the nominations they deserved, let me tell you that I have grown up listening to Pandit Ravi Shankar, the globally celebrated sitarist from India, have danced to the tunes of Beyonce’s “Halo” in middle school, have cried my heart out to Enrique’s “Why Not Me?” after my first heartbreak, and then had healed myself with Coldplay’s “Fix You.” I was introduced to BTS through their music when I was 22 and had no idea about who they were, how they looked, or how life-saving their lyrics were. It was their sound that made me explore their discography and finally call myself “ARMY.” My rant here is about good music being unappreciated time and again.
Every musician has to overcome obstacles to be recognized by the Recording Academy, and no one expects BTS to have a cakewalk. But what stands out here is the fact that the obstacles do not seem to end for them even after proving themselves to the global music audience. This is where we ask if receiving a GRAMMY is an elusive dream for people like BTS, who toil every day to produce amazing music, practice 13-14 hours a day to put up amazing performances for their fans, and then get snubbed because they dared to come from a certain background and change the whole arena of music.
If their recent Artist of the Year wins at the AMAs was anything to go by, it was not an unrealistic dream for “Butter,” the biggest hit of 2021, to receive a nomination in the Song of the Year category. This explains the outburst of ARMY on different platforms that posts GRAMMY nominations. This also points to a beautiful aspect of BTS’ music — it feels personal. The lyrics feel like they are about your life, your struggles, your triumphs, and this snub from the Recording Academy feels like a snub to everything you have gone through with BTS’ music.
Nonetheless, the GRAMMYs will have still “won,” because however angry, hurt, humiliated ARMY might feel, we will still tune in to watch the awards to support BTS, having our hearts in our mouths until their category is announced. Perhaps they will win and we will bask in that achievement, or perhaps we will be heartbroken and look forward to the next year again, but the question in our hearts is now seeded – how long will a dream be chased after if the dream does not respect all its dreamers equally?
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Written By: Basabdatta
Edited by: Aury
Checked by: Anna
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