[LA] Inside the Grammy Museum, BTS Stands Beside Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga

K-pop boy group BTS has become one of the defining faces of pop music inside the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. On a recent visit, the group's videos, name, and performances turned up on multiple floors, placed alongside some of the biggest names in the global industry.

On the museum's fourth floor on October 31 local time, a large screen played footage of BTS performing "Dynamite." Visitors stopped as the seven members filled the wall. The clip rolled into performances by Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Doechii, SZA, and Tracy Chapman with Luke Combs.

Placing BTS at the front of that lineup carries weight. The museum used those stages to compress the Grammy Awards' history and present into a single walkthrough, and it chose "Dynamite" as one of the anchor moments. The song was the first by a Korean act to top the Billboard Hot 100. In 2021, BTS performed it at the 63rd Grammy Awards, becoming the first Korean pop act to headline a solo stage at the ceremony. That performance, filmed on a Seoul rooftop during pandemic travel restrictions, connected Korea and the U.S. in real time and became one of the show's most talked-about scenes.

BTS's presence becomes even more prominent on the third floor. The group's name is printed in large type across a wall shared with Rosalía, Lady Gaga, Green Day, Cardi B and Bruno Mars, Ricky Martin, Bad Bunny, Imagine Dragons, and Kendrick Lamar.

That room, titled "Mono to Immersive," traces the evolution of recording and sound through past Grammy performances. Visitors can compare the same stage in early mono, in stereo and surround, and in modern immersive audio. The museum chose BTS's "Butter" performance from the 64th Grammy Awards in 2022 as one of its featured examples.

That night, BTS built the "Butter" stage around a spy-movie concept. V leaned in and whispered to Olivia Rodrigo in the audience while the other members moved through choreography built around playing cards and jackets. Jungkook dropped in from above to open the number, and the group's tight formation, dodging imaginary lasers, gave the performance the feel of a compressed action film. It was one of the most replayed moments of that ceremony.

The museum does not just show the clip. On a touch screen, visitors can select BTS and hear the same "Butter" stage in mono and in immersive audio, back to back. Out of decades of Grammy performances by global stars, that stage was selected to demonstrate how sound technology has changed. It is a strong signal of where BTS sits in the museum's storytelling.

Another section focuses on fandoms and how they have moved music forward. The exhibit walks through Beatlemania, the Grateful Dead's Deadheads, metalheads, Beyoncé's BeyHive, Taylor Swift's Swifties, K-pop fandoms as a whole, and Bad Bunny's fans. It frames each group as a force that helped shape not just an artist's career but broader pop culture.

The museum describes K-pop fandoms as "a highly devoted fan base spread across the world." It goes further, noting that these fans use social media not only to support their favorite artists but to push back against racist speech through mass posting, run fundraising drives, and even organize protests in cities far from where they live. The framing treats K-pop fans as a cultural community that shapes public opinion and takes social action, not simply a listener base.

Visitor interest in BTS content was easy to see. People stopped in front of the "Dynamite" screen and stayed for the full clip. On the third floor, several visistors selected "Butter" on the touch screen to compare the audio formats. Others took photos of the wall with BTS's name in bold letters. In a space packed with global stars, BTS-related pieces drew particularly strong interest and reactions.

The museum leans on the group across the exhibits. "Dynamite" leads the video wall on the fourth floor. "Butter" is rebuilt as a hands-on experience on the third. BTS is treated both as an artist that has helped shape the Grammys' recent history and as a draw that keeps visitors moving through the building.

Their history is written across the museum. Their current relationship with the Grammy Awards, though, is not smooth. In July, BTS announced that the group would not submit its music for consideration at the 69th Grammy Awards, set for February. The members said they hope "music is heard and loved as music itself, rather than divided by region or language."

The industry has read the move as effectively a boycott, aimed at the newly created Best Asian Pop Music Performance category. The Recording Academy has said the category was "created to spotlight the growth and diversity of Asian music and give more artists an opportunity." It also stressed that Asian artists remain eligible for the top awards, including Record, Album, and Song of the Year, regardless of whether they enter the genre category.

BTS has received five Grammy nominations without a win. Inside the museum, the group already stands next to Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, and Kendrick Lamar. The Grammys have written BTS's performances into their own history and use them to pull in visitors. At the same time, BTS is publicly questioning the Grammys' latest category choice by refusing to submit. A group that once waited for the Grammy recognition is now asking the Recording Academy to answer for its choices.