The start of a new year can be marked by the numerous award shows hosted throughout Dec. and Jan. The 8th annual Asia Artist Awards (AAA), which recognizes contributions by South Korean artists in Asian television, film, and music, was hosted on Dec. 14 in the Phillippine Arena.
This year’s show made history with Hori7on, SB19, and Ben&Ben being the first Filipino acts to participate in the AAA, which reflects the increasing diversity and globalization of South Korea’s entertainment industry.
Winners for awards are chosen based on data from global fans in South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Argentina, Mexico, and Europe.
There are more than 30 awards that can be won, but only seven Daesangs or grand prizes. Six of these awards relate to the Asian music industry: Singer of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Stage of the Year, Performance of the Year, and Fandom of the Year. The Daesang winners followed the trend of Daesang winners at the MAMA Awards (Mnet Asian Music Awards), with NewJeans and Seventeen being the main winners.
Daesang winners:
- Singer of the Year: NewJeans
- Album of the Year: Seventeen – FML
- Song of the Year: NewJeans – “Ditto”
- Stage of the Year: Stray Kids
- Performance of the Year: BSS
- Fandom of the Year: Lim Young-woong
Similar to the MAMA Awards, artists will prepare a three to ten-minute performance. Of the 34 performances, my favorite was done by BSS, a sub-unit of Seventeen. Seventeen’s performances are consistently well done, but it wasn’t their musical and dancing skills that stood out to me. Rather, it was their stage presence and ability to transform the arena into a concert-like environment.
It’s common for fourth and fifth-generation idols to be very proper at award shows; they seldom react to performances, only clapping when necessary. This lack of reaction is to prevent artists from getting into dating scandals, as even cheering too loud for a certain group could lead to dating rumors between groups. However, BSS was special in that idols and audience members were loudly singing and dancing; it was nice to see artists and actors having fun and enjoying themselves.
