BTS Won't Submit for Grammys: 'Music Shouldn't Be Divided by Region'

BTS is sitting out the 69th Grammy Awards.

All seven members announced they will not submit their work for consideration this year, a striking move from the biggest act in K-pop just months after topping the Billboard charts.

Each member posted the same message on social media. "We have decided not to submit to the Grammys this year," they wrote. "We hope that music can be heard and loved as music itself, rather than divided by region or language. We thank ARMY and everyone who is always with us."

The decision lands at the peak of a career year. BTS released its fifth full-length album, "ARIRANG," in March. The record went to No. 1 on both Billboard's main singles and albums charts, one of the strongest global runs of the group's career. Walking away from the Grammys at this moment is not a small gesture.

The Grammy Awards are still widely seen as the top honor in popular music. BTS has chased that recognition for years, earning multiple nominations without a win. Choosing not to enter at all reframes the relationship between the group and the Recording Academy.

The timing has fueled one clear reading of the move. Last month, the Recording Academy added a new category, Best Asian Pop Music Performance. The category was pitched as a way to spotlight Asian pop, but critics online argued it does the opposite by walling Asian artists off from the main awards. The members did not name the category in their posts. Their line about music not being "divided by region or language" is being read as a direct response.

The biggest act in the genre is telling the industry's most powerful awards body that a separate category is not the recognition it was looking for.