Even though BTS announced their hiatus in 2022, they might just keep winning anyway. Nominated for the 2023 Grammys, the group made history by being the only K-pop act to ever be considered in more than one category a year. Not only that, the South Korean musicians also are vying for three categories: Best Pop Duo/Group performance with “My Universe,” Best Music Video, with “Yet to Come,” and Album Of The Year, as they are featured in Coldplay’s Music Of The Spheres.
BTS is also the first act to be nominated three years in a row in the Best Pop Duo/Group performance category. Ever since it was introduced in 2011, the K-Pop titans scored nominations in the award category for 2020 and 2021, with “Dynamite” and “Butter,” respectively. Overall, they are the third most nominated in the category, behind Coldplay, with five nominations, and Maroon 5, with four.
The other artists that are competing for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance are ABBA’s “Don’t Shut Me Down,” Camila Cabello and Ed Sheeran’s “Bam Bam,” Post Malone and Doja Cat’s “I Like You (A Happier Song),” and Sam Smith and Kim Petras’ “Unholy.”
On the other hand, the nominees going up against BTS for Best Music Video are Adele’s “Easy on Me,” Doja Cat’s “Woman,” Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5,” Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” and Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well.”
In the album of the year category, BTS are considered nominees, since they were featured in Music Of The Spheres’ “My Universe.” Even if they weren’t, though, the group’s rap line — aka J-Hope, RM, and Suga — would still be considered nominees, as they are credited as songwriters for Coldplay’s album.
“My Universe” was Coldplay’s first No.1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 since “Viva La Vida,” released in 2008. And, although Chris Martin stated in an interview with Billboard that he wasn’t sure the collaboration would happen again “because it would be hard to make it better than it was,” the two groups nurtured a friendship beyond the song. Jin’s “The Astronaut,” for example, was co-written by Coldplay and performed by them while touring.
And, much like we are, Martin is rooting for the South Korean group, as he admitted in an interview with radio station Exa 96.9 FM last year. “Of course [I’m rooting for BTS], man,” Martin told the show’s host. “I love them. I love those guys and I just wish them good things, always!”