The biggest K-pop awards show is rebranding in its ongoing effort to become a globally recognized ceremony, Billboard can exclusively report.
Formerly known as the Mnet Asian Music Awards, the awards show hosted by Korea’s entertainment giant CJ ENM that recognizes the year’s top K-pop acts as well as musicians across Asia will simply be known as the MAMA Awards moving forward. A press statement from CJ ENM explains that “the rebrand carries the award show’s ambition to expand from its existing presence in Asia to encompass global K-pop fans, positioning itself as the world’s No. 1 K-pop awards.”
Last year, the company announced its hopes to eventually hold the ceremony in the U.S. after hosting MAMA in various cities across Asia.
This year’s MAMA Awards will take place at the Kyocera Dome Osaka in Japan, a 40,000-capacity arena. The ceremony will be held Nov. 29 and Nov. 30, marking the first time the show will span two consecutive days.
“MAMA has continued to explore new possibilities beyond the boundaries of Asia and, in the process, I can say with confidence, that it has served as an outpost that pushed many K-pop artists to the global stage,” Hyun Soo Kim, CJ ENM’s Head of Music Entertainment, says. “This year’s show will continue to solidify our presence as the world’s No. 1 K-pop awards that provide differentiated values and experiences of K-pop to the world.”
Initially introduced in 1999 as the Mnet KM Music Festival, the MAMA Awards rebranded to the Mnet Asian Music Awards in 2009. In its 20-plus years, the show has hosted performances and honored the likes of Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson, Dua Lipa and Ed Sheeran. The show also put together some of the most memorable K-pop performances in recent history, such as when BTS performed “Life Goes On” with a hologram of member Suga, who was recovering from shoulder surgery at the time and could not attend in person.