Not that their star power was up for debate, seeing as last October’s “ Map of the Soul ON:E” virtual concerts brought in nearly 1 million paid viewers from 191 countries and regions around the world. They made the most of the opportunity to perform on the Grammys and once again proved that they’re some of the hardest-working and most charismatic performers in the business.

But giving the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance to another nominee while relentlessly hyping BTS’s performance made their loss feel especially sleazy, as if the Recording Academy knew from day one that it had no intention of giving BTS the win-but hey, it would still milk their appearance for ratings, and they should feel honored to even be invited to perform on the (virtual) Grammys stage.īTS, as always, accepted their loss with class and went on to deliver another spellbinding performance that ended with them on a rooftop with a gorgeous shot of the Seoul, South Korea skyline behind them. BTS’s odds of winning last night were always slim, as I suspect they and many of their fans understood. Since 1959, only 10 Black artists have won the Album of the Year award, while non-white artists are often relegated to genre-specific categories or tossed into the all-genre category as if to fulfill as diversity quota.

This also comes as little surprise, given the Grammys’ historically tenuous relationship with race. Instead, the Recording Academy nominated BTS’s least adventurous song in a relatively minor category, as if to say to their fans, “Fine, we’ve heard your complaints and we’ll give you what you want, now will you please shut up about BTS?” MORE FROM FORBES Review: BTS Dazzle All By Themselves With Beautifully Intimate 'MTV Unplugged' Set By Bryan Rolli

1 albums, Map of the Soul: 7 and BE, and their accompanying singles, including the haunting emo-trap opus “Black Swan,” the multilayered arena-rap anthem “ON,” and the uplifting pandemic ballad “Life Goes On.” BTS’s staggering 2020 output saw the group at the peak of their creative powers and commercial dominance, and they would have made legitimate contenders for any of the major Grammy categories, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year or Best Pop Vocal Album. And they released a lot of top-tier work in 2020: two No.

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