All the Highlights and Award Winners from Day One of 2023 MAMA Awards
The first day of the awards show featured powerful performances from Lee Young Ji, Le Sserafim’s Hong Eun-chae and TXT.
The first day of the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) 2023 just took place last night, and fans are already reeling from the stellar lineup of stars at the iconic stadium Tokyo Dome in Japan. This year’s MAMA is taking place across two days, with Chapters 1 & 2 on November 28 and 29, respectively. Here, all the key highlights and award winners from Chapter 1.
Firing up the awards night was an energetic slew of performances by some of 2023’s biggest stars. Notably, the opening number ‘I Am Special’ was performed by rapper Lee Young-ji, who recently visited Singapore for her first Asia tour The Main Character, along with Le Sserafim’s Hong Eun-chae, Zhang Hao from ZEROBASEONE and Treasure’s Choi Hyun-suk, Yoshi and Haruto.
Owning the stage was Tomorrow X Together (TXT) who presented their recent hits ‘Sugar Rush Ride’ and ‘Chasing That Feeling’, while hip-hop duo Dynamic Duo spat bars with ‘Smoke’, performing with the dancers of Mnet’s popular dance competition Street Woman Fighter 2. Leading the dance team was the winning crew BEBE’s Bada, who choreographed the TikTok-viral ‘Smoke’ challenge. Legendary second-generation K-pop duo TVXQ also performed one of their most iconic songs ‘Rising Sun’, with their rookie SM Entertainment labelmates RIIZE.
Amongst the award winners unveiled for Chapter 1, BTS, though not in attendance due to the members’ present and upcoming military enlistment, took home the Samsung Galaxy Worldwide Icon of the Year for the sixth time, and was also one of ten acts to be given the Worldwide Fans' Choice award. The Favourite New Artist awards of MAMA 2023 were awarded to RIIZE and ZEROBASEONE, while TVXQ were recognised for their enduring legacy and popularity with the Inspiring Achievement award.
Check out the full list of award winners below:
Samsung Galaxy Worldwide Icon of the Year: BTS
Worldwide Fans' Choice: ATEEZ, BTS, ENHYPEN, Lim Young Woong, NCT Dream, Seventeen, Stray Kids, TWICE, TXT, ZEROBASEONE
Favourite New Artist: RIIZE, ZEROBASEONE
Inspiring Achievement: TVXQ
Galaxy Neo Flip Artist: TREASURE
Favourite Asian Girl Group: Kep1er
Favourite Asian Boy Group: INI
Favourite International Artist: Yoshiki
