SEOUL – At the 2023 MAMA Awards, renowned as the premier year-end K-pop awards ceremony, girl group NewJeans clinched the prestigious Artist of the Year award. The ceremony took place over two nights at the Tokyo Dome, with the group receiving the accolade on Wednesday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, NewJeans, a quintet in their first year, surpassed other prominent nominees including BTS members Jungkook and Jimin, Seventeen, Stray Kids, and NCT Dream. The Artist of the Year is one of the four major categories at the MAMA Awards, organized by Mnet, a Korean music cable channel.
In addition to Artist of the Year, NewJeans also secured the Samsung Galaxy Song of the Year for their hit single "Ditto," as well as Best Female Group and Best Dance Performance Female Group. This brought their total tally to four awards this year. Notably, NewJeans was not present at the ceremony and did not provide an acceptance speech via video.
On the same night, the Samsung Galaxy Album of the Year award was bestowed upon boy group Seventeen for their album "FML." This recognition marks Seventeen's first significant MAMA trophy since their debut in 2015.
BTS, the globally celebrated K-pop sensation, won the Samsung Galaxy Worldwide Icon of the Year for the sixth consecutive year on the previous night. Additionally, Seventeen bagged four more awards – Best Male Group, Best Dance Performance Male Group, Worldwide Fans' Choice, and Bibigo Culture and Style – totaling five accolades this year.
BTS overall garnered three awards, including Worldwide Fans' Choice and Best OST for "The Planet." When considering the individual awards won by BTS members, the group's total rises to seven for this year. Jungkook received Best Dance Performance Male Solo and shared the Best Collaboration award for his single "Seven (clean version)" featuring American rapper Latto. Suga, under his solo alias Agust D, won Best Rap and Hip Hop Performance for "People Pt. 2 (feat. IU)," while Jimin was honored as Best Male Artist.
In other categories, BLACKPINK member Jisoo was awarded the best female artist, while Zerobaseone and tripleS were recognized as the best new male and female artists, respectively.