2021 MAMA’s nominations: BTS is up for ‘Best Collab’, BLACKPINK members compete for ‘Best Female Artist’
Mnet Asian Music Awards 2021 (MAMA 2021) has officially announced this year’s nominations.
One of the most anticipated and often controversial music awards, Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) is about to return. This year, MAMA is scheduled to take place at 6 pm KST on December 11.
This year’s MAMA has confirmed major changes in the criteria for determining the winners. Unlike previous years, the 3 major Daesangs of 2021 MAMA including Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year will no longer be fan voted.
However, 2021 MAMA will still have 2 awards that are completely dependent on fan votes: Worldwide Icon of the Year and Worldwide Fans’ Choice Top 10. On November 3, Mnet officially announced the nominees for this year’s MAMA. Let’s see which artists and songs have been nominated.
Best New Male Artist
DRIPPIN
ENHYPEN
EPEX
MIRAE
P1Harmony
Best New Female Artist
Best Male Artist
EXO’s Baekhyun
EXO’s D.O.
EXO’s Kai
Kang Daniel
Lee Mujin
Best Female Artist
Heize
IU
BLACKPINK’s Lisa
BLACKPINK’s Rosé
Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon
Best Male Group
BTS
NCT 127
NCT DREAM
SEVENTEEN
Stray Kids
TXT
Best Female Group
(G)I-DLE
Brave Girls
ITZY
Oh My Girl
Red Velvet
TWICE
Best Dance Performance Male Group
BTS – ‘Butter’
NCT 127 – ‘Sticker’
NCT DREAM – ‘Hot Sauce’
SEVENTEEN – ‘Ready to love’
SHINee – ‘Don’t Call Me’
Stray Kids – ‘Thunderous’
Best Dance Performance Female Group
aespa – ‘Next Level’
ITZY – ‘In the morning’
Oh My Girl – ‘Dun Dun Dance’
Red Velvet – ‘Queendom’
STAYC – ‘ASAP’
TWICE – ‘Alcohol-Free’
Best Dance Performance Solo
EXO’s Baekhyun – ‘Bambi’
HyunA – ‘I’m Not Cool’
BLACKPINK’s Lisa – ‘LALISA’
BLACKPINK’s Rosé – ‘On The Ground’
Jeon Somi – ‘DUMB DUMB’
Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon – ‘Weekend’
Best Vocal Performance
AKMU – ‘NAKKA’ with IU
Davichi – ‘Just Hug Me’
Heize – ‘HAPPEN’
IU – ‘Celebrity’
Lee Mujin – ‘Traffic light’
Best Band Performance
10cm – ‘Sleepless in Seoul’ (feat. AKMU’s Lee Suhyun)
CNBLUE – ‘Then, Now and Forever’
DAY6 – ‘You Make Me’
Jannabi – ‘A thought on an autumn night’
N.Flying – ‘Moonshot’
Best Hip Hop & Urban Music
ASH ISLAND – ‘MELODY’
CHANGMO – ‘GJD
Jessi – ‘What Type of X’
WINNER’s Song Mino – ‘Run away’
YUMDDA – ‘9ucci’ (feat. DOGE)
Best OST
10cm – ‘Borrow Your Night’ (‘Romance 101’)
Jo Jung Suk – ‘I Like You’ (‘Hospital Playlist 2’)
Choi Yu Ree – ‘Wish’ (‘Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha’)
Lee Mujin – ‘Rain and You’ (‘Hospital Playlist 2’)
Highlight’s Yang Yoseob and Apink’s Jung Eun Ji – ‘Love Day’ (‘Romance 101’)
Best Collaboration
AKMU – ‘NAKKA’ (with IU)
Coldplay & BTS – ‘My Universe’
Gaeko & Kwon Jin Ah
Hyolyn & Dasom – ‘Summer or Summer’
Rain – ‘Switch to Me’ (duet with Park Jin Young)
Worldwide Fans’ Choice Top 10
(G)I-DLE
aespa
AKMU
ASH ISLAND
ASTRO
ATEEZ
Brave Girls
BTS
Chungha
CL
Davichi
ENHYPEN
EXO
fromis_9
Heize
HyunA
iKON
ITZY
IU
Jannabi
Jessi
Kang Daniel
Lee Mujin
Lee Seung Gi
BLACKPINK’s Lisa
LOONA
MAMAMOO
WINNER’s Song Mino
MONSTA X
NCT 127
NCT DREAM
NU’EST
Oh My Girl
Rain
Red Velvet
BLACKPINK’s Rosé
SEVENTEEN
SF9
SHINee
Jeon Somi
STAYC
Stray Kids
Sunmi
Super Junior
Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon
THE BOYZ
TXT
TREASURE
TWICE
Weeekly
Currently, the nominees for 2021 MAMA’s Daesang have not been announced. However, Mnet has specifically revealed the criteria and percentage of selecting winners for each category as follows:
Artist of the Year and artist-related categories – 40% judges’ evaluations, 20% digital sales, 20% physical album sales, 10% MV, 10% global music platform
Song of the Year and song-related categories – 40% judges’ evaluations, 30% digital sales, 10% physical album sales, 10% MV, 10% global music platform
Album of the Year – 40% judges’ evaluations, 10% digital sales, 40% physical album sales, 10% global music platform
Worldwide Icon of the Year, Worldwide Fans’ Choice Top 10 – 100% fan votes.
Voting will take place online starting from 6pm KST on November 4 until 4:59 pm KST on November 22.
What are your thoughts on 2021 MAMA’s nominations? Which category do you think is the easiest to predict the winner? Which category will have the most competition? Please let us know in the comments.
