Grammys: Does Jung Kook deserve a Best Album nomination for ‘Golden’? [POLL]
The 2025 Grammy race for Best Album is a real nail-biter, with countless artists from every genre vying for one of the eight nomination slots. One person to keep an eye out for is Jung Kook, the red-hot singer and songwriter who rose to fame as a member of the world-renowned K-pop boy band BTS. The 27-year-old artist from Busan, South Korea is now eligible in several Grammys categories (see below), including Best Album for “Golden,” which was released on November 3, 2023 through Big Hit Music. (See more Best Album contenders in our gallery.)
Jung Kook is a five-time Grammy nominee with BTS, but he has yet to be nominated as a solo artist. His prior bids were for Best Music Video (“Yet To Come”), Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (“My Universe” with Coldplay) and Album Of The Year (“Music Of The Spheres” with Coldplay) in 2023, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (“Butter”) in 2022, and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (“Dynamite”) in 2021.
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While Jung Kook has never won a Grammy Award, that could all change this year, as he is eligible to be nominated in all of the following categories at the 2025 kudos:
Album of the Year for “Golden”
Record of the Year for “Standing Next to You”
Best Pop Vocal Album for “Golden”
Best Pop Solo Performance for “Standing Next to You”
Best Music Video for “Standing Next to You”
Best Pop Duo/Group for “3D” with Jack Harlow
SEE4 artists who could shock us on Grammy nominations morning
“3D” is the first track on the studio album, while “Standing Next to You” is the fourth. The other tracks are “Closer to You” (featuring Major Lazer), “Seven” (featuring Latto), “Yes or No,” “Please Don’t Change” (featuring DJ Snake), “Hate You,” “Somebody,” “Too Sad to Dance,” and “Shot Glass of Tears.”
“Golden” made it to the #2 position on the weekly U.S. Billboard 200 chart, and it achieved #1 in several countries including France, Japan, and South Korea. In addition, the film documentary “I Am Still,” which chronicles Jung Kook’s journey as a solo artist with “Golden,” debuted worldwide on September 18.
Metacritic‘s reviews for “Golden” are mostly positive, with the K-pop solo album receiving an overall score of 75. New Musical Express raves, “The 2020s have found their pop king and ‘Golden’ more than secures him the throne.” Meanwhile, AllMusic declares, “Like Justin Timberlake and Harry Styles before him, it’s quite clear that Jung Kook has been christened as his boy band’s main breakout, and Golden makes a great case for that push.”
Do YOU think Jung Kook deserves a Best Album nomination for “Golden”? Vote in our poll below, and then be sure to defend your choice down in the comments section.
The Grammys are voted on annually by the Recording Academy, a group of music professionals who represent all different genres. In 2021, the organization changed its voting rules for Album of the Year so that now the decisions are made entirely by all of its members. That’s why popularity is key to receiving a nomination (and a win). Make your Grammy predictions at Gold Derby.
Heads up: Jung Kook’s song “Seven” just hit two billion streams on Spotify, making him the first Korean/Asian act to do so in that company’s history. Watch the music video here:
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