KATSEYE Shouts Out BTS for ‘Inspiring Us’ in New Artist of the Year Speech at 2026 AMAs
KATSEYE’s New Artist of the Year speech at the 2026 American Music Awards became one of the ceremony’s sweetest moments after the group thanked BTS for inspiring their journey.
The shoutout felt symbolic in ways bigger than the award itself.
For years, BTS helped reshape the global perception of K-pop and international pop music altogether. Entire generations of younger artists now openly cite them as the blueprint for crossing borders without compromising identity.
KATSEYE, meanwhile, embody the increasingly global future of pop groups — multilingual, internet-native and culturally fluid in ways earlier generations of artists could scarcely imagine.
Their speech reportedly drew huge cheers inside the venue, while fans online immediately transformed the interaction into thousands of edits, gifs and emotional tribute threads.
Modern fandom culture moves fast, but moments like this still carry genuine warmth beneath the chaos.
One generation inspires the next. The cycle continues.
