Ed Sheeran, WANNA ONE, Going Global, and an AR Stage — Here is the Exciting News from the 2021 MAMA Press Conference

The performance of Ed Sheeran, a special K-Dance stage, the reunion of WANNA ONE, and some exciting plans to pioneer a new global music standard that is centered around K-Pop were unveiled at the 2021 MAMA Global Press Conference where The Kraze was kindly invited as well. Here’s what we learned about the 2021 MAMA which will be held on December 11, broadcast globally starting at 6 PM KST (4 AM EST/1 AM PST).

MAMA is unavoidable when it comes to K-Pop. It’s the occasion of dream stages and ambitious performances. This is the show that every idol dreams of performing at, while every fan is excited to catch the next “wow” moment of K-Pop each year. The Mnet Asian Music Awards produces some of the greatest and most memorable stages, helping K-Pop grow bigger and bigger on a global scale with their continuous evolution and unique production.

Exciting Performances and a Flexible AR Stage at 2021 MAMA

As it has been revealed before, this year's theme is “Make Some Noise,” a phrase that artists have been wanting to shout out the most in the past months but couldn’t. Bringing back the excitement of in-person interactions between musicians and fans, the award ceremony that is highly anticipated each year will definitely be special in 2021 too. The theme has already been greatly embodied by music icon Lee Hyori, who will be the first ever female host in the 12 years history of Mnet Asian Music Awards.

Following the theme “Make Some Noise,” even the logo visualizes the sound of cheers. To further emphasize that, this year’s stage design will also use a lot of curves. They incorporated AR technology into the stage design this year that will be used to visualize moving sound waves to create a more three-dimensional, flexible stage. Now let’s see who will be surfing on top of those sound waves!

Park Chanwook, the Chief Producer of MAMA at CJ E&M, hinted that fourth generation K-Pop artists are currently preparing a collaboration performance, so we better get ready for yet another epic show! We can also expect a fierce special K-Dance stage featuring all eight teams of Street Woman Fighter.

Meanwhile, to the delight of many, the long awaited WANNA ONE reunion has also been confirmed. Although the project group of Mnet’s Produce 101 Season 2 promoted for only a short amount of time, they gained major popularity among local and global fans. Since their disbandment, the members have been growing as artists separately, but in less than a month, they will come together once again as WANNA ONE reminiscing their last MAMA stage. This one is definitely going to be a memorable—and probably quite emotional—performance, but iconic for sure.

Last but not least, this year’s global artist to perform at MAMA has also been unveiled, and it is none other than the English pop star, singer, and songwriter Ed Sheeran. Him performing “Permission to Dance” that he wrote for BTS would definitely make a MAMA-worthy stage moment.

photo ​​courtesy of CJ ENM

MAMA’s Significance: History and Future

Kim Hyunsoo, the Head of Music Entertainment at CJ E&M, said that up until now MAMA worked to expand the global presence of K-Pop by matching the global standards, but from now on they will work to pioneer a new global standard that is centered around K-Pop. They are also planning to take other K-Culture elements like K-Drama into account in the future.

At the press conference, we heard about the achievements of MAMA over the past 12 years, also mentioning the even longer history going back to 1999, when Korea's first music video awards ceremony, the Mnet Video Music Awards started. This later got expanded to MKMF (Mnet Km Music Festival), which was renamed Mnet Asian Music Awards and newly launched in 2009 in order to establish itself as a representative awards ceremony in Asia beyond Korea.

You can learn more about the history and significance on YouTube. From the MAMA : THE ORIGINAL K-POP AWARDS video, you can find out what artists like 2NE1, J.Y. Park, Super Junior, PSY, TWICE, EXO’s Kai, and Stray Kids think about MAMA.

About further future plans, Kim Hyunsoo said, “MAMA has been hosted mainly in Asia such as Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Korea. As K-Pop continues to grow in influence globally, we plan on expanding our presence to regions bordering Asia and beyond. In a few years, we plan to host MAMA in the U.S., the world’s biggest music market.” To further solidify MAMA's position as a global awards ceremony, a gradual reorganization is being made this year and next year, increasing the influence of MAMA as the World's No.1 K-Pop music awards ceremony. Hyunsoo continued, “This is an important year for MAMA to really solidify its presence as a global K-Pop music awards ceremony. We plan to include global indicators and judging criterias to reflect K-Pop’s global status, which will further heighten MAMA as one of the top tier global awards shows.” 

Apple Music’s Global Creative Director, Zane Lowe, added at the press conference, “Expanding its footprints across the globe, MAMA continues to make history as a pioneer in the K-Pop industry. Our partnership with MAMA was a natural choice given the scale and credibility of the show. With subscribers hailing from 167 countries around the world, Apple Music is excited to give K-Pop fans worldwide the opportunity to celebrate K-Pop music and vote for their favorite artists on our platform. Utilizing Apple Music to stream and vote for ‘Worldwide Fans Choice Top 10’ and integrating Apple Music streaming data to the judging criteria will further solidify MAMA’s influence as a global music awards show.”

2021 MAMA will be broadcasted worldwide on December 11, 6 PM KST (4 AM EST/1 AM PST). For more details, you can check out the official website.