MNET, South Korea's most popular music channel, has just announced the nominees for the 2023 MAMA.
MAMA is considered to be the biggest music awards ceremony honoring the best of K-pop.
Read: BTS, TWICE, SECENTEEN, Stray Kids, ITZY, IU, Lisa lead 2021 MAMA nominees
As expected, the members of K-pop superstar BTS received multiple nominations in different categories and even managed to grab two nominations as a group despite not being active as a whole group because of mandatory military service.
Jimin, Jungkook, and V will battle against each other in the Best Male Artist category, along with Lim Young Woong and Parc Jae Jung.
August D or Suga (feat. IU) for "People Pt. 2" and j-hope (with J.Cole) for "On The Street" are both contenders for Best Rap & Hip-Hop, along with Ash Island feat. Paul Blanco ("Goodbye"), Jay Park feat. Zion T. ("Candy"), and Zior Park ("Christian").
Jungkook and Jimin are both nominated for Best Collaboration and Best Male Dance Performance.
For Best Collaboration, Jungkook's "Seven" with Latto will go up against Jimin's "Vibe" with Taeyang. The other nominees are Anne-Marie and MINNIE of (G)I-DLE for "Expectations," Big Naughty feat. Lee Su Hyun for "Hopeless Romantic," and BSS of SEVENTTEN feat. Lee Young Ji for "Fighting."
For Best Male Dance Performance, Jungkook and Jimin's contenders are EXO's Kai, BIGBANG's Taeyang, and NCT 127's Taeyong.
BTS, as a group, is nominated for Best OST for their track "The Planet" for the animated series Bastions and Best Vocal Performance Group for "Take Two."
Among the hotly contested categories in MAMA is the Best Dance Performance Group Male and Female.
This year, the male groups nominated are NCT 127 ("Ay-yo), NCT DREAM ("Candy"), SEVENTEEN ("Super"), Stray Kids ("S-Class), TOMORROW X TOGETHER ("Sugar Rush Ride"), and rookie group ZEROBASEONE ("In Bloom").
NCT DREAM, SEVENTEEN, Stray Kids, and TOMORROW X TOGETHER are also nominated for Best Male Group, along with EXO and TREASURE.
ATEEZ, ENHYPEN, and THE BOYZ are surprisingly absent in these categories.
For Best Dance Peformance Group Female, the nominees are (G)I-DLE ("Queencard"), aespa ("Spicy"), IVE ("I Am"), LE SSERAFIM ("Unforgiven"), New Jeans ("Ditto), and STAYC ("Teddy Bear').
(G)I-DLE, aespa, IVE, LE SSERAFIM, and New Jeans are also nominated for Best Female Grop, along with TWICE.
JYPE's two other girl groups, ITZY and NMIXX, failed to get nominations in these categories.
The battle for the Best Dance Performance Female are among members of female groups: MAMAMOO'S Hwasa ("I Love My Body"), I.O.I's Jeon Somi ("Fast Forward"), TWICE's Jihyo ("Killin' Me Good"), BLACKPINK's Jisoo ("Flower"), and IZ*ONE's Lee Chae Yeon ("Knock").
All five are also nominated for Best Female Artist, along with Yena of IZ*ONE.
In the Best New Male Artist category, ZEROBASEONE is nominated alongside BOYNEXTDOOR, EVNNE, RIIZE, and xikers.
One of the biggest surprises in this year's MAMA 2023 nominations is the exclusion of FIFTY FIFTY in the Best New Female Artist category, despite massive success of their debut song "Cupid."
The nominees are lesser known groups like ADYA, EL7Z UP, KISS OF LIFE, LIMELIGHT, and tripleS.
The nominees and winners for the grand prizes or Daesang — Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, and Worldwide Icon of the Year will be announced on the awards night.
MAMA 2023 will be held at Tokyo Dome in Japan on November 28 and 29.
Here is the complete list of the nominees for MAMA 2023:
Best Dance Performance Male Group
"Ay-Yo" by NCT 127
"Candy" by NCT DREAM
"Super" by SEVENTEEN
"S-CLASS" by Stray Kids
"Sugar Rush Ride" by TXT
"In Bloom" by ZEROBASEONE
Best Dance Performance Female Group
Queencard" by (G)I-DLE
"Spicy" by aespa
"I AM" by IVE
"UNFORGIVEN" by LE SSERAFIM
"Ditto" by NewJeans
"Teddy Bear" by STAYC
Best Dance Performance Male Solo
"Like Crazy" by JIMIN
"Seven" by JUNGKOOK
"Rover" by KAI
"VIBE" by TAEYANG feat. JIMIN
"SHALALA" by TAEYONG
Best Dance Performance Female Solo
"I Love My Body" by HWASA
"Fast Forward" by JEON SOMI
"Killin' Me Good" by JIHYO
"FLOWER" by JISOO
"KNOCK" by Lee Chae Yeon
Best Music Video
"Queencard" by (G)I-DLE
"I AM" by IVE
"FLOWER" by JISOO
"Seven" by JUNGKOOK
"Super" by SEVENTEEN
"S-CLASS" by Stray Kids
Best OST
"With me" by Big Naughty
"The Planet" by BTS
"Heaven (2023)" by Lim Jae Hyun
"THE MIRACLE" by Paul Kim
"Goodbye Now" by TXT
Best Collaboration
"Expectations" by Anne-Marie, MINNIE of (G)I-DLE
"Hopeless Romantic" by Big Naughty feat. Lee Su Hyun
"Fighting" by BSS feat. Lee Young Ji
"Seven" by JUNGKOOK feat. Latto
"VIBE" by TAEYANG feat. JIMIN
Best Rap & Hip Hop
"People Pt.2" by Agust D feat. IU
"Goodbye" by ASH ISLAND feat. Paul Blanco
"On The Street" by j-hope with J.Cole
"Candy" by Jay Park feat. Zion.T
"CHRISTIAN" by Zior Park
Best Vocal Performance Group
"Love Lee" by AKMU
"Wind And Wish" by BTOB
"Take Two" by BTS
"Eternity" by M.C The Max
"A Shining Day" by MeloMance
Best Vocal Performance Solo
"Dear My Light" by DAWN
"Ordinary Confession" by Lee Mujin
"London Boy" by Lim Young Woong
"Let's Say Goodbye" by Parc Jae Jung
"Love Me Again" by V
Best Male Group
EXO
NCT DREAM
SEVENTEEN
Stray Kids
TOMORROW X TOGETHER
TREASURE
Best Female Group
(G)I-DLE
aespa
IVE
LE SSERAFIM
NewJeans
TWICE
Best New Female Artist
ADYA
EL7Z UP
KISS OF LIFE
LIMELIGHT
tripleS
Best New Male Artist
BOYNEXTDOOR
EVNNE
RIIZE
xikers
ZEROBASEONE
Best Male Artist
JIMIN
JUNGKOOK
Lim Young Woong
Parc Jae Jung
TAEYANG
V
Best Female Artist
HWASA
JEON SOMI
JIHYO
JISOO
LEE CHAE YEON
YENA
Song of the Year
(Nominees for the song genre categories are automatically nominated.)
- aespa – “Spicy”
- Agust D (Suga) – “People Pt.2 (Feat. IU)”
- AKMU – “Love Lee”
- Anne-Marie, Minnie – “Expectations”
- ASH ISLAND – “Goodbye (Feat. Paul Blanco)”
- BIG Naughty – “Hopeless Romantic (Feat. Lee Suhyun)”
- BIG Naughty – “With me” (“The Interest of Love” OST)
- BSS (SEVENTEEN) – “Fighting (Feat. Lee Young Ji)”
- BTOB – “Wind And Wish”
- BTS – “Take Two”
- BTS – “The Planet” (“BASTIONS” OST)
- DAWN – “Dear My Light”
- (G)I-DLE – “Queencard”
- Hwasa – “I Love My Body”
- IVE – “I AM
- J-Hope – “on the street (with J.Cole)”
- Jay Park – “Candy (Feat. Zion.T)”
- Jeon Somi – “Fast Forward”
- Jihyo – “Killin’ Me Good”
- Jimin – “Like Crazy”
- Jisoo – “FLOWER”
- Jungkook – “Seven (Feat. Latto)”
- Kai – “Rover”
- LE SSERAFIM – “UNFORGIVEN (Feat. Nile Rodgers)”
- Lee Chae Yeon – “KNOCK”
- Lee Mujin – “Ordinary Confession”
- Lim Jae Hyun – “Heaven (2023)” (“It Was Spring” OST)
- Lim Young Woong – “London Boy”
- M.C the MAX – “Eternity”
- MeloMance – “A Shining Day”
- NCT 127 – “Ay-Yo”
- NCT DREAM – “Candy”
- NewJeans – “Ditto”
- Parc Jae Jung – “Let’s Say Goodbye”
- Paul Kim – “You Remember” (“The Glory” OST)
- SEVENTEEN – “Super”
- STAYC – “Teddy Bear”
- Stray Kids – “S-Class”
- Taeyang – “VIBE (Feat. Jimin)”
- Taeyong – “SHALALA”
- TXT – “Goodbye Now” (“Love Revolution” OST)
- TXT – “Sugar Rush Ride”
- V – “Love Me Again”
- ZEROBASEONE – “In Bloom”
- Zior Park – “CHRISTIAN”
Artist of the Year
(Nominees for the artist categories are automatically nominated.)
- ADYA
- aespa
- BOYNEXTDOOR
- Choi Ye Na
- EL7Z UP
- EVNNE
- EXO
- (G)I-DLE
- Hwasa
- IVE
- Jeon Somi
- Jihyo
- Jimin
- Jisoo
- Jungkook
- KISS OF LIFE
- LE SSERAFIM
- Lee Chae Yeon
- Lim Young Woong
- LIMELIGHT
- NCT DREAM
- NewJeans
- Parc Jae Jung
- RIIZE
- SEVENTEEN
- Stray Kids
- Taeyang
- TREASURE
- tripleS
- TWICE
- TXT
- V
- xikers
- ZEROBASEONE
Worldwide Fans’ Choice
- aespa
- AKMU
- ATEEZ
- BOYNEXTDOOR
- BTOB
- BTS
- CIX
- CRAVITY
- ENHYPEN
- EVNNE
- EXO
- fromis_9
- (G)I-DLE
- H1-KEY
- Highlight
- ITZY
- IVE
- Jisoo
- Jeon Somi
- Kep1er
- LE SSERAFIM
- Lee Chae Yeon
- Lee Mujin
- Lim Young Woong
- MONSTA X
- n.SSign
- NCT 127
- NCT DREAM
- NewJeans
- NMIXX
- ONEUS
- P1Harmony
- Parc Jae Jung
- Red Velvet
- RIIZE
- SEVENTEEN
- SHINee
- STAYC
- Stray Kids
- Super Junior
- Taeyang
- TEMPEST
- THE BOYZ
- TXT
- TREASURE
- TWICE
- Xdinary Heroes
- xikers
- ZEROBASEONE
- Zior Park