Recognition or sidelining? Reactions mixed as Grammys unveil Asian pop category
The Grammy Awards will add a Best Asian Pop Music Performance category, a move read as recognition of Asian music's global reach after years of criticism that the show favored English-language acts and lagged behind the times. The Recording Academy, which runs the Grammys, announced the rule change on its website Tuesday (local time). The new category takes effect at the 69th Grammy Awards next year, alongside four others — Best Latin Song, Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance and Best Traditional Folk Album. For Korea, the Asian pop category was the most welcome news of the bunch. BTS and other K-pop acts have topped Billboard's main chart and sold out world tours for years, yet the Grammys remained the one stage they could not crack. Because Grammy wins were especially hard to come by, some saw the change as a milestone cracked open by years of persistent knocking from K-pop music. "Now that there is finally a category where K-pop artists can be officially recognized, it opens the door for far more artists to enter the conversation t
