The rebranded MAMA Awards (Mother Awards) took its first step as an award ceremony for the global K-pop era, leaving a number of records such as the first day of the prestigious award ‘BTS’ and co-winners of girl groups.
On the 29th, the first day of ‘2022 MAMA AWARD’ was held on platforms such as the Mnet channel and YouTube.
2022 MAMA AWARDS is a K-pop awards ceremony with a 23-year history based on the 1999 Mnet Video Music Awards, and a global rebranding of the Mnet Asian Music Awards, which has embraced representative Asian characters since 2009.
The event, broadcast live at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Japan, along with the main slogan ‘WE ARE K-POP’, illuminated the current global K-pop through two rounds of Fan’s Choice (29th), Singer / Genre (30th), etc. It was held as an opportunity to look at the sustainable vision together with the spotlight on the representative group of artists who do that.
The first schedule, which was held as a fan choice, featured awards and related stages for global artists selected through 100% fan vote on platforms such as Mnet Plus and Spotify.
First of all, on the stage side, it was full of action that stands out on a larger scale than in previous years and similar to MAMA. Not only Enmix and Forestella, who filled the opening, but also unique collaborations such as ‘Street Man Fighter’ crew, Hyorin and Vivi, who are the keywords this year, have attracted intense attention.
In particular, Ive, Kepler, Nmix, Le Seraphim, and New Jeans, who are the key players in the ‘Girl Group Battle’ that symbolizes the music industry this year, performed their first song performance relay along with the combination of ‘Cheer Up’ TWICE. In addition to the show, KARA, who announced their return as a full group after 7 years and 6 months, gave a performance led by the new song ‘WHEN I MOVE’, which was an explosive stage that shed light on the history of the growth of K-pop. Got attention.
As for awards, it was developed as a time to shine a light on the leaders who lead K-pop in the evolution of the generation and various variations.
While BTS proved their potential as a ‘global artist’ by winning this year’s representative ‘Global Icon of the Year’ award along with Worldwide Fan’s Choice, Stray Kids won two categories, including Worldwide Fan’s Choice and Yogibo Artist Chill Sgubo and confirmed their popularity.
In addition, Seventeen, Treasure, Tomorrow by Together (TXT), GOT7, Psy, NCT DREAM, ENHYPEN, BLACKPINK, etc. won Global Fan Choice, and you can feel the natural harmony and long-standing atmosphere of the 3rd and 4th runners K-pop generation.
In addition, along with the joint award of four representatives of the so-called ‘Girl Group Daejeon’, including Ive, Nmix, Le Seraphim, and Kepler, in the ‘Favorite New Artist’ with sales of more than 1 million copies during their debut, it is a Japanese spin-off of the ‘Produce’ series.The born JO1 was chosen as Favorite Asian Artist, confirming the diversification point of K-pop.
As such, the Mama Awards 2022 kicked off their first prelude by clarifying the vision of a global K-pop award ceremony that showcases the future of K-pop.
On the other hand, the 2022 Mama Awards will be held with the stage of ITZY (Itzy), Treasure, ENHYPEN, Zico, Lim Young-woong, (G)I-DLE, NiziU (Niju), INI, etc. The finale will be held on the 30th with an award ceremony by genre (2nd round), including 4 prestigious awards.
Dong-sun Park Electronic Newspaper Internet Reporter (dspark@etnews.com)
