Mnet Asian Music Awards - My Reactions
This is the first time I ever streamed a Kpop award show live so I was extra excited and couldn't contain my inner fangirl spazzing. I only watched the first half of the show live and then I was too sleepy so some of the reactions were written this afternoon. Sorry if there are tons of typos!
Be warned though. A lot of the stuff here is written "in the moment" so the emotions and words are raw and unfiltered. I'll probably piss some people off with what I say but please remember that this is just my opinion. Nothing more and nothing less.
Red Carpet Performances
MBLAQ!!!!
My love for these boys has reached ridiculous levels. They are my little bubble of happiness among all the drama in the music industry and I'm just eating up every perf/show/apperance they have. "Bad Guy" isn't my favorite Rain song but they did a good job covering it. GO and Seungho sounded amazing. It was sad seeing Joon standing off to the side watching his group perform but he came in and sang his part well. Mir's ponytail was so hot! ... but he needs to stick to rapping. Chungdoong is a pretty good dancer but I would have preferred to see Seungho or Mir do it this time.
MBLAQ's Red Carpet Arrival
They already peformed and now they're arriving? This whole set up is really weird and disorganized. I have no idea what they're saying but they look DELICIOUS! All their outfits are amazing. Very chic and stylish without being outrageous. EXPECT for Joon's ugly headband. Why Joon? Why? Fine, I'll let your fashion fopaux go because it was so heartwarming seeing you limp around but still give it your best. GO's supportive hand on his back was so cute!
BEAST
My favorite member Doojoon wasn't there :( Something really important must have come up for him to miss this. Cube said it was "a personal matter" so I hope everything is okay. But the rest of the members delivered a solid performance. The video I was streaming had terrible sound quality so I can't tell how they sounded but their stage presence and dancing were awesome! And was it just me or was the backtrack really loud? All I kept hearing were Big Bang's voices :/
Studio Performances
KARA & Dr. Core 911 - "Honey"
Oh my god. My poor ears. Which idiot thought this would be a good idea? I actually had to mute the video halfway through the song because I was afraid my ears would start bleeding. I don't like Honey to begin with but some random guy screaming over their voices made it so much worse. The music sounded terrible and out of tune. Rock music does not work with a cutesy song! If they wanted to do a rock version of something, they should have done "Break It". Now that was a good Kara song.
KARA & Brown Eyed Girls - "Abracadabra" & "Mister"
Make it stop! BEG needs to stop doing degrading stuff like this. Sorry, but I stopped watching after 26 seconds because seeing girls shake their butts at the camera while wearing super short clothes is not entertaining to me. I'm sure the guys enjoyed it but as for me, NEXT.
Brown Eyed Girls - "Sign"
Live orchestra?! Hell yes! OMG this song sounds ever cooler with the instrumental backup. The girls looked FAB and the fan choreography is still pure awesomeness. Amazing performance!
2NE1 - 21st Street Musical
This was really creative and fun to watch! I love how they changed the songs to match the musical style. I still hate "Kiss" so I didn't watch that part. I loved Bom singing in the window while snow fell! It matches the song and her voice so perfectly. Her whole performance was flawless. This is my first time hearing Cl and Minji's "Please Don't Go" and I have to agree with all the other reviews. The verses sound fantastic but that chorus is a total mess.
Female Rap Battle
Miryo was good but it got so boring after that. Their technique was fine and everything but it wasn't interesting at all. And why do female rappers feel the need to compensate for their toughness by wearing extra revealing clothes? I see it all the time in American MVs and with all these girls on stage together it hit me again. It's a sad reflection of the society we live that these fierce women think they have to show off their bodies or else men won't find them desirable. I stopped watching the performance when it was streaming but this morning I finally watched Tasha's part and DAYUM. This is what rapping is all about. Her flow, her attitude, her whole whole freaking aura just knocked everyone else out. I actually got goosebumps! Girl needs to make a comeback and show these female rappers how it's done. And Tiger JK rocking out to his wife's performance was 100 kinds of adorable and sweet!
Ivy & Nickhun - "World Of Temptation"
I thought her special stage was going to be with all of 2PM but it was only Khun. I know this was all prepared ahead of time but it was so uncomfortable to watch. If she wanted a sexy vibe, she should have picked Taek or Chansung. Nichkhun's innocent face and expressions just made the whole thing seem so wrong. Of course, he's been felt up and used before (during that one Thai concert) but doesn't make this any less awkward. Hyori and TOP's kiss was beliebable, Ivy just looked like she was molesting an innocent little boy.
2PM - "Heartbeat" & "Again & Again"
Good but disappointing. The boys delivered a great performance (as always) but that was totally overshadowed by two things. One, why did they say this was a special performance for Jaebum? All they did was perform A&A with his empty spot left intact just like during the Dream Concert. There was nothing new or special. Disappointing :( Secondly, WTF JYP?! Get the hell out of my 2PM performance! This man's ego is so big, I'm surprised his head fit into the building. How dare he show up like that and "conduct" the boys like they're his puppets? Thank you for confirming everything I hate about you!
I fell asleep soon after this so I didn't catch GD & Taeyang's performances.
AWARDS
Super Junior won a bunch of minor awards, basically so Mnet can argue that they aren't totally biased against SM without actually giving them something of significance. But the fact that SuJu won all three popularity/viewer awards makes total sense. They gained so many fans with their third album!
Best Female Newcomer
• 2NE1 - winner / my choice
• After School
• T-ara
• 4minute
• f(x)
Duh. Total no brainer. 2NE1 had the biggest and most hyped debut of any girl group EVER. I don't like some of their songs but their talent and presence can't be disputed. None of the other groups even stood a chance
Best Male Newcomer
• BEAST
• Supreme Team - winner
• MBLAQ - my choice
• Chung Lim
• Taegoon
WTFFFFFFFF?! No. Just No. MBLAQ should have totally won this! My babies ;___; When the nominees were first annouced, I thought Taegoon would win but MBLAQ has been gaining so much momentum these past few weeks (high ratings for their reality show, getting picked as hosts of Idol Army) that I started to hope they might pull this off. If Taegoon had won, I wouldn't have minded but why Supreme Team? Maybe I'm just out of the loop but did they even have a hit song?
Best Dance Music Award
• 2NE1 (I Don’t Care)
• 2PM (Again & Again)
• SNSD (Gee)
• Super Junior (Sorry) - my choice
• KARA (Honey) - winner
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. akqd!@#$!* This is wrong on so many levels. If SuJu or 2PM (even SNSD or 2NE1) had won, I'd be happy but KARA? KARA? And for "Honey"? I'm usually not this blunt but they didn't deserve that at all.
Best Mixed Group
• Roo’Ra
• 8eight - winner
• Koyote
• Cool
• Clazziquai - my choice
I love Clazziquai so of course I wanted them to win but I can accept that it's 8eight. They had one hit after another and while I liked Clazziquai's overall album, the songs they chose to promote were mediocre.
Best Hip-Hop Group Award
• Dynamic Duo (Dead Guy)
• Drunken Tiger (Monster)
• LeeSsang (The Girl Who Can't Break Up, The Boy Who Can't Leave) - winner
• Outsider (Alone)
• Epik High (Wannabe) - my choice
I can't fairly comment on this because I haven't actually heard LeeSsang's song but I would have preferred if Epik High, Outsider or Drunken Tiger won. Epik High because I'm biased like that, Outsider because "Alone" was an AMAZING song and Drunken Tiger because ... well, he's Drunken Tiger and "Monster" was pretty big hit.
Asian Recommend: AKB48
Out of all the groups/singers in Japan they picked AKB48? Seriously Mnet? Seriously? I ... I have nothing more to say because the ridiculousness of this just speaks for itself.
Best House & Electronic Music Award
• Brown Eyed Girls (Abracadabra) - winner
• Son Dambi (Saturday Night)
• Clazziquai (Love Again)
• 4minute (Muzik)
• G-Dragon (Heartbreaker) - my choice
This was another no brainer. No matter how much I hate "Abracadabra", I knew it was going to win.
Best Representative for Asia: Dong Bang Shin Ki
Most depressing acceptance speech of the night. I have no idea what the future holds for DBSK but they truly are "Asia's Group". Jaejoong's shout out to Yunho and Changmin completely shattered my heart.
Best Male Singer
• Drunken Tiger - winner / my choice
• Rain
• Lee Seung Chul
• G-Dragon
• MC Mong
I don't really listen to his music but he deserved this. Legendary status aside, his album was a huge success and with 27 tracks, he proved you can create quantity and quality if you are awesome enough!
Best Female Singer
• Bada
• Baek Ji Young - winner / my choice
• Son Dambi
• Younha
• Chae Yeon
I was rooting for Bada too but I'm glad Baek Ji Young won. She showed how talented she is by pulling off a sexy dance single and a gorgeous ballad.
Best Asian Composer: JYP
I nearly threw up in my mouth when I saw this. Nobody is one of the most annoying songs I've heard in my life. BEST Asian Composer? WTFFFFFF?! JYP has some of the worst compositions in Kpop. All he does is count on the catchiness and the popularity of his groups to make them hits. He has absolutely no technique, skill or originality. Jaebum knew what he was talking about when he said he would never sing a song composed by JYP. JYP called him a "troubled kid" but that's just because he wasn't afraid to tell the truth. There are so many other talented composers who deserved this more than that overrated *******.
Best MV Award
• 2NE1 (Fire) - winner
• LeeSsang (The Girl Who Can't Break Up, The Boy Who Can't Leave)
• Bada (Mad)
• Seo Taiji (Juliet) - my choice
• D.N.G (Step 2 Me)
I don't like "Fire" but I'm not surprised it won. I personally thought the beauty of the "Juliet" MV deserved this more. It was absolutely gorgeous!
Best Male Group
• 2PM - winner
• Big Bang
• Super Junior
• SG Wannabe
• SS501
As you can see, I didn't list my choice. That's because I love 2PM and Super Junior equally and I could never decide who deserves this more. They were both amazing this year!
Best Female Group
• Davichi
• Brown Eyed Girls - winner
• SNSD
• Jewelry
• KARA
Same as above, I didn't list my choice. Except this time it's because I didn't care who won. I wasn't really impressed with any of these groups. BEG's win doesn't surprised but I can't be happy for them because they had to sell out to get it. They are super popular now and people love them but I liked them more pre-Abracadabra. They were under-rated before but they were loved because of who they were. Not because of a catchy auto-tuned song or certain dance moves. BEG lost their indie vibe and became commercial products. If they're happy like this then that's their choice but I can't love them like I used to. My love for SNSD has slowly been growing over the past year but I only like some of the girls' personalities and their music is still mediocre to me. Right now, I can't think of any female groups in Kpop that I would call "the best".
Album of the year: G-Dragon (Heartbreaker)
I don't think anyone was surprised by this. They didn't reveal who the other nominees were and I listen to too many artists and groups to decide my own choice for album of the year.
Song of the year: 2NE1 (I Don't Care)
My Choice: Super Junior (Sorry Sorry)
"I Don't Care" is my absolute favorite 2NE1 song but it doesn't deserve song of the year. This is Mnet's war with SM at work because "Gee" and "Sorry Sorry" DOMINATED the weekly awards and seeped into every aspect of pop culture. People were making parodies, doing the dance steps during variety shoes, performing covers. Plus both songs were huge hits overseas and had way more sales than 2NE1. Isn't that the criteria that should decide a winner for this kind of category? There was some of this stuff with "Fire" but "I Don't Care" didn't have the impact popularity-wise like "Gee" and "Sorry Sorry" did.
Artist of the year: 2PM
Like I said before, I love 2PM and Super Junior equally so I would never be able to decide between them. But that being said, I'm happy 2PM won. They went from a relatively unknown group to the top tier of artists in just a matter of months and then fell just as hard. They shot up so fast that it took everyone by surprise and no one could get enough of them. "Again & Again" was an amazing song, "Idol Army" & "Wild Bunny" were two of the best variety shows of the year and they were shooting CFs left and right. Whether it was because of their "beast charm" or the Jaebum controversy, they were always in the news and always being talked about. They owned 2009. Hopefully, they'll be able to get past all this drama and make 2010 an even better year.
Closing thoughts:
This whole thing was such a roller coaster ride. It was fun and exciting but I don't think I'll ever do it again. All the conflicting emotions and their intensity were just too much for me. I hate getting worked up over silly things like award shows because I love too many artists and songs to ever choose between them. I almost didn't post this because I was afraid everyone would think I was crazy and biased but isn't that what comes with being a fangirl? :P
Now that I've had time to calm down, I'm over the disappoint of my favorites who lost because frankly, I still love them and that all that matters. I still hate JYP with a passion but I know that will never change so I'm not surprised. Another thing that still bothers me is the name of the award show. It is just plain rude and disrespectful to call something the "Asian Music Awards" when only Korean artists are nominated for every category (and those "recommended" categories do not count because they were clearly there just to cover up the bias). Mnet's arrogance is unbelievable.
My first fandom post in this journal and it's a long ranting post >< *sigh* I swear I'm not usually like this!
That's it, no more award shows for me.
