A two-day ceremony and a too-quickly-concluded performance. The 2025 MAMA Awards have officially ended. Grab your cameras and lightsticks: It’s time for a post-concert review.
On Friday and Saturday, the 25th annual MAMA Awards were hosted in Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Sports Park. Out of respect to the recent Wang Fuk Court fire, the biggest K-pop music awards worldwide scaled down, canceled flame effects and added condolences.
Actor and singer Park Bo-gum began the first day with a solemn moment of silence to honor the victims of the Hong Kong fire.
To mass delight, the energetic, genre-bending CORTIS and dreamy, emotional Hearts2Hearts were given the Best New Artist Award. They beat controversial mixed gender group ALLDAY PROJECT, who, despite nepotism, bribery, bullying and cultural appropriation accusations, still managed to pull the Breakthrough Artist award. Yikes.
In MAMA, there are four categories recognized as Daesangs, or grand prizes. Winning a Daesang is a groundbreaking moment in any K-pop artist’s career, and a slew of talented winners were recognized this week.
ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ collaboration song “APT.” scored the Song of the Year Daesang. ROSÉ actually won four out of five categories she was nominated in — a phenomenal feat.
Dark fantasy-themed boy group ENHYPEN also walked away with the Fan’s Choice of the Year Daesang. This is their first grand prize, won just two days before the fifth year anniversary of their debut.
On day two, G-Dragon took home the Artist of the Year Daesang as well as Best Male Artist and Best Dance Performance Male Solo. Leader of boy group BIGBANG, G-Dragon’s songs and performances are globally renowned, as his skill proved when he became the youngest person named one of the 10 Greatest Korean Composers in 2008. G-Dragon is a part of an earlier generation of K-pop, making him too old for my taste, but he is an undeniable master of the craft.
This day was also big for Stray Kids, who won the Album of the Year Daesang for “KARMA.” The album broke the highest single-day streams by K-pop on Spotify with over 18.26 million streams. Known for their hard-hitting blend of hip-hop, EDM and rock, Stray Kids has achieved incredible fame, even appearing in “Zootopia 2.” However, despite winning seven MAMA awards since their 2018 debut, this is the group’s first grand prize.
Then, the Best Original Soundtrack and Music Visionary of the Year awards were bestowed upon Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” animated film. While the movie has a hard-working and talented team that introduced many people to K-pop, I have to wonder if it is unfair to honor the fake HUNTR/X over real artists, especially with the group’s existing Grammy nominations.
But what makes the MAMA awards so special is not just the critical acclaim — it is the stellar performances given by dozens of popular artists all on one stage.
Girl group BABYMONSTER had explosive performances, despite lacking awards. While its own songs received steady applause, BABYMONSTER’s performance of “What it Sounds Like” and “Golden” from “KPop Demon Hunters” was more controversial. These were certainly hard songs to sing, but the choices felt more like a push for virality than vocal showcase.
Stray Kids also devoured the stage, performing its newly released song, “DIVINE,” along with a previous hit song, “Chk Chk Boom,” and the more controversial track, “CEREMONY.” As the title song of “KARMA,” “CEREMONY” was widely considered one of the biggest disappointments in Stray Kids’ discography. But now it has a Daesang, so take from that what you will.
The MAMA ceremony presented a slew of other awards and performances, but the above are either the most well-known or the most debated. As K-pop becomes more mainstream, especially with the fame of “KPop Demon Hunters,” it is important to recognize the names and songs that represent the best of the genre. Beyond a fantastical cartoon, there is real talent.
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