K-pop makes small inroad at the Grammy's

It’s official: When it comes to the Grammys, the Recording Academy is still playing the same tired game of "look, but don't touch" with K-pop.

Despite Rosé and Bruno Mars practically blowing the roof off the building with their opening performance of "APT" at the Grammy awards Sunday, the night ended in a way that felt all too familiar to anyone who’s been paying attention.

Katseye's performance of their hit "Gnarly" nominated Best New Artist and Best Performance by a duo/group, reinforced the high energy and entertainment value of K-pop.

If you’re feeling a sense of déjà vu, you’re not alone. This year’s shutout of Rosé in the major categories—losing Record of the Year and Song of the Year—mirrors the frustrating history of BTS at the Grammys. For years, the Academy used BTS for ratings, inviting them to perform "Dynamite" and "Butter," yet repeatedly denied them a win in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category.

A trophy for K-pop

There was one win, however: the Grammys finally "gave" K-pop a trophy this year, but even that felt like a backhanded compliment. The win for "Golden" from the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack happened in the Visual Media category during the pre-show, away from the main stage.

The team for "Golden" meant Grammys for EJAE (Kim Eun-jae), the Korean-American singer, songwriter, and producer, also known as the voice of character Rumi and her co-singers Korean Americans Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami; producers Teddy Park and Park Hong Jun and Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam and Jeong Hoon Seo, songwriters and producers.

Filipino American winner

Asian Americans were not completely shut out at the Grammy's. Marco Paguia, the Filipino American music director/pianist and the original cast of the Buena Vista Social Club. won Best Musical Theater Album for their work on the Broadway musical.

Paguia's Grammy win, follows the Tony Awards’ Best Orchestrations and a special Tony  that he earned last June for his work on the Buena Vista Social Club.

SCREEN CAPTURE

The 6-member K-pop group Katseye performed at the Grammys Sunday night.

For K-pop, the pattern is clear: the Academy loves the global viewership and the high-octane energy K-pop brings to the telecast, but they still refuse to grant these artists the "prestige" of a General Field win. 

Rosé was good enough to open the show, but apparently, her historic impact wasn't "enough" to take home the hardware.

View from the edge

The Grammy's problem is that it tries to be all things to all genres, and when a new genre comes along like K-pop, it doesn't know how to categorize it. "APT" and "Gnarly" tried to bridge the gap with English lyrics, but, apparently, to no avail. However, "Golden" was able to break through which perhaps signals an opening.

Years ago, the recording industry was criticized for not recognizing country music and hip-hop so it had to make new categories to give those genre's their deserved recognition. The academy had the same problem with Latin music and gospel. The solution was the same.

Does the Academy need a complete overhaul of its voting block to finally recognize K-pop as global pop, or are these "performance-only" invites just the new normal?

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