ORIGINAL POST July 23,2019
This year’s Video Music Awards (VMA) nominations were released early this afternoon and elicited buzz and excitement. The nomination list also revealed two new award categories as part of this year’s nominees, adding the genre-specific category of Best K-Pop and Best Video for Good (both fan-voted categories). But, not all the feedback, especially on Twitter, was positive, as trending alongside the #VMAs was #VMASracist.
While many artists and their respective fandoms were celebrating their nominations, other fandoms were left with a bitter taste in their mouths. The most significant pushback seems to come from BTS’s fans, ARMY, who, while celebrating the group’s four nods, were quick to point out that they had been left out of all the major award categories despite having had a record-breaking year so far in 2019. Their song Boy With Love feat. Halsey, in particular, broke several records upon its release. Including the record for most MV streams on YouTube in 24 hours immediately following the video’s release.
Based solely on the song's success, its video, and the related album, it seemed logical that BTS would get a nod in at least one of the top award categories. But yet still, in 2019, that nomination didn’t come, and this isn’t the first time the VMAs have snubbed the group. Despite putting out several other record-breaking MVs, including Fake Love in 2018, this is the first time the group has been nominated for the award show, leaving ARMY upset but not entirely surprised by the VMA results.
The categories that BTS did receive nominations include two fan-voted categories (Best K-Pop and Best Collab) as well as two professional categories that are not fan-voted (Best Art Direction and Best Choreography).
Many have called into question the motive that the VMAs had in creating the new category for K-Pop. From the outside looking in, it gives off the appearance that it was designed to give Korean artists a category to be a part of without including them alongside their musical peers. Even if an argument could have been made for creating a separate genre for K-Pop* due to its slight differences stylistically, this should not have kept BTS or any other groups for that matter out of the running for the main categories. Especially considering the top three Video of the Year, Artist of the Year, and Song of the Year, are not genre-specific categories to start with.
Coming on the heels of their most recent win at the BBMAs for Top Duo/Group, which clearly indicate their ability to compete with the U.S.s mainstream artists, it’s frustrating to see how many arenas BTS still has to fight in to gain the recognition they deserve for their hard work. From day one, they have worked hard to prove themselves amongst their peers, and just like they tackled many barriers in their home country, I believe they will knock them down out here in the west as well when given the chance.
On a more positive note, I was happy to see several songs by artists that I recognized within the K-Pop category.
* In order to separate K-Pop as its own genre that is different from pop I think it would need to be very clear what distinguishes the two. And that the defining elements need to be something within the music’s sound or style and not just solely based off of the language or ethnicity of the groups. Just like how the rest of the genre-specific sections have clear sounds that define them.
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