by On the 20th, K-POP artists Stray Kids, New Genes, BTS Jungkook, and Blackpink continued to receive awards at the Billboard Music Awards, which are considered one of the three major American pop music awards ceremonies along with the Grammy Awards and American Music Awards.
However, before the welcome in Korea, there was a lot of criticism that K-pop was being treated poorly. This is because the categories they won were limited to the newly established ‘K-Pop’ category. These voices continue to this day, eight days after the awards ceremony ended.
This concern started even before the awards ceremony. This year’s Billboard Music Awards awarded a total of 69 categories. They created nine new categories, including 4 K-pop categories, including ‘Top Global K-pop Artist,’ ‘Top K-pop Tour,’ ‘Top K-pop Album,’ and ‘Top Global K-pop Song.’ Just as the Billboard Music Awards recognized Latin music as a genre in 2021, K-pop was also interpreted in the same context. However, some people pointed out that Billboard differentiated between pop and K-pop.
When the lid of the awards ceremony opened, and the K-pop artist nominated for the leading award did not receive an award, a series of reactions said, ‘The concerns have become a reality.’ As the performance of K-pop artists continued, with BTS winning the ‘Top Duo/Group’ and ‘Top Sales Artist’ awards at this awards ceremony, the opinion that creating this category was a trick to keep K-pop in check gained weight.
Of course, everyone feels the same way about failing to win the leading award. But we need to look at it calmly. For example, just looking at the artists in the non-K-pop categories this year, Fifty Fifty aimed for ‘Top Duo/Group,’ New Jeans aimed for ‘Top Billboard Global (excluding the US),’ and BTS Jimin aimed for ‘Top Selling Song.’
If this award was created to keep K-pop in check, there is no need even to be nominated in the first place. Moreover, it is difficult to say that their albums are ahead of the actual winners in this category. It is true that with the exception of Jungkook’s ‘Seven,’ no hit songs have been created that can compete with English-speaking pop stars in significant categories.
Moreover, New Jeans performed ‘Super Shy’ and ‘OMG’ at this awards ceremony, and Stray Kids also performed ‘Special’ and ‘Rock’. Here, too, differences of opinion arise.
Public opinion, which previously supported the theory of neglect, also pointed out in this regard, “I don’t want to give the award, but I had to use it for K-pop singers with strong fandoms, so I created the ‘K-pop category.'” Also, “What is the meaning of an award that no one but Korean singers can receive at an awards ceremony targeting the global market? He also said, “It’s like setting up a fancy meal to take advantage of K-pop.”
It is true that Billboard had an excuse to invite K-pop artists to the awards ceremony regardless of whether they won the leading award by creating a new K-pop category. This means that they cannot be free from the perception that they are trying to capture the attention of the solid, global K-pop fandom. However, if you think about it the other way around, it proves that K-pop’s influence has grown. In addition, K-pop artists also have the opportunity to make their name known through a global festival called the Billboard Awards. It’s no harm to anyone.
A music industry official says it is time to revitalize K-pop’s fundamental position more than the controversy surrounding establishing the Billboard Music Awards’ K-pop award. This official said, “If you failed to receive an award even though you showed skills and performance worthy of it, you should naturally be criticized, but it is difficult to say that this year’s performance was at a level worthy of being criticized. “We will have to wait and see,” he said, adding, “Rather than that, it is time to recognize that K-pop itself is in a transitional period of growth and think about how to overcome this situation in the future.”
