K-pop giants BTS call out chart manipulation – while winning big at the 2020 Golden Disc Awards
The beloved boy band’s Map of the Soul: Persona won Album of the Year while Boy with Luv was named Digital Song of the Year, at the annual K-pop celebration of South Korean musicians
K-pop giants BTS reigned supreme at the 34th Golden Disc Awards, held at Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome, over the weekend (January 4-5).
The seven-member band’s 2019 effort “Map of the Soul: Persona” won Album of the Year and its title song Boy with Luv was named the Song of the Year. The group also clinched the TikTok Golden Disc Popularity Award and the Fans’ Choice K-pop Star Award.
“We’ve had such a happy year last year, working hard and getting rest,” the group’s leader RM said as the group went on stage to receive the awards. As he recalled the first time the group met its producer Bang Si-hyuk, in 2010, he looked back on the decade.
“For the new decade of the 2020s, we will always stand together with our fans, Army. We will cherish every one of our fans,” he said.
He also addressed allegations of chart manipulation by some artists. “I hope those artists’ honest efforts will reach out to the audiences in a fair and just way,” he said.
Started in 1986, the two-day Golden Disc Awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of Korean artists in two divisions – digital songs on the first day, and albums on the second. The selection process is assessed through sales and evaluation by reporters, producers and critics.
Nu'est, Monsta X, NCT Dream, Got7, Twice, Seventeen, Exo star Baekhyun, Exo-SC and Super Junior won Album Bonsang, the second-highest prize. Best performance awards went to girl group (G)I-dle and boy band Astro.
Lee Seung-gi and actress Park So-dam were MCs at the ceremony, with Kim Tae-hee, Han Ye-seul, and Jung Woo-sung among those presenting the awards.
Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter .
This article was originally written by Lee Gyu-lee for The Korea Times.
