Three-time Grammy winner Ricky Cage has shared his thoughts on the debate surrounding Grammy recognition of Asian music, especially after BTS decided not to submit their music for Grammy consideration this year.
In an exclusive interview with NDTV’s Hardika Gupta, Cage, who has won three Grammys and received four nominations, clarified that he has not experienced the Grammys “from the inside” but submitted his music for consideration himself.
‘I wasn’t in favor of the Best Asian Pop Performance category’
Ricky Cage has stated that he is not in favor of creating a Best Asian Pop Performance category, arguing that it could prevent Asian artists from being considered alongside artists in categories that traditionally hold more importance.
He said, “I haven’t experienced the Grammys from the inside, but like everyone else, I submit my music to the Grammys, and luckily I’ve won three times and been nominated four times. But despite saying that, I don’t have any insider information. Still, I wasn’t in favor of creating a new Best Asian Pop because I felt it was only among artists. Categories that are historically considered more important.
Cage further expressed his concern by comparing the category to a separate space where Asian artists could be identified without being placed alongside artists from other regions.
“Because it’s almost like the Grammy saying that you can win an award, you can be celebrated, but in your own corner, in your own corner of the Asian category and celebrated, but not at the table with everybody,” he said.
‘Grammys Need Cultural Sensitivity’
According to Cage, the Grammys can either function as a US-based music awards organization or represent the broader global music industry as an awards organization itself. He said the approach would determine how music from different parts of the world should be evaluated.
“And that’s because the Grammys obviously have two options. One is to call itself the national award of the United States, which is a very respectable position in itself, and award different categories based on their prominence in the US. Like, for example, they could award Asian music based on its fare in the US, or African music based on its fare in the US,” Cage said.
“But if they are calling themselves an arbiter for the whole music world, for the whole world of music, I feel that there needs to be some reformation in terms of what constitutes Asian music and some amount of cultural sensitivity, and even regional sensitivity.”
Ricky Cage focused on Asian pop music
Cage also expressed concerns about how musical excellence is judged, especially when it comes to Asian music. He pointed out that the Grammys are meant to recognize musical excellence rather than just commercial performance.
“Because it’s an award for musical excellence and not for charts, not for sales and streams and charting ability of music, I believe it’s very strange that only pop forms of music, that is, forms of Asian music that are really suited to American production styles, such as Asian music that sounds more American in the form of pop,” he said that he is the only type of music.
He argued that traditional forms of music from across Asia also deserve recognition for their musicality and technical skill.
He shared, “While the traditional forms of music from Asia, whether it’s India or Korea or China or, you know, the Middle East or, you know, all these different Asian countries, I feel that the traditional forms of music and the traditional musicians are very skilled, and their musical ability and their ability to improvise is far greater than the musicians of the West, and it’s not just the form of music, but it’s not just the form of music. More palatable to the “West”.
Cage concludes by saying that musical genres should not be restricted by geographical or cultural boundaries.
“I believe that music should be music, and if music is to be defined by genres, genres need to cut across all regional, cultural and traditional divides,” he concluded.