K-pop’s Mnet Asian Music Awards rebrand as MAMA Awards; 2022 ceremony will be held in Osaka, Japan, in November
- The Mnet Asian Music Awards, which launched in 1999 to honour Korean and other Asian talent, has officially changed its name to MAMA Awards
- The 2022 awards show will be broadcast internationally, and viewable on YouTube in some countries
The K-pop-focused MAMA Awards will return this November with a two-day event in Japan. The awards ceremony will be held at the Kyocera Dome Osaka on November 29 and 30.
Previously called the Mnet Asian Music Awards, MAMA for short, the music awards show staged by South Korean entertainment conglomerate CJ ENM formally rebranded this year as the MAMA Awards.
Hosted by South Korean TV channel Mnet, the MAMA Awards originated in 1999 as the Mnet KM Music Festival.
Boy band BTS are the most decorated performers at the MAMA Awards, having received 17 major honours since their formation in 2013, in categories including artist of the year and song of the year.
While the awards show focuses primarily on South Korean music, it acknowledges musical talent and music industry creatives and executives throughout Asia, and has held events in various Asian cities, including Hong Kong.
This year’s MAMA Awards will be broadcast internationally, and available to watch on YouTube in many regions.
The announcement follows the conclusion of another pop-culture event put on by CJ ENM, the just-concluded KCON 2022 LA in Los Angeles, California. The convention and a series of concerts drew an attendance of more than 90,000 over three days, while more than seven million people reportedly viewed the festivities digitally.
