Stray Kids Won't Say If They're Entering the Grammy Category BTS Just Rejected
Asked twice, directly, whether Stray Kids would submit music for the Grammys' new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category, Seungmin talked about gratitude for K-pop's global reach. He never said yes. He never said no.
The question came up Thursday at a Seoul press conference for the group's 10th EP, "This & That." JYP Entertainment had already declined to comment on the group's Grammy plans when The Korea Herald asked directly. So when a reporter pressed the group in person, Seungmin's answer stayed on message: "When we discuss the music we love or work on our performances, our focus isn't directed outward. We create music based on the stories that come from deep within our hearts." Hyunjin followed with the group's standard line - that Stray Kids has "never once set our sights on a particular award or achievement when releasing an album."
The non-answer arrived three weeks after all seven BTS members announced on July 29 that they would not submit their album "Arirang" for the same category, saying they wanted their music "heard and embraced for what it is, beyond region or language." The Recording Academy had introduced Best Asian Pop Music Performance in June, requiring entries to feature at least one Asian language - a rule critics noted would exclude the mostly-English "Arirang" even if BTS had wanted in. Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. called BTS's decision "saddening" and defended the category as an expansion of recognition, not a demotion. The dispute escalated further when fans noticed BTS's "Dynamite" and "Butter" Grammy performance videos had disappeared from the Academy's platforms; the Academy said the removals were routine licensing expirations unrelated to the boycott.
Stray Kids has real stakes in the answer. The group made Billboard 200 history this year as the first act to debut eight consecutive albums at No. 1, and "This & That" continues that streak as their first release since wrapping the "dominATE" world tour. That commercial track record is exactly what makes their silence conspicuous - Forbes named them among six K-pop acts positioned to fill the category BTS vacated. Online, the deflection didn't land well with everyone; some fans read Seungmin's answer as sidestepping a question about the category's fairness rather than engaging with it.
Submissions for the 69th Grammy Awards close August 21. Nominees are announced November 16, ahead of the February 7, 2027 ceremony. Stray Kids has two weeks left to decide - and so far, they've decided not to say.
