Blackpink’s Rosé, ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ and Katseye earn Grammy nominations

Blackpink’s Rosé and Netflix’s smash hit “KPop Demon Hunters” each earned three nominations for the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, according to the Recording Academy’s announcement livestreamed on November 7, alongside HYBE’s global girl group Katseye.

Rosé’s viral megahit “APT.” (2024), a collaboration with Bruno Mars, and “Golden,” the ever-present chart-sweeping anthem from “KPop Demon Hunters,” are now competing against each other for the Song of the Year. Other nominees in the category include Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra,” Doechii’s “Anxiety,” Bad Bunny’s “DtMF,” Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” (2024), Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild,” and Billie Eilish’s “Wildflower” (2024).

“APT.” is also up for the Record of the Year award, while “Golden” earned a nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media.

Both songs are also competing for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance against Katseye’s “Gabriela,” “Defying Gravity” from the musical film “Wicked” (2024), and “30 for 30” by SZA and Kendrick Lamar.

This marks the first time that songs considered to be in the broader K-pop genre have reached the final nomination round for the Grammy’s Record of the Year and Song of the Year categories in the General Field, the non-genre-specific awards widely considered as the most prestigious honors of the ceremony.

The Grammys’ General Field consists of six major awards that are not genre-specific: Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, Producer of the Year, Non-Classical and Songwriter of the Year, Non-Classical.

K-pop megaband BTS, which until now had been the first and only K-pop act ever nominated for a Grammy, received nods for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in 2021, 2022 and 2023, and for Best Music Video in 2023. The septet was also credited as a featured artist when Coldplay’s “Music of the Spheres” was nominated in the Album of the Year category for their collaboration on “My Universe (2021).

Meanwhile, multinational girl group Katseye under K-pop powerhouse HYBE was nominated for Best New Artist as well as Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, while the Tony Award-winning Korean musical “Maybe Happy Ending” will compete for Best Musical Theatre Album at next year’s ceremony.

Other K-pop acts that had submitted their work for consideration by the Academy for the 68th Annual Grammy Awards include boy bands Seventeen, Stray Kids, Ateez, Riize and Tomorrow X Together, girl groups Blackpink, Twice, Katseye, aespa, IVE and Le Sserafim and solo singers Jennie, Jisoo, Lisa, Jin, J-Hope and RM.

The Recording Academy, organizer of the annual Grammy Awards, will begin the final vote for nominees from Dec. 12 through Jan. 5. The 68th Grammy Awards will take place on Feb. 1 in Los Angeles.

In September, Rosé made history at the MTV Video Music Awards, becoming the first K-pop artist to win Song of the Year.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]