MAMA Awards 2025: Day 2
Okie dokie, everyone! My thoughts on things will be down at the bottom, instead of giving a long and verbose introduction, because we all know that what you're here for is actually the performances and the winners. Anything I have to say is a bonus, you know? The artists are the focus here.
performances
aespa (Dirty Work + Rich Man)
ALLDAY PROJECT (FAMOUS)
G-Dragon (DRAMA + Heartbreaker + Untitled, 2025)
IDID X KickFlip (PUSH BACK + My First Love Song + Boy In Luv)
izna (Mamma Mia)
JO1 (BE CLASSIC + Handz In My Pocket)
Kim Hye Soo X Felix X Kyoka X Sung Hangbin X ALLDAY PROJECT (HEAR MY ROAR + BAD BOY + FAMOUS)
RIIZE (Bag Bad Back + Fame)
Stray Kids (CREED + Chk Chk Boom + DIVINE + CEREMONY)
TOMORROW X TOGETHER (Upside Down Kiss + Beautiful Strangers)
ZEROBASEONE (Doctor! Doctor! + ICONIK)
covers
Ahn Hyo Seop
BABYMONSTER (What It Sounds Like + Golden)
KickFlip X IDID (Boy In Luv)
winners
Visa Artist of the Year (Daesang): G-Dragon
Visa Album of the Year (Daesang): Stray Kids - KARMA
Best Choreography: aespa - Whiplash
Best Music Video: Jennie - ZEN
Best OST: HUNTR/X - Golden
Best Collaboration: Rosé X Bruno Mars - APT.
Best Rap & Hip-Hop Performance: BIG Naughty (Feat. Lee Chanhyuk) - MUSIC
Best Band Performance: DAY6 - Maybe Tomorrow
Best Vocal Performance Group: DAVICHI - Stitching
Best Vocal Performance Solo: Rosé - toxic till the end
Best Dance Performance Female Group: aespa - Whiplash
Best Dance Performance Male Group: Seventeen - THUNDER
Best Dance Performance Female Solo: Jennie - like JENNIE
Best Dance Performance Male Solo: G-Dragon (feat. Anderson Paak) - TOO BAD
Best Female Group: aespa
Best Male Group: Seventeen
Best Female Artist: Rosé
Best Male Artist: G-Dragon
Worldwide KCONer's Choice: ZEROBASEONE
Music Visionary of the Year: Netflix's KPOP DEMON HUNTERS
Olive Young K-Beauty Artist: Hearts2Hearts
Breakthrough Artist: ALLDAY Project
Favorite Asian Artist: JO1
Favorite Rising Artist: izna
Visa Super Stage Artist: TOMORROW X TOGETHER
final thoughts
Whoo, that was a lot of wins. A lot more than Day 1.
So, I'm sure you noticed all the links going on up there. First and foremost, the ones up in with the performances all go to my reviews of the songs. You'll also notice that not all of the songs have the reviews. Sometimes they happened before I started writing this. Sometimes I just never managed to get to them. But you want to know a surefire way to get me to do a review of the song in question OR if it's old enough or a b-side do a Greatest Hits or a Battle of the B-Sides post on it? Toss the song at me in The Form. Do you have to answer all of the other questions? Nope, just the actual song information and what kind of post it is. Super easy. Should take all of a minute. Or less. More if you're going into detail but you don't have to.
Second, the links down in the winners circle depend on where they are. If the link is on a song title, well, that goes to a review. I'm just trying to make it easy on you. And to make it even easier, if the link is on an artist, that goes to my artist page with all of the reviews that I've done for them. I'm putting these artists higher on the list for me to do.
Okay, are we good? Anymore information needed?
Cool.
First up, the Daesangs. If the number of times I got to tag G-Dragon in posts for the music show wins this year is any indication, he's had himself a pretty successful year. So winning artist of the year? This may be a recent return after his long hiatus, but he deserves it. His impact is far-reaching and the other reason why we know how impressive he is? This makes him the only soloist to win TWO Artist of the Year awards here. (Also, he made a promise that has me very excited for next year). Our other Daesang here goes to Stray Kids for Album of the Year. Their acceptance speech had me almost in tears. I'm so proud of them. Well done, Stays, for this gift to your boys, especially with both Seungmin and Lee Know in bad condition right now. ONE of them absolutely should not have been performing on his ankle. I understand why he did it, but at the same time, it's a concern. But, this is still a momentous occasion for them, and I'm sure this will be lingering for a while. I hope it does. They deserve this memory.
Across the board, there aren't any names that don't deserve any of these wins, although there are a lot of repeat names. Which is great for the fans, but you know me. I like a little diversity. And I'm not sure who I should congratulate for the win for Golden, but that's got to be just surreal for Ejae, given her past.
And now, the performances.
Speaking of Golden, we're going to start there, with Ahn Hyo Seop and the BABYMONSTER members. That's another thing that's got to be absolutely surreal for him, given his own history with K-Pop. And while the BABYMONSTER members gave us a quiet performance, that's quite fitting with the relative somberness of the whole show. That was so cool, you guys. So very, very cool.
TXT is one of those groups that I'd love to see live to confirm my suspicions about how good they are live. They gave us quite the sleek performance here, and I just have to give a specific shoutout to Yeonjun because it really seems like since he debuted as a soloist, he's grown in absolute leaps and bounds as an artist. These guys are all restrained grace and I love that. Also, I forgot how much I absolutely love Beautiful Strangers. That is a gorgeous song. That is a dang gorgeous song.
If you've been sleeping on JO1, you need to wake up. I don't talk about the Japanese groups as much as the Korean groups, but they absolutely blew me away at KCON. And the absolute drama in this stage? And using Beethoven's Fifth Symphony? This is what we call art, ladies, gents, and multiforms. I'm a tiny bit in love. It's fine, you know? It's fine. Actually, it's more than a tiny bit but I can't add a new group to my massive roster. But this was probably easily top three favorite performances from both nights. No, but seriously, did you guys watch this? Or listen to it? Because this is beyond incredible.
izna's stage presence is no joke and with how young they are as a group? They're going to be absolute powerhouses with the potential for Titans of Industry status in a few years. And I can't get over how cool they look. Too short. This is much too short. And that choreography is no joke either.
And we have one of our two Daesang winners up next. This was such an extra performance and I mean that with the most love I could possibly have. The drama at the start gives me life. Lee Know should not have been performing on his ankle, though. I saw a comment somewhere about Rumi cutting her hair in reference to Chan, and that made me chuckle. But they really were showing off why they deserved the Daesang. And the dramatic guitar brought me so much joy. But using more traditional sounds butted up next to the very modern sounds? The arranger(s) did their jobs so well.
And then our Artist of the Year. GD himself. Again, extremely extra and I mean that with complete love. I find it kind of funny that both Daesang winners incorporated the more traditional music. And the fact that he changed his setlist in deference to the fire victims and went for a more subdued setlist and skipped the "burn burn" part of DRAMA. The man is impressive. Also, Wing? I do not know who this guy is, but he's super cool and him doing whatever that was over a compilation? Brilliant. And showing bits from his recent tour? His stage name is so incredibly fitting. And seeing both his light stick and BIGBANG's light stick in the crowd? G-Dragon is a commander on a battlefield when he is on stage and it's beyond incredible. And for the record, if there's a single song that I want to hear performed live once in my life, it's Untitled. Well, it's top three. There's a BTOB song I really want to hear too. But he was harmonizing with himself during that one, and I honestly teared up a little. This man is one of the idols of idols for a reason, and he proved it. He was having some mic and audio issues, and I look forward to seeing the diss next year. I also look forward to seeing what he and his friends have in store for next year.
Well, there you have it. Some of my thoughts on what all went down at the MAMAs this year. We got some great performances and some well-deserved wins.
If you're curious about any other thoughts I might have, either for more on something I've already commented on or something I didn't, feel free to ask! I don't bite.
Thank you for your time! I really appreciate it! Have a lovely evening and until next time!
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