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| ▲ This photo, provided by the Seoul Music Awards organizing committee, shows the members of NCT Dream. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by the Seoul Music Awards organizing committee, shows the members of KARA. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Jan. 20 (Yonhap) -- South Korean smash hit boy group NCT Dream has raked up another music award — the septet won the Grand Prize (Daesang) at the 32nd Seoul Music Awards held on Thursday at the Olympic Gymnastic Arena (KSPO Dome) in Songpa-gu, Seoul.
NCT Dream’s Jeno began the group’s acceptance speech by saying, “It is beyond our expectations to start off the new year with such an honorable award,” adding, “We would like to give our love and thanks to our Seasonies (an epithet for the group’s fandom). Let’s grow together with NCT Dream.”
NCT Dream dropped the 2nd studio album “Glitch Mode” in March of last year, followed by the repackage album “Beatbox” released last May, and the most recent winter album “Candy” in December.
Rookie girl group IVE scored the “Best Song” award, as the group established itself as a music powerhouse by dropping two smash hit songs, “LOVE DIVE” and “After Like” last year.
The “Best Album” award was given to K-pop sensation BTS, as the group’s first anthology album “Proof,” released in June of last year, has garnered international popularity by spending 31 consecutive weeks in the U.S. “Billboard Hot 200.” In addition to the “Best Album” award, the septet won 2 more awards, including the “Bonsang (Main Award),” and “Idol Plus Best Artist Award.”
RM, the group’s leader, RM, gave his online acceptance speech: “We are really grateful to ARMY (the group’s fandom name) who always give us love and support,” adding, “We would like to give all our thanks to you.”
KARA, a South Korean pop girl group that made a comeback as a group for the first time in seven years with their 15th-anniversary album, won the “K-pop Special Award.” It was the first time that the group won an award at the Seoul Music Awards since they received the “Hallyu Special Award” and “Bonsang” in 2012.
Han Seung-yeon of Kara honored the deceased member Koo Ha-ra, saying, “I have a friend who could not make it to today’s Awards ceremony with us, and I will be honorably receiving this award with her.”
BTS, Lim Young-woong, GOT the Beat, BLACKPINK, ZICO, Taeyeon of Girls’ Generation, Red Velvet, Seventeen, (G) I-DLE, NCT Dream, Kim Ho-joong, PSY, Kang Daniel, Stary Kids, and IVE each received the “Bonsang (Main Award).”
In addition to the “Bonsang,” PSY, who made a global hit with his epic song “Gangnam Style,” also won the “World’s Best Artist Award.” The singer gave his acceptance speech by saying, “My goal this year is to prolong the life of a dance singer like me,” adding, “I will be dancing even harder on stage.”
(G)-IDLE, who dropped two consecutive hit albums “TOMBOY” and “Nxde” last year, also won the “Best Performance Award” along with the “Bonsang.”
South Korean singer Lim Young-woong won the domestic category of the popularity award, which is determined by the mobile votes from fans. Meanwhile, EXO’s Suho won the trophy of the “Hallyu Daesang (Grand Prize),” an overseas popularity award.
The “Ballad Award” went to Younha, who climbed the music charts with her song “Event Horizon” last year, and Big Naughty and BE’O both won the “R&B/Hip Hop Award.”
Three teams won the “Rookie of the Year” award – TNX, NewJeans, and LE SSERAFIM. Yong Tak won the “Trot Award,” and gave his acceptance speech by saying, “It has been more than 19 years since I moved to Seoul from a village in Andong.” He added, “There were many challenges that made me want to give up, but I was able to go over them without giving up thanks to my talented seniors and colleagues.”
This year’s 32nd Seoul Music Awards selected the award winners based on the albums and tracks the singers have released over the past year. The winners of the “Bonsang (Main Award)” and each category was determined by reflecting 40% of the evaluation scores of the organizing committee and juries, 30% of the album and track sales scores, and 30% of the mobile voting scores.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Ha eun Lee)
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