Then BTS decided not to submit any of its music for consideration this year seemingly because of an award<\/a> that, some of us might say, looked like it was invented just to give them an easy win. THAT then became the dominant point of discourse.<\/p>\n Yet the Academy is still going to give this thing out\u2026and if the submissions are anything to go by, a lot of Japanese acts are vying for it.<\/p>\n The first round of voting for the 69th Grammy Awards is underway, which means information about what artists and works were submitted for the categories is trickling out. There\u2019s no definitive official list, but based off information compiled by journalists like Jeff Benjamin<\/a> along with lists detailing<\/a> those rolling out \u201cFor Your Consideration\u201d campaigns (of which I\u2019ve gotten like two dozen, despite being able to do jackshit with them) there\u2019s a pretty good list of whose putting themselves forward for what categories.<\/p>\n And wow\u2026there\u2019s a lot of J-pop names here.<\/p>\n Electric Bloom reported<\/a> that, when it comes to the Best Asian Pop Music Performance category, Japanese acts lead the way with 11 recorded submitting artists. Of course exact details of how many other acts from different Asian countries are submitting isn\u2019t totally known\u2026but it appears none of the major K-pop companies submitted anything, which if true would probably mean J-pop leads the way in submissions for this honor (and, to note quickly, some artists aren\u2019t just settling for this category alone).<\/p>\n Let\u2019s ignore the talk around this category and what actually winning an trophy clouded in controversy even means\u2026I\u2019m not shocked to see the Japanese industry embracing the Best Asian Pop Music Performance category. This country\u2019s music business is obsessed <\/em>with the Grammys, to the point where they went and made their own version<\/a> of it1<\/a>. I\u2019ve heard no shortage of artists themselves state their dream is to win a Grammy \u2014\u00a0Yurufuwa Gang among them<\/a>! \u2014\u00a0along with rumors of other artists who took a Grammy campaign very seriously. <\/p>\n So here\u2019s a golden opportunity for a lot of pop acts who might otherwise not have a real shot at hearing their name called in Hollywood now having a realistic chance. On top of that\u2026there\u2019s pretty good odds a J-pop nominee wins this. Call me cynical, but I initially interpreted this category as the \u201chey here ya go BTS\u201d honor, but them deciding not to submit anything instantly made it interesting. Now, it looks like a lot of K-pop acts who probably would be the favorites with BTS out of the way are also not in the mix. <\/p>\n A Japanese act could very well capture this award in its first year. <\/p>\n So, of the names we know have submitted so far\u2026who is the best bet to go to the next step? <\/p>\n It\u2019s time for J-Polymarket.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/%24s_!we-a!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb261d045-fffa-4fe8-9e7f-458bd0df0ea1_800x445.jpeg\")
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