Held from 21–23 November this year was the 2024 MAMA Awards. Every year, the MAMA Awards, which honours the best in the Korean entertainment, get bigger and better. This year, Day 1 was held in Los Angeles at the Dolby Theatre, while Days 2 and 3 were in the Kyocera Dome in Osaka. For the 2024 edition, we were treated to some standout performances from the biggest names in K-pop, including Aespa, Lee Young-Ji, Seventeen, IVE and ZEROBASEONE. Hosting the event were actors Park Bo-Gum and Kim Tae-Ri, who attended Day 1, and Days 2 and 3, respectively.
In case you missed it, GRAZIA Singapore highlight some of the best performances and awardees from the annual award show.
The Best Dressed Celebrities
The stars dazzled on the red carpet at the 2024 MAMA Awards. From newly unveiled girl group Meovv to actor Byeon Woo-Seok and Acne Studios ambassadors ILLIT, these were the celebrities that caught our eye on the red carpet.
Rosé And Bruno Mars Perform APT. Live
After completely dominating music charts (and our Spotify!) with the release of APT. last month, Rosé and Bruno Mars took to the stage at MAMA to perform a special live rendition of the catchy track. The pair captured the hearts of the audience with their impressive stage presence and steady live vocals (which were even more impressive considering the Blackpink member and American singer were jumping non-stop on stage!).
Aespa Winning Song Of The Year For Supernova
Anyone who follows K-pop would know that since the release of Aespa’s Supernova, it has been a strong contender for the prestigious Song Of The Year (SOTY) award, amongst other possible tracks—like ILLIT’s Magnetic, for instance. SOTY is one of four major prizes or daesangs to be awarded at MAMA. With their impressive lineup of hits this year, it was no wonder that Aespa were the ones who eventually took home the award with “su-su-su-supernova”.
Seventeen Winning Artist Of The Year and Album Of The Year For Seventeenth Heaven
Boy group Seventeen took home the daesangs for Album Of The Year and Artist Of The Year. For the latter award, the 13-member group beat out Enhypen, Jungkook of BTS as well as Stray Kids. The veteran performance group, revered for their powerful stage abilities, bagged the Artist Of The Year prize with their twelfth Korean EP Seventeenth Heaven, which was released last October.
Katseye’s Debut and Touch Performance
On Day 1 of MAMA 2024, Katseye, the global girl group who were the stars of Netflix’s documentary Pop Star Academy: Katseye, rocked two of their hits: Debut and Touch. Despite being one member down—Manon missed the award show due to an illness—, the group stole the show with their catchy tunes and a cheerleader-themed performance.
Big Bang Performs Bang Bang Bang And Fantastic Baby
Legendary second generation boy group Big Bang surprised everyone with a live performance of two of their most iconic tracks. With Bang Bang Bang and Fantastic Baby, G-Dragon, Taeyang and Daesung showed the audience that there is no substitute for experience. The group last performed at the award show at 2015, and in the last decade, it’s clear that they’ve only gotten better with age. G-Dragon also performed a highlight medley of his best solo songs, including his newest release Power.
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