The Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) is a major South Korean music award show held in Asian countries since 1999. The ceremony generally covers K-pop idol groups, along with other Asian acts. The judging criteria includes voting, music, and record sales, among other factors. BTS has been attending the awards since 2014, when they performed at the Red Carpet showcase. BTS’ global reach over the next year spread across Asia, Oceania, and America, which MAMA recognized with a “Best World Performer” award. But the Daesang, a prestigious Grand Prize, still remained a distant dream.
J-Hope sings “Hey mama,” MAMA responds
With controversies plaguing their comeback, no one expected Wings to soar so high. The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever, Youth (Japanese) and Wings – the albums that raised eyebrows across global song charts - ultimately gave BTS their first Daesang. BTS who did not expect to win was awe-struck when they were announced as Artist of the Year. Even members like Suga, who generally appears more reserved, could not hold their emotions back. For the past two years BTS had been performing at MAMA but their historic performance of “Blood Sweat & Tears,” along with their first Daesang and Best Dance Performance award (Male group), announced BTS’ arrival into the big league.
Image Credit:www.soompi.com
“Spring Day” takes the throne
Over the next year, BTS further cemented their position at the top with You Never Walk Alone, which gave us the queen “Spring Day.” They also released the first album Love Yourself: Her of the Love Yourself trilogy in 2017. They took home Artist of the Year for the second year in a row, which was met with protests from other fandoms who felt their favorite bands should’ve won. Along with the Daesang, they won Best Music Video for “Spring Day” and a special award for Best Asian Style in Hong Kong. Once again, they delivered an energy-packed performance with "Not Today,” "DNA,” "MIC Drop (Steve Aoki Remix),” and "BTS Cypher 4.”
Image credit:https://twitter.com/MnetMAMA/status
2018: MAMA tears that left ARMY speechless
The year that comes to mind when an ARMY hears about MAMA is 2018 – a year that has changed the history of BTS and K-pop. With Love Yourself: Tear, Face Yourself (Japanese), and Love Yourself: Answer BTS reached new levels of international success. After Love Yourself: Tear, Love Yourself: Answer, became the second chart-topping album in the US, debuted at one on Billboard 200, and also holds the record for the only K-pop album to chart on the Billboard main album chart for a year. With this album series, BTS joined hands with UNICEF and released the Love Myself campaign. As part of this campaign, RM presented a speech at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly that became a rolling stone for the #ENDviolence campaign. With so much national and international accolade, it was expected that BTS would sweep the award season.
Hence, without much surprise, BTS won nine out of their eleven nominations at MAMA 2018, among which were three Daesang awards – Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, and Worldwide Icon of the Year. But what came as a shock to ARMYs across the globe was what the members said in their acceptance speech for Artist of the Year. J-Hope started the speech by thanking ARMYs, but his voice started trembling as he moved deeper into his speech and talked about the hardships they had faced over that year. Eventually, Jin came up to the microphone and made a devastating confession that earlier that year they had considered disbanding over the mental hardships they were facing. The member’s vulnerable, emotional sobbing brought them closer, not just to ARMYs, but to everyone watching them. It showed their human side that is often hidden from the spotlight.
As an ARMY, this MAMA moment brought me so much closer to BTS. I could relate to these seven men who may not be fully aware of my existence as an individual but still recognize and provide support for ARMY’s daily struggles. But BTS is known for healing people, so the event definitely was not all tears. In fact, they gave one of their most legendary performances at MAMA 2018. Jung Kook’s iconic walk at the beginning of “Airplane pt. 2” was one of the highlights of this year’s performance.
The Road to History
2019 was an incredibly successful year as well, with Map of the Soul: Persona debuting at number one on Billboard 200 and BTS becoming the first South Korean group to perform at the historic Wembley Stadium, which was sold-out in less than 90 minutes. Riding on the back of international and national success, BTS made history at MAMA 2019 by winning a Daesang all-kill (all the four Daesang awards). This MAMA is also significant because of the performance BTS gave. With a set comprised of older songs transitioning to new releases — “N.O.,” “We are Bulletproof pt. 2,” “Boy with Luv,” “Mikrokosmos,” and “Dionysus” — BTS turned the MAMA stage into one of their most elaborate Asian productions.
ARMYs are anticipating another Daesang all-kill with Map of the Soul: 7, Map of the Soul: Journey, “Dynamite,” BE, and “Dynamite’s” number one run at the Billboard Hot100. So everyone, don’t forget to tune into a virtual MAMA on Dec. 6, 2020 and cheer for the phenomenon called Bangtan Sonyeondan!
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Written By Basabdatta
Edited by Esma
Checked by Clare
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