 |
| ▲ This photo, provided by YG Entertainment, shows the four members of BLACKPINK. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
 |
| ▲ This photo, provided by Los Angeles AFP and Getty Images, shows Harry Styles at the 2023 Brit Awards. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, Feb. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korean supergroup BLACKPINK has ended the group’s very first journey as a nominee for the 2023 Brit Awards, the highest honor at Britain’s equivalent of the Grammys.
The “International Group of the Year” award was bestowed on another nominee, the post-punk band Fontaines DC, during the Awards ceremony held at the O2 Arena in London on Saturday evening (local time). Yet the mega-hit K-pop girl band undeniably set a new record by being the very first K-pop girl group to receive a Brit Awards nomination.
Previously, BTS was the first K-pop artist to be nominated at the UK Awards for two consecutive years in 2021 and 2022 but could not pick up the trophy.
BLACK PINK went up against some of the big-name artists in the pop music industry, including Drake and 21 Savage – who joined hands with “Her Loss” which topped the “Billboard 200” –, the Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit, and British-American three-piece band Gabriels.
The “International Group of the Year” Award is an award that has been received by several biggest stars, including Bon Jovi, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and Green Day.
The Korean-based quartet could not make it to the Awards ceremony due to their packed schedule. With their latest second full-length album “BORN PINK” released last year, BLACKPINK officially became the very first K-pop girl group to top the “Billboard 200” chart.
The foursome also topped the U.K.’s “Official Albums Chart Top 100,” gaining the title as the first Asian female artist to win the two world’s widely acclaimed music charts.
The award-winning band Fontaines DC received positive remarks from critics since the release of the band’s first LP, “Dogrel” in 2019. The third LP, released last April, topped the “Official Albums Chart Top 100.”
Meanwhile, the English pop star Harry Styles won all four Brits he was nominated for, including Best Album, Artist, and Pop/R&B Act. On Saturday night at a glittering ceremony in London, the pop star thanked his family and his former bandmates from One Direction, saying that he “would not have been here without them.”
After winning the MasterCard Album of the Year, the pop icon said, “This night is very special to me, and I will never forget it.”
The Brit Awards, which touts a long history, has been presented by the British Phonographic Industry since 1977. It initially began as an award ceremony for English artists but an international division was eventually established in the late 1980s to address international artists for their phenomenal works.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Ha eun Lee)
(END)
(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved
