Asian-language pop is Asian pop, wherever it’s made

After BTS sat out the Grammys, we argue in this op-ed that the new Asian pop award is worth keeping if it stops tying the genre to Asian markets.

Cover Art via Carl Samson

The Grammys will give Asian pop its own trophy for the first time next February, under rules that tie the genre partly to Asian markets. If you’ve been following the Recording Academy for a while, this should bring back memories of 2020, when it dropped the label “world music” over the same “non-American” framing these new rules…