‘MAMA’ director Kim Dong-hyun, “Too many awards? There will be reinforcements based on popularity, expertise and fairness”
The production crew of the ‘2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA)’ expressed their determination to improve the awards due to criticisms saying there are too many awards categories.
On November 16th, Director of CJ ENM’s Music Content Division Kim Hyun-soo, Director of the Convention Division Kim Dong-hyun, and CP Park Chan-wook, who directs the event, attended a press conference held at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Sogong-dong, Junggu, Seoul and introduced about MAMA ceremony this year.
This year’s MAMA will award a total of 4 grand prizes for 4 categories that have been maintained since the establishment of this awards ceremony, including “Artist Of The Year”, “Album Of The Year”, “Song Of The Year” and “Worldwide Icon Of The Year”, a category added since 2018.
However, including the 4 grand prizes, a total of 35 awards were awarded at last year’s ceremony alone. There were several categories, such as “Inspired Achievement”, “Notable Achievement Artist”, “The Most Popular Artist”, “Global Favorite Performer”, etc. As a result, people pointed out that there were too many awards and in fact, the production crew of ‘MAMA’ received a question asking, “What do you think about the criticism saying that there are too many awards?”.
Kim Dong-hyun – director of the convention business office – said, “After MAMA is over, various good news and bitter voices will come out on the next day. We are using the voices of fans and media as nourishment to become better, and we are constantly thinking about it.”
In addition, he shared, “As it is an award given to the best artists, we will continue to develop a system that is institutionally suitable for artists and the K-pop scene. Based on popularity, expertise and fairness, we will reinforce global indicators as well as cooperate with external organizations to ensure transparent and fair results.”
However, this answer was somewhat far from the question of whether there are many award categories. The production team did not directly mention the adjustment of the award category or the number of awards.
2021 MAMA, where singer Lee Hyo-ri will appear as the first female host in MAMA’s history, is scheduled to be broadcast live around the world from 6 PM (KST) on Dec 11.
