“2022 MAMA AWARDS” adds J-Hope, Park Bo Gum, Jeon So Mi to the lineup and announces its first step to take a leap toward the global market

“MAMA AWARDS” makes a new start targeting the global market and plans to present an explosive award ceremony with its solid lineup and spectacular stages.

The global press conference for the “2022 MAMA AWARDS” was held at CJ ENM Center in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul at 10 a.m on November 16th. Head of CJ ENM’s music content division Kim Hyun Soo, CP Yoon Shin Hye, and team leader Lee Sun Hyung attended the event. Critic Kim Young Dae also showed up and announced his prediction of this year’s K-pop trend.

MAMA (Mnet ASIAN MUSIC AWARDS), which has aroused keen interest from global K-pop fans for many years, has been rebranded as “MAMA AWARDS” starting this year. 

CJ ENM said, “‘Mnet ASIAN MUSIC AWARDS’ will be rebranded as ‘MAMA AWARDS’ in line with the changes in the global music market, such as the expansion of K-pop’s influence from Asia to overseas”, adding “While establishing a unique and different identity, ‘MAMA AWARDS’ will showcase performances and stages with iconic scenes as an award ceremony. Evolving from the MAMA that has been so well-known to global music fans, ‘MAMA AWARDS’ will become the World’s No.1 K-POP Awards to promote the true values of K-pop to the world”, revealing their ambition.

In this regard, CJ ENM’s music content division Head Kim Hyun Soo shared, “K-pop has already expanded its influence globally. The impact of K-pop is increasing not only in Asia but also around the world. I wondered if it was necessary to limit the scale of an awards ceremony that represents K-pop within Asia only. Therefore, we’ve been discussing a lot about making it a new brand. We realized that the brand name ‘MAMA’ has already become a proper noun as a representative K-pop award ceremony. With that thought in mind, we added ‘AWARDS’, which is to identify it as an award ceremony, to the proper noun ‘MAMA’ to rebrand it with a new goal of challenging, evolving, and growing globally. We’d appreciate it if you call the award ceremony ‘MAMA AWARDS’ from now on.”

After rebranding, “MAMA AWARDS” also made changes to its trophy. The name of the trophy is “Hyper Cube”. The top of the Hyper Cube is a cube that has been maintained as MAMA heritage for the past 21 years. The lines at the bottom with various lights embody the process of fans and artists connecting and evolving indefinitely. Hyper Cube keeps the gold color of the existing trophy to say that the golden journey that fans and artists have created together will continue. On the other hand, the 6 sides of the Hyper Cube represent nonstop “challenge”, inextinguishable “passion”, endless “dream”, limitless “growth”, “expansion” without rules, and “uniqueness”. With the release of the new trophy, expectations for the winners to hold this new trophy at this year’s “MAMA AWARDS” are mounting.

At the press conference, CP Yoon Shin Hye also introduced an additional lineup and collaboration stages. The most notable name is BTS J-Hope, and he is expected to perform BTS’s first solo performance at “MAMA”.

CP Yoon Shin Hye explained, “The new lineup artist is BTS J-Hope. He released his first solo album this year and received favorable reviews for honestly capturing the story of his new growth and inner thoughts. J-Hope’s solo performance will be unveiled for the first time at ‘MAMA’”, adding “I believe BTS showcases legendary stages every year at ‘MAMA’. This will be the first time the boy group introduces a solo stage. We’re preparing to make it a memorable stage”. The keyword for J-Hope’s solo performance is “I’m your hope”. In this regard, CP Yoon said, “I hope you don’t miss the story of hope that we want to convey through this stage”.

Regarding J-Hope joining the lineup, CP Yoon said, “Basically, we are requesting appearances from all the artists who showed great performances this year.  I think it has a symbolic meaning that J-Hope was the first BTS member to release a solo album. J-Hope’s energy and positive image on stage fit well with this year’s concept. He asked for anticipation by saying, ‘I am preparing hard with a sense of responsibility for presenting BTS’ solo stage at ‘MAMA’ for the first time.’”

The special collaboration stages also raise expectations.  First, (G)I-DLE will perform a collaboration stage with the band Jaurim. IVE, Kep1er, NMIXX, New Jeans, and LE SSERAFIM will also perform on one stage. Being able to see a joint stage of top rookie groups that showed outstanding performance this year is worth looking forward to. With 32 female idols on one stage, it is expected to be a stage that is hard to see anywhere else. In addition, MAMA plans to introduce a stage that crosses genres and generations with Stray Kids’ producing team, 3RACHA Bang Chan, Changbin, Han, Tiger JK, and Jung Jaeil.

The hosts of the 2022 MAMA AWARDS have also been revealed. On the first day, November 29th, it will be Jeon Somi and on November 30th, it will be Park Bo Gum. CP Yoon Shin Hye said, “K-pop artist and versatile all-rounder Jeon Somi will host the first day. Jeon Somi, who has already communicated with the world by acting as a cultural ambassador with a global sense, is perfect for this role.” As Jeon Somi is considered a representative of the MZ generation, she was selected as the first host of MAMA, and attention is focused on what kind of stage she will showcase.

“Park Bo Gum served as the host for three consecutive years from 2017 to 2018 and 2019. He is an indispensable host in the history of MAMA. MAMA will shine even more with Park Bo Gum and Jeon Somi.”

CP Yoon Shin Hye also introduced the differences unique to this year’s MAMA. CP Yoon said, “As MAMA grows and expands every year, I thought it would be difficult to tell the story in one day. It was intended to be organized with the characteristics of the award for each day. We can show a more diverse and colorful stage by holding it for two days. Not only dance and ballad, but also a variety of stages including crossover stages.” 

However, at this year’s MAMA, there are no performances of foreign artists. MAMA has shown various stages through collaborations between foreign artists and K-pop singers.  Regarding this, CP Yoon said, “Since this is the first MAMA awards ceremony to be held after rebranding, we focus on defining what we think of K-pop and expanding its scope.  We focus on showing a slightly more diverse aspect of K-pop. The overseas artist lineup has not been announced yet, but there will be none this time.”

Critic Kim Young Dae picked girl groups’ performances as one of the key keywords of this year’s K-pop, saying, “Girl groups are making progress. Girl groups can influence trends based on solid fandoms, beyond groups that just go around events and groups that release viral music and videos on music charts. Girl groups are playing the role of a powerhouse for the new K-pop as much as boy groups.  I think the ‘second BTS’ can come from a girl group, not a boy group.”

The concept of this year’s MAMA is ‘K-POP World Citizenship’. The moment when countless ‘I’ who love K-POP gather to become ‘we’, fans all over the world are equal in music and can unite through music. Through this concept, MAMA shows the will to present the energy of hope and sympathy to the world and to show the good influence conveyed by music.

The 2022 MAMA Awards will be held at Kyocera Dome Osaka, Japan on November 29th and 30th.

Source: Daum.