Asia’s leading entertainment network Mnet may have held its music award in Hong Kong but the awards ceremony is watched by people from all over the world (including us). Staying true to its roots, Mnet Asian Music Award (MAMA) aims to bring Asia’s music to the world by gathering the international fans and musical artistes of different cultures and languages under one roof. As such, this year, the awards ceremony was held outside of South Korea for the fifth time since its launch in 1999.
Previously known as MMF (Mnet Music Video Festival) and MKMF (Mnet Korea Music Festival), the 16th music ceremony festival was held at the Hong Kong AsiaWorld-Expo on 3rd Dec. This is the 3rd consecutive year that Mnet has held its award ceremony in Hong Kong. The ceremony is broadcasted live in 4 major continents including Asia, Europe, North America, and Oceania and thus, taking lead in spreading K-Pop worldwide.
Asian celebrities and international performers made their grand entrance on the red carpet, strutting their best poses for the gala event. Although some Korean celebrities were only there to present awards, they made their red carpet moments last longer by showing off their best styles. Various artistes including AOA and Block B kicked off the prestigious event by performing at the red carpet event. During the red carpet event, EXO took home the first award of the night as they emerged the winner of the “Best Asian Style” award.
Korean actor Song Seung Heon attended the awards as the host, introducing award presenters and up-and-coming performances at the 2014 MAMA. Some notable award presenters include Andy Lau, Eric Tsang, Ann Jae Hyun and so on. YG’s latest boy group, WINNER emerged as winner of the “Best New Artiste” award as they bagged the second award of the night. Unsurprisingly, Sunmi won the “Best Dance Performance – Solo” award for her outstanding dance performance that can be seen in some of her music videos.
SISTAR’s Soyu’s collaboration with JunggiGO was definitely well-received by the public as the song “Some” has won them the “Best Collaboration” award. Meanwhile, singer Jun Joon Young, who has always charmed the crowd with his rocker spirit, won the “Style in Music” award. The “Best Female Group” and “Best Male Group” were given to SISTAR and EXO respectively.
John Legend attended his first Mnet Asian Music Awards as a performer but before his performance, EXO’s Chen was chosen to perform John Legend’s “Green Light” and was later joined by SNSD Girls’ Generation’s Tiffany and John Legend himself. He was later honoured with the “International Favorutie Artiste” award, was presented by Tiffany. Before he left the stage, the singer also serenaded the crowd with his most recent hit, “All of Me” and had everyone in the hall singing along to his song.
The awards ceremony also saw some of the best performances from the current K-Pop idol groups as various idols collaborated for their performances on stage. Ailee and Girls’ Day collaborated to perform Ariana Grande’s “Problem” and that certainly heightened the crowd’s energy levels! Block B and Bangtan Boys (BTS) had the crowd screaming for them as they collaborated for a rap battle on stage. BTS’ Jimin even had the crowd screaming at top of their lungs when he stripped off his shirt.
But we must say, YG’s artistes Epik High and WINNER were the ones that pumped up the crowd with their fresh collaboration on stage. It certainly came as no surprise that Epik High would later win the “Best Rap Performance” award.
The performances may have kept the awards ceremony interesting, but the UnionPay is the one that kept the audience there until the end of the show. Despite the hardships they’ve gone though this year, EXO emerged as the biggest and brightest artiste of 2014 as they’ve swooped up a total of 4 awards – “Best Asian Style”, “Best Male Group”, “UnionPay Asian Artiste of the Year”, and the prestigious “UnionPay Asian Album of the Year”.
BIGBANG’s Taeyang also emerged as a big winner for the night as he received a total of 3 awards – “Best Male Artiste”, “Best Vocal Performance for Male Artiste”, and the grand “UnionPay Song of the Year” award with his hit song “Eyes, Nose, Lips”.
Check out the complete list of winners below:
- Red Carpet: Best Asian Style – EXO
- Best New Artist – Winner
- Best Dance Performance, Solo– Sunmi
- Best Collaboration – Soyou & JunggiGo
- Style in Music – Jung Joon Young
- Best Female Group – SISTAR
- Best Male Group – EXO
- International Favorite Artist – John Legend
- Asian Arist of the Year – Ho Quynh Huong (Vietnam), Thaitanium (Thailand), Raisa (Indonesia), JJ Lin (Singapore), Leiri Leo (Japan)
- Favorite Music in China – Chopstick Brothers
- Best OST – Lyn
- Best Vocal Performance Female – Ailee
- Best Vocal Performance Male – Taeyang
- K-Pop Fans’ Choice Man – Infinite
- Best Band Performance – CN Blue
- Best Female Artist – IU
- Best Male Artist – Taeyang
- K-Pop Fans’ Choice Female – Taetiseo
- Best Dance Performance Male Group – Infinite
- KanS Best Dance Performance Female Group- Girl’s Day
- Best Rap Performance – Epik High
- Youku Toduo Best Music Video – 2PM
- The Most Popular Vocalist – IU
- UnionPay Asian Artist of the Year – EXO
- UnionPay Song of the Year – Taeyang
- UnionPay Album of the Year – EXO
For those of you who’ve missed the 2014 MAMA live stream, you can check out all the performances in the playlist below:
So, which performance was your favourite? Which international artiste do you wish to see in the next Mnet Asian Music Awards? Let us know in the comments box below!
Photo credit: Mwave
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