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2014 Mnet Asian Music Awards in Hong Kong

Written by Sanwei Tell a Friend

Another year, another MAMA! One of K-pop's biggest music events, the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) is fast turning into a Hong Kong year-end staple, with the award ceremony taking place in the city for the third year running. Now in its 6th edition, MAMA was held again at Hong Kong's AsiaWorld-Arena on December 3, 2014.

K-pop's finest came out for the night including Big Bang's Tae Yang and G-Dragon, EXO, IU, Epik High, 2PM, Infinite, Block B, Sistar, Ailee, Girl's Day, BTS and Winner. Building on last year's meteoric rise, EXO emerged as the biggest winner of the night, sweeping three major awards including two grand prizes. Big Bang, be it as a group or as solo artists, also continues to be a MAMA stronghold. This year John Legend graced the MAMA stage for the first time, and so did K-pop's own original legend, Seo Taiji.

Popular actor Song Seung Hun served as the host of the show, which saw a star-studded presenter lineup that included actors Kwon Sang Woo, Choi Ji Woo, Yoon Eun Hye, Park Bo Young, Kim Ji Suk, Kim Ji Hoon, Song Ji Hyo and Lee Kwang Soo, as well as Taiwan actor Mike He and Hong Kong stars Alan Tam, Eric Tsang and Andy Lau.

THE WINNERS

Album of the Year : EXO - Overdose

Last year, EXO won Album of the Year with XOXO. This year, many things may have changed for the group but not their phenomenal popularity and album sales. EXO picked up Album of the Year for the second consecutive year, a magnificent achievement for a group only in the third year of their career.

Song of the Year: Tae Yang - Eyes, Nose, Lips

Big Bang has gone two years without a group comeback, but the members are more than successful enough on their own with solo endeavors. Tae Yang's hit song was everywhere this year, and so were the many, many covers it spawned

Artist of the Year: EXO

Member Lay alluded to the difficulties EXO went through recently in his thank you speech but asserted that though many may view 2014 as a dark year for EXO, he believes a colorful 2015 lies ahead.

Best Male Group - EXO

Best Female Group - Sistar

Best Male Artist - Tae Yang

Best Female Artist - IU

Best New Artist - Winner

Best Dance Performance Solo
Sun Mi / Full Moon

Best Dance Performance Male Group
Infinite / Last Romeo

Best Dance Performance Female Group
Girl's Day / Something

Best Vocal Performance Female
Ailee / Singing Got Better

Best Vocal Performance Male
Tae Yang / Eyes, Nose Lips

Best Rap Performance
Epik High - Happen Ending

Best Band Performance
CNBLUE / Can't Stop

Best Collaboration
Soyou & Junggigo / Some

Best OST
Lyn / My Destiny
(You Who Came From the Stars)

Best Music Video
2PM - Go Crazy

K-Pop Fans' Choice Male
Infinite

K-Pop Fans' Choice Female
Taetiseo

The Most Popular Vocalist
IU

Style in Music
Jung Joon Young

Best Asian Style
EXO

Favorite Music in China
Chopsticks Brothers

International Favorite Artist
John Legend

Asian Artist of the Year

Ho Quynh Hyong (Vietnam)

Thaitanium (Thailand)

Raisa (Indonesia)

JJ Lin (Singapore)

Ieiri Leo (Japan)

THE PERFORMANCES

Opening

MAMA kicked off with performers from two of Mnet's reality competition programs. The Dancing 9 team set an energetic tone with throwback pop dances before Show Me the Money's Season 3 winner and YG new-generation phenom Bobby grabbed audience attention with spitfire rap. He teamed up with his producers on the show, Illionaire's Dok2 and The Quiett, for YGGR. Masta Wu joined them onstage to perform the brand new single Come Here.

Last Fantasy

Girl's Day and Ailee deliver the sexiness with their collaboration stage. Looking gorgeous in slinky black dresses, the four girls of Girl's Day performed their hit song "Something" and its famous dance. Ailee filled the arena with her powerful vocals performing "Don't Touch Me", and the girls came together to offer their own sassy take on Ariana Grande's Problem.

Beyond the Screen

A mini YG Family stage! Super rookie group Winner kept things simple and clean for their gentle, minimalist rendition of Empty. Actress Yoo In Na takes on singer duties this time to feature in Epik High's "Happen Ending." The hip-hop trio also brought along YG's new-gen rappers Mino, Bobby and B.I for the energy-raising Born Hater.

The Legend Continues

Every year, MAMA invites a Western artist to the show for an unprecedented crossover. This year, American singer-songwriter John Legend, the idol of many K-pop idols, made the trip over. Girls' Generation's Tiffany and EXO's Chen opened the performance with Green Light before Legend emerged on center stage. He also performed his mega hit All of Me on piano.

Song Special

IU received a lot of love at the 2014 MAMA, and for good reason. The lovely young vocalist gave a sweet performance of Friday, featuring rap by Winner's Mino. Backed by an orchestra, she also somberly crooned a moving rendition of "Fly, Chick," in memoriam of Shin Hae Chul who passed away in October.

Eason Chan

All the K-pop fans in the house cheered for Hong Kong's own superstar Eason Chan, who calmly delivered his usual high-quality performance without any need for bells and whistles. The arena filled with the voices of audiences singing along to Eason's Fu Kua.

Four Shades of Love

Soyou and Junggigo's Some is one of the biggest songs of 2014, and the duet got a whole new twist with the other three members of Sistar pairing up with Block B's P.O, Nam Joo Hyuk and Yoon Gun to interpret the song in different styles. Naturally, Sistar also performed their 2014 hit Touch My Body.

Fight of the Century

Hip-hop boy bands Block B and BTS faced off onstage for an exciting dance and rap battle, working up the crowd with leaders Zico and Rap Monster's solo tracks Tough Cookie and RM and the high-energy combo of Danger and H.E.R. The two groups topped it off with a collaboration of the Black Eyed Peas favorite Let's Get It Started.

Superstar K6

Per tradition, the newly crowned winner of Superstar K6, Kwak Jin Eon, performed a special stage at MAMA less than two weeks after the show's end. Armed with a guitar, he gave an encore of his finale performance, and runner-up Kim Feel also joined him onstage for a special duet.

Infinite Spectrum

Infinite reminded fans once again of their superior live stage and group dancing skills with charismatic, in-sync performances of Last Romeo, for which they won Best Dance Performance, and Back.

2014 MAMA x UNESCO - Music Makes One

"Carry on till the day, till the day we are together face to face, hand in hand with one another..." Lee Seung Chul and Yoon Eun Hye, along with a girls choir, performed the English version of the rock artist's "The Day" in support of UNESCO's girls' education campaign.

Media Wonderland

Before there was Big Bang, EXO or even H.O.T, there was Seo Taiji, the groundbreaking artist often credited as the beginning of K-pop. Though he has become more accessible of late, the sight of the elusive icon performing at MAMA is still surreal to say the least. IU takes stage first to sing before Seo appears for the collaboration version of Sogyeokdong as well as the dreamy electropop Christmalo.win, both from his recent album Quiet Night. Then he brings us back a decade with a surprising performance of the classic Come Back Home, featuring Vasco and Zico, that had the artists on their feet.

The New Age of EXO

Dressed in black suits, EXO opened with a cleverly staged dance intro and jumped into the fan-favorite Black Pearl and the silky slow jam Tell Me What is Love. Kai took center stage with an angsty modern dance solo to Deep Breath and, of course, the boys performed their catchy hit Overdose. A video teaser aired at the end of the stage hinted of the group's 2015 comeback.

Colorize

Tae Yang captivated the audience with his heartmelting hit song "Eyes, Nose, Lips," then cranked up the volume (and lost the shirt) to perform the new club single Good Boy with bandmate G-Dragon. GD and Tae Yang closed, once again, with Fantastic Baby (for the third year in a row!). Will they perform it again for next year's MAMA?

Photo credit: Official media photos provided by Mnet/CJ E&M

Visit YesAsia's Facebook page and YouTube Channel for photos and videos from the 2014 MAMA press conference.

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Published December 5, 2014

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