Grammys vote on removing anonymous nomination review committees

▲ This photo provided by Bighit Entertainment shows BTS on the red carpet for the 63rd Grammy Awards. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This photo shows the trophies for the Grammy Awards. (Yonhap)

▲ This photo shows singer Weekend, who criticized the nomination process for the Grammy Awards. (Yonhap)

LOS ANGELES, May 2 (Yonhap) -- The Grammy Awards have decide to remove its anonymous nomination review committees, which are groups who select the contenders for America's most prestigious award, the Grammy Awards.

Reuters reported on the 1st (local time) that the U.S. Recording Academy, which organizes the Grammy Awards, decided to remove the controversial nomination committee and introduce a system in which all 11,000 members vote to nominate candidates.

The 15-30-member Grammy nomination committee has been under constant controversy over illegal voting and manipulation.

The list of members was secretly operated without being disclosed, and suspicions have been raised that a small number of powerful music industry giants select candidates based on their interests.

In particular, the controversy escalated at the 63rd Grammy Awards this year.

Canadian-born black pop star Weekend gained worldwide popularity with his fourth studio album "After Hours" last year, but was not nominated for four Grammy awards, including "Album of the Year," as well as for pop and rhythm and blues (R&B).

Weekend even went and posted on his SNS accounts that "The Grammys remain corrupt."

British pop star Zayn Malik also called for the abolition of the secret committee, saying, "[The Grammys] allows favoritism, racism, and networking politics to influence the voting process."

In the face of growing controversy over fraud and manipulation, the Recording Academy issued a statement the previous day and announced that it would eliminate the Grammy nomination committee.

"It’s been a year of unprecedented, transformational change," the Recording Academy said. “This is a new Academy, one that is driven to action and that has doubled down on the commitment to meeting the needs of the music community."

The academy also added two awards, "Best Global Music Performance" and "Best Música Urbana Album," to expand the diversity of the Grammy Awards, bringing its total to 86 award categories.

This change is expected to affect BTS's efforts to advance in the Grammy Awards.

BTS's musical performances and popularity will be widely recognized as the nominees are selected through a vote of all members, not by a small number of committees.

BTS became sensational last year by topping the Billboard single charts with "Dynamite," and major music medias predicted BTS would be nominated for the "Record of the Year" prior to this year's Grammy Awards.

However, BTS was only nominated for the "Best Pop Duo/Group Performance" category, and foreign media including USA Today, the Los Angeles Times (LAT), and Hollywood Reporter questioned that "BTS had been robbed of a major Grammy Award nominee".

BTS unfortunately did not win the award at the awards ceremony held in March, and fans criticized the Recording Academy by tweeting "The Fraud Grammy Award."

Nominations for the 64th Grammy Awards will be announced later this year and the awards ceremony will be held on January 31 next year.

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