K-Pop Faces Challenges at the 68th Grammy Awards Despite Nominations
K-Pop Faces Challenges at the 68th Grammy Awards Despite Nominations
《Lee Min-kyung's Siren》
Lee Min-kyung from TenAsia sounds the alarm on the rapidly evolving entertainment industry. She highlights unseen issues and alerts us to threats and changes surrounding the entertainment world.
K-Pop Faces Challenges at the 68th Grammy Awards Despite Nominations
K-Pop Faces Challenges at the 68th Grammy Awards Despite Nominations
This year's Grammy Awards were tough on K-Pop once again. BLACKPINK's Rosé, who collaborated with pop star Bruno Mars on 'APT.', and the Netflix animation 'K-Pop Demon Hunters' OST 'GOLDEN' were both nominated for 'Song of the Year', but neither won. 'GOLDEN' only received an award in the 'Best Song Written for Visual Media' category. Industry experts suggest that the Grammys, known for valuing traditional musicality over mainstream appeal, have yet to adapt to market changes.

On December 1st (local time), at the 68th Grammy Awards held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, the only K-Pop winner was the virtual girl group Huntrix for 'GOLDEN' from 'K-Pop Demon Hunters'. The song was nominated in five categories, including 'Song of the Year', but only won in the 'Best Song Written for Visual Media' category, which honors songwriters for compositions created for visual content.
K-Pop Faces Challenges at the 68th Grammy Awards Despite Nominations
K-Pop Faces Challenges at the 68th Grammy Awards Despite Nominations
'APT.' was nominated in three categories, including 'Song of the Year' and 'Record of the Year', but did not win. Rosé was the first female K-Pop artist to be nominated in the Grammy's four major categories, raising expectations, but the barriers remained high.

Clearly, K-Pop nominees 'GOLDEN' and 'APT.' had more mainstream appeal than Billie Eilish's 'WILDFLOWER', which won 'Song of the Year'. 'GOLDEN' topped the Billboard HOT 100 for eight weeks. 'APT.' peaked at number three on the Billboard HOT 100 and reached number one on the UK Official Singles Chart, remaining on the Billboard chart for over 34 weeks.

In contrast, Billie Eilish's 'WILDFLOWER' peaked at number 17 on the Billboard HOT 100 and number 21 on the UK Official Singles Chart.

Cultural critic Jung Deok-hyun expressed disappointment, stating, "The only award was for 'GOLDEN', and that was in the media category. It fell short of expectations." He added, "The Grammy's barriers remain high. It's disappointing that the nominated songs reflect the changing pop market, yet conservative award shows like the Grammys don't recognize them. They focus solely on artistry, ignoring viral trends and fandom."
K-Pop Faces Challenges at the 68th Grammy Awards Despite Nominations
K-Pop Faces Challenges at the 68th Grammy Awards Despite Nominations
K-Pop icons BTS have also faced similar challenges, being nominated multiple times but never winning. From 2021 to 2023, they were consistently mentioned as Grammy contenders. In 2023, they were nominated for 'Album of the Year' as featured artists and songwriters on Coldplay's ninth studio album 'Music of the Spheres'.

To date, apart from the 'GOLDEN' songwriters, the only Korean artists to win a Grammy (excluding engineers) are soprano Sumi Jo and Korean-American violist Richard Yongjae O'Neill. Sumi Jo won in the 'Best Opera Recording' category at the 53rd Grammy Awards in 1993, and Richard Yongjae O'Neill won in the 'Best Classical Instrumental Solo' category in 2021. The industry believes their success is due to recognition in traditional music genres like opera and classical.

Other Grammy winners include sound engineer Hwang Byung-joon, CEO of Sidus Mirror Korea, and Korean-American audio engineer David Youngin Kim. The 'GOLDEN' songwriters are the first K-Pop composers or producers to receive a Grammy.

Lee Min-kyung, TenAsia Reporter 2min_ror@tenasia.co.kr
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