It’s awards season and the 2024 Mnet Asian Music Awards are already upon us. What are your predictions? What are you looking forward to? Any performances you can’t wait to see?

Rae (Editor): As a big Gen 3 fan, I used to look forward to the MAMAs pre-2022. They were a great chance to see some fun mashups featuring my faves. But lately, the collaborations feel less like true team efforts and more like members of random groups just doing their own thing on stage or trying to upstage each other. One of the last mashups I really enjoyed (outside of MAMA) was Moonbin, Sanha, Taeyang, and Yohan’s amazing cover of "Love Killa." That was chef’s kiss.

On top of that, I don’t always agree with the nominees, especially this year (how did ATEEZ not get nominated in the dance category?!), and it’s getting harder for groups who truly deserve a win to actually take home an award. Bigger fandoms with younger fans who can stream endlessly tend to crush groups with older fanbases so by the time award season comes around these groups are a shoe-in to win. It feels like streaming numbers shouldn't be considered anymore.

The lack of diversity in the lineup outside of the top four companies is honestly disappointing. HYBE has five performances, JYP one, YG two, and SM two—it feels like there’s no room for smaller or up-and-coming artists to shine. And with all the drama surrounding RIIZE and ILLIT, maybe it’s best for those groups to sit this one out. Also, can we kindly retire JYP’s (Park Jinyoung) stage appearances? While I admire his ability to shrug off the memes and jokes about his performances, it’s getting a little hard to watch.

Overall, MAMA doesn't have the same excitement or magic it used to, and that’s such a bummer. It reminds me of why I stopped watching the VMAs.

Jacob (Writer): Like Rae, my excitement for MAMA has dwindled over the years. I check out some performances but I don't focus on who ends up winning at the end of the night. The MAMA opening stage seems a bit intriguing, however. I'm curious to see what the MAMA 2024 press release means by Tomorrow x Together (TXT)’s Yeonjun doing a "sci-fi-esque collaboration with robots."

Other MAMA performances I'm specifically interested in seeing are TWS's and aespa's. For TWS, it's the fact they're performing just days before their comeback...so maybe there will be a tease? For aespa, it's because I fell in love with all their releases this year so I can't wait for more performances!

I forgot to add a bit about KATSEYE! They just dropped an OST, "Flame," a few days ago for a show I've actually been anticipating, so it left me wondering if there's choreography? That may be wishful thinking to see that at MAMA. I don't think songs released for OSTs usually get choreography, but we'll see.

Roxy (Chief Marketing Officer): I do agree that MAMA seems to have lost its magic. Back in the day, I'd wake up in the middle of the night to watch and get so excited by the collabs (like the legendary TAEMIN and Sunmi 2017 collab), but lately it seems like artists who deserve nominations never get them and only certain groups are propped up. It's pretty disheartening, especially knowing that a lot of our favorite groups came up from smaller companies and built themselves and their companies up. Just feels like that's not possible anymore.

Jean (Photographer): Just did the press release for special stages, and Byeon Wooseok's “Sudden Shower” performance singing as his Lovely Runner character is something I'm really looking forward to.  Also...G-DRAGON and whatever [that could mean for BIGBANG].

Kelly (Co-Editor-in-Chief): This is actually the first time I’ve been excited for MAMA in years. Living on the east coast of the U.S., I also used to be one of those people that would wake up at ungodly hours to tune in. I’ve lost that thrill over the years, especially as award shows started to lose their fun post-Third Gen, but a lot of things that have been announced or are rumored to happen have me intrigued. Everyone talking about a possible Bruno Mars appearance? GD? The fact that the first night is happening in LA? And then I’m also really hyped for SEVENTEEN’s performance. And I think we’re all on the same page that we don’t put too much stock in awards, but I’m interested to see how things turn out. I feel like the winners seem less obvious this year (especially with so many controversies) so it’ll be interesting to see how things play out. 

It’s also the first awards season for one of my friends so we’re making an event out of it for the final night and having a sleepover and everything so I’m excited on that front too!