ARMYs all knew the reason for "Dynamite's" sudden resurgence on the charts.
The whole world was looking forward to seeing BTS make history at the 2021 GRAMMY Awards, both as potential award winners and as performers. However, the results of the awards show left a sour taste — not only in the mouths of ARMY — but in the general public’s as well.
The GRAMMY Awards were notorious in the international music scene for being a “rigged” awards show that was “corrupt,” “sexist,” and biased for “the white man.”
To give you a recap of what happened during the 2021 GRAMMY Awards, on March 14, 2021, ARMY and the general public felt an intense feeling of disappointment when the award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance ended up being granted to another nominee. However, despite that, the night was special because BTS still made a historic mark and reached a new milestone by being the first South Korean artists to perform at the GRAMMYs with their song, “Dynamite.”
Although ARMY loved BTS’ energetic and stellar performance of “Dynamite,” we couldn’t deny that our overall experience of the 2021 GRAMMY Awards was disheartening, but not surprising. In one of Borasaek Vision’s blogs about BTS and the GRAMMYs, the topic of diversity in the Recording Academy was brought up. The 2020 GRAMMYs revealed the prevalence of racism, and it was no surprise that it still existed a year after.
Racism is more than just a hot topic in every industry... it is a social cancer of humanity; prejudice and hate remain pressing issues that the majority of minorities both experience and live with. It is appalling to find racism still carved into the mindsets of many people while living in the twenty-first century, an era characterized by its freedom and innovation according to the logistics of modernity.
Some right now might be questioning how ARMYs can claim that this behavior from the Recording Academy was racist. Historically, the Recording Academy, the organization behind the GRAMMYs, has been known to overlook musicians who have poured years of hard work to break countless records in favor of more artists that fitted the unspoken criteria—white, western, and male. Many musicians who were overlooked to never receive even one GRAMMY, let alone secure a GRAMMY nomination or performance at the GRAMMY stage, have names that remain very familiar in mainstream culture. Year after year, “Music’s Biggest Night” rewards white artists while diminishing the accomplishments of POC artists. What a coincidence that since the inception of the GRAMMYs, only ten black artists have won the Album of the Year Award. The GRAMMYs have a poor record of recognizing POC artists in most of their awards.
BTS made remarkable history, being the first Korean act to receive a GRAMMY nomination—a feat which has established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the international music industry. But the GRAMMYs displayed actions that showed how they favor Caucasians rather than solely judging a musician’s artistic integrity. The Recording Academy claimed to have addressed diversity-related issues last year, but it still didn’t seem to be the case.
Many artists have expressed their disappointment with GRAMMYs and the Recording Academy for the past decades. For this year’s GRAMMYs, Teyana Taylor and The Weeknd were among the few who expressed their disappointment. BTS’ friend Halsey even added that “The GRAMMYs are an elusive process. It can often be about behind-the-scenes private performances, knowing the right people, campaigning through the grapevine, with the right handshakes, and ‘bribes’ that can be just ambiguous enough to pass as ‘not bribes.’ And if you get that far, it’s about committing to exclusive TV performances and making sure you help the Academy make their millions in advertising on the night of the show.”
Zayn Malik also tweeted his sentiments, which were quite similar to Halsey’s thoughts. “Unless you shake hands and send gifts, there’s no nomination considerations. Next year I’ll send you a basket of confectionary.”
Aside from racism, Halsey and Zayn Malik pointed towards another GRAMMYs issue: bribery. Deborah Dugan, the suspended head of the Recording Academy, claimed that the awards are "ripe with corruption."
In the complaint she filed against the Recording Academy, Dugan claimed that it is the Recording Academy's highly influential board members who "ultimately control" the GRAMMY nominees, not their 12,000 professional voting members. She also mentioned that the Recording Academy "manipulates the GRAMMY nominations process to ensure that certain songs or albums are nominated."
According to Dugan, the board members of the Recording Academy are permitted to add in artist, song, and album nominations at will—thereby elbowing other artists out.
“It is not unusual for artists who have relationships with board members and who ranked at the bottom of the initial 20-artist list to end up receiving nominations.” This statement matched the sentiments of Halsey and Zayn Malik—the possibility of bribery happening behind the Recording Academy’s closed doors.
As this charade of incessant racism and corruption in this “prestigious” award-giving body continued to escalate, more and more artists like BTS would play the role of victims. ARMY and the general public protested on social media about how the GRAMMYs teased BTS’ special performance even after the GRAMMYs dangled the award in their eyes before giving it to another artist. Not to mention the fact that a temporary collaboration won in a category for duos and groups.
It was a desperate move to keep viewers tuned into the show, a situation that begged to answer this question: Does the BTS need GRAMMYs for their career, or does GRAMMYs need BTS to remain relevant in the music industry?
GRAMMYs used BTS as their rating bait. However, Variety reported that the awards show averaged 8.8 million viewers, making it the least-watched GRAMMYs telecast in history. People also speculated that the Recording Academy only nominated the (take note) all-English song “Dynamite” because it pleased Western listeners. Given the success that BTS had achieved this 2020, they could’ve been contenders for major GRAMMY nominations such as Album of the Year, Record of the Year, or Song of the Year. Instead, they placed BTS in a minor category.
ARMY somewhat knew that chances of BTS winning were slim, but it was disrespectful that the GRAMMYs gave the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance to another contender after consistently hyping the group’s appearance on the show.
As always, BTS accepted their loss with grace, and ARMY knew that the group would continue to work harder, but will there ever be a level playing field?
The music industry has never been kind to BTS. Their situation with GRAMMYs wasn’t even the first time BTS experienced discrimination at award shows. During their early years, the Korean music industry looked down on their talent. As they rose to global popularity, Western award ceremonies even went to the extent of creating another category just to prevent BTS from winning a major award.
ARMY never forgets. We trended #SCAMMYs online and streamed “Dynamite” until it dominated music charts once again. The BTS and GRAMMYs saga will surely continue for years, and ARMY will continue to stand by BTS’ side.
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Written By: Euni
Edit By: Esma
Checked By: Aury