MAMA 2024 just wrapped up, so this week, the Kraze staff looks back on some of their favorite performances from MAMAs past. Old, new, rookies, collabs—read on to see what stages we found the most memorable over the years.

Roxy (Chief Marketing Officer): For me, the BTS x GOT7 collab in 2015 was the best thing to ever happen. They were my top two groups at the time and I remember watching that performance at 2 a.m. in my bedroom so full of excitement to see them both get to perform on the MAMA stage. Gen 3 legends.

ATEEZ's 2019 appearance at MAMA also holds a special place in my heart. They still hadn't blown up yet so it was a pretty big deal that they were able to perform on the stage. Not to mention they did a tribute performance of BTS's “Blood Sweat & Tears" and SHINee's “View,” which made my heart happy. Also Jongho belting out miss A's “Goodbye Baby”? Iconic. That was the origin of shirt ripping on stage. Shoutout to Mingi.

Jay (Outreach Director): Mine will forever be 2NE1’s 2009 performance where they did a musical style. They were still rookies on the stage but I feel like that is what really solidified me as a fan for 2NE1. I’ve always liked them upon debut but this was such an unforgettable performance. And then when they reunited in 2015? LITERAL TEARS.

Roxy: That may have been the most iconic K-Pop moment of all time. 2015 MAMA was STACKED.

Jean (Photographer): Mine is Epik High 2012 “Hate Mental Hospital” with LEE HI. The Batman villain costumes were amazing! Tablo told me they cost into the 5 figures after an interview. Lee Hi's voice sounded ethereal and the stage just simply epik.

Kelly (Co-Editor-in-Chief): I’m still not over MAMA 2016. That “Blood Sweat & Tears” performance still has me by the throat. But I think my favorite performance of all time is SEVENTEEN from 2018. Unit stages into debuting a new song (and one that was a huge shift in image for them at the time?) is an insane flex. I get chills just thinking about “BRING IT” leading into “Getting Closer.” 

Jay: I miss the time when we used to have boy and girl groups interact at MAMA and have collab stages. I remember days of the highly buzzed “MAMA Kiss” would happen lol

Jacob (Writer): I have to talk about SEVENTEEN and NU'EST W's collaboration stage for MAMA 2017! Nothing can beat their performance of "HEAVEN" for me. I kept hoping that Pledis Entertainment would eventually release "HEAVEN" officially but it never happened.

It's the perfect combination between both groups: the LA boys Aron and Joshua starting it off; Ren and Jeonghan's part; Wonwoo and JR's rap; Baekho, Seungkwan, and DK going off on the vocals; and JR and S.Coups meeting in the middle within the choreography....

It's also especially meaningful knowing that some members of SEVENTEEN were supposed to debut with NU'EST members, and they've known each other for years. I wished for another NU'VENTEEN song because this one was so good! There needed to be one with Minhyun once he came back from WANNA ONE.