'Golden' vs 'Apartment': First K-Pop Clash for a Grammy Main Award

The 68th Grammy Awards are set to take place on February 1 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, USA, and K-pop is being watched closely as a potential turning point in Grammy main award history. This is because the Netflix animated series *KPop Demon Hunters*’ OST “Golden” and BLACKPINK’s Rosé’s “Apartment” are competing on the same stage to become the first K-pop tracks to win a Grammy main award.

“Golden” has been nominated in five categories. In addition to the main award categories of “Song of the Year,” “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance,” and “Best Song Written for Visual Media,” it is also nominated for “Best Remixed Recording” for the “Golden David Geta Remix” and “Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media” for the *KPop Demon Hunters* compilation soundtrack.

On the other hand, “Apartment” is nominated in three categories: the main award “Song of the Year,” “Record of the Year,” and “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.” Both songs compete in two categories: “Song of the Year” and “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.”

To date, no K-pop artist has won a Grammy award. BTS was nominated three consecutive times from the 63rd to the 65th Grammys for “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance” but failed to win the award. The fact that both “Golden” and “Apartment” have even received nominations shows that K-pop’s global influence has risen to a new level, but actually winning the award would carry even greater significance.

Both songs have proven to be the biggest hits in the pop market last year. “Golden” caused a sensation by topping the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks and continued its momentum by winning theme song awards at the Golden Globe Awards and Critics’ Choice Awards earlier this month. “Apartment” reached as high as third on the Hot 100 and entered the ranks of global hits by winning “Song of the Year” at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards.

Opinions among music experts are divided. Music critic Kim Do-hun said, “There are three K-pop genre candidates in the ‘Best Pop Duo/Group Performance’ category, and the other two candidates are hard to consider hits, so ‘Golden’ has a better chance of winning.” He added that considering its performance in the U.S., “Golden,” which topped the Billboard chart, is the frontrunner. However, he expressed caution about its chances of winning the main award, noting that “OSTs and duet songs rarely win Grammy main awards.”

In contrast, music critic Im Hee-yoon offered a more positive outlook. He said, “As the influence of traditional charts like Billboard declines, there may be a tendency among Grammy selectors to reflect current trends. ‘Golden’ and ‘Apartment’ are likely to have an advantage because they are songs that resonate with younger audiences and have demonstrated strong chart performance over extended periods.”

Meanwhile, in the same music category, KATSEYE’s Korean-American girl group LEEDO is also making a presence. LEEDO’s “Gabriella” is nominated for “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance,” and the group is also competing in the “Best New Artist” category. Other candidates for this year’s Best New Artist award include Olivia Dean, Somber, and Alex Warren.