MAMA 2019: BTS take home eight wins at K-pop’s biggest awards night; Twice stun Blackpink for best female group
Star-studded night in Nagoya, Japan, also featured live performances by Monsta X, Tomorrow X Together and British pop sensation Dua Lipa
BTS win artist of the year at the K-pop Mama awards show in Nagoya, Japan.The biggest annual K-pop awards show took place in Japan on Wednesday, and boy-band BTS took home eight major awards, including best male group, song of the year and album of the year.
The Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) ceremony was held in the 30,000-capacity Nagoya Dome. For the last two consecutive years, the awards were held in Hong Kong. This year, however, the top-awards show avoided the city due to the ongoing anti-government protests, according to a report by Reuters.
The night featured live performances by many of K-pop’s biggest stars like Monsta X, BTS, Twice, and Tomorrow X Together, who also won the award for best new male artist. British singer Dua Lipa also performed at the awards.
Understanding the phenomenon that is K-pop
BTS beat GOT7, NCT 127, Monsta X and Seventeen to win the award for best male group. They also won the awards for best music video and song of the year for Boy With Luv (featuring Halsey), album of the year for Map of the Soul: Persona, best male dance performance, worldwide icon of the year, song of the year, and finally artist of the year.
Twice won the award for best female group over the frontrunner, Blackpink. The other nominees for the award were Red Velvet, Mamamoo, Iz*One and GFriend. Twice took home more top awards than any other girl group, also winning the prize for best female dance performance.
BTS and Twice also won the fan awards for favourite male and female artists.
The MAMA 2019 winners
Artist of the year: BTS
Album of the year: BTS, Map of the Soul: Persona
Song of the year: BTS, Boy With Luv (featuring Halsey)
Worldwide icon of the year: BTS
Best male group: BTS
Best female group: Twice
Best male artist: Baekhyun
Best female artist: Chungha
Best new male artist: Tomorrow X Together
Best new female artist: Itzy
Best music video: BTS, Boy With Luv (feat. Halsey)