The 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards ceremony, also known as 2021 MAMA, organized by CJ E&M and broadcast through its music channel Mnet, took place live on December 11, 2021. The ceremony was held at CJ ENM Contents World in Paju, South Korea. The theme for the ceremony was titled as "Make Some Noise". The ceremony was the 23rd in the show's history, and the last to be named as the "Mnet Asian Music Awards," as the show rebranded for the following edition.
Background On July 20, 2021, it was reported by Ilgan Sports the ceremony is undergoing discussion to be held in Hong Kong despite the ongoing pandemic and travel restrictions. On September 7, it was announced the ceremony would be held at CJ ENM Contents World in Paju, South Korea. This will be the second consecutive year, the ceremony will take place in South Korea only.
On October 13, Mnet announced that Lee Hyori will be hosting the ceremony. She will be the first female host for Mnet Asian Music Awards. In addition, Mnet also announced that the theme of the ceremony titled as "Make Some Noise". Mnet also announced that it will be airing a 7-episode special documentary titled "MAMA: The Original K-pop Awards" from October 28, to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the Mnet Asian Music Awards. According to video teaser posted on Mnet's Twitter, the documentary is expected to feature interviews from Psy, Park Jin-young, Exo's Kai, Twice's Nayeon, Sana, and Jihyo, Mamamoo's Hwasa, Stray Kids, Super Junior, Shinee, and 2NE1.
On November 16, a global press conference was held. It was revealed that the awards ceremony will be an offline event with a limited audience in accordance with government disease prevention guidelines. South Korean-based company, Samil PwC, will be auditing the ceremony. Mnet also announced additional performers including British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, the 8 crews of Street Woman Fighter, a reunion stage of Wanna One, and a collaboration stage between members of top fourth-generation K-pop groups.
On December 9, Mnet announced the 2021 MAMA Ambassadors. Rain, Song Joong-ki, Ed Sheeran and Han Ye-ri will deliver the key values that made K-content globally loved by global audiences. On December 11, Mnet released a special album titled, "Do the dance", performed by Lee Hyori on music streaming platforms.
Performers Ed Sheeran, Street Woman Fighter, and Wanna One were announced as performers on November 16, 2021. The rest of the performers were announced on November 25. On December 5, Kep1er withdrew from the ceremony after a staff member from the group tested positive for COVID-19. Some performances are pre-recorded.
+List of performers at 2021 MAMA Name(s) Song performed Stage theme Heeseung (Enhypen), Hyunjin (Stray Kids), Karina (Aespa), Wooyoung (Ateez), Yeji (Itzy), Yeonjun (Tomorrow X Together) "BlooM The Sound" Brave Girls "Rollin' (Ballad ver.) + "Chi Mat Ba Ram" + "Rollin "Wind of Wish" INI "Rocketeer" "One Dream" Kimura Masaya (INI), Kawashiri Ren (JO1) JO1 "Bokura no Kisetsu" Itzy (featuring Heo Sung-tae) "Loco" (MAMA ver.) + "In the Morning" (MAMA ver.) "Mission: Be A Good Kitty" Jannabi "A Thought on an Autumn Night" + "I Know Where The Rainbow has Fallen" "Sailing into the Autumn" Gwang-il Jo X Gaeko "Waterbomb" + "Garion" (MAMA ver.) "Shout Out If Hip Hop" Show Me the Money 10 "Resume" + "82" (MAMA ver.) NCT U "Universe (Let's Play Ball)" "Welcome to Universe" Ateez "Turbulence" + "The Real" (Heung ver.) "The Real Journey Begins" Tomorrow X Together "Frost" + "Loser=Lover" "Break All Myself" Stray Kids "Cheese" "Stray Kids World Domination" 3Racha (Bang Chan, Changbin, Han) "Hey, Monster!" Stray Kids "Thunderous" (Hero ver.) Ed Sheeran "Bad Habits" + "Shivers" "Permission to Challenge" NCT Dream "Hello Future" + "Hot Sauce" (MAMA ver.) "Dipping in a Dream" Wanna One "Spring Breeze" (MAMA ver.) + "Energetic" + "Burn It Up" + "Beautiful" (Part III) "1 = 111 (I Miss You)" Aespa (featuring Haha) "Next Level" + "Savage" "Oh My Gosh! We Are On Another Level" Enhypen "Drunk-Dazed" + "Tamed-Dashed" (MAMA ver.) "Carnival to Dilemma" NCT 127 "Favorite (Vampire)" + "Sticker" (MAMA ver.) "Eternal Love" Lee Hyori X Street Woman Fighter (YGX, LACHICA, WANT, WAYB, CocaNButter, PROWDMON, HolyBang, HOOK) "Do the Dance" "Make Some Noise"
Presenters
The list of presenters was announced on December 7, 2021. Choi Si-won was originally scheduled as a presenter but was diagnosed with COVID-19 a day before the ceremony.
Lee Hyun-yi & Ahn Hyun-mo – red carpet hosts Lee Sun-bin & Lee Do-hyun – Best New Artists (Male & Female) Haha, Monika, & Shin Ga-bee – KTO Breakout Artist Kim Seo-hyung – Best Band Performance Kim Young-dae & Kim Hye-yoon – Best HipHop & Urban Music Yeo Jin-goo – Best Dance Female Group Jo Jung-suk – Album of the Year Heo Sung-tae & Nam Yoon-su – Best OST Jo Bo-ah & Ahn Bo-hyun – Worldwide Fans' Choice Top 10 Rain & Noh Hong-chul – Worldwide Fans' Choice Top 10 Han Ye-ri – The value of being different segment Lee Jung-jae – Worldwide Icon of the Year Song Joong-ki – Breaking the Norm Kwon Yul – TikTok Favorite Moment Tiffany Young & Choi Soo-young – Best Female Group Song Joong-ki – Song of the Year Uhm Jung-hwa – Artist of the Year
Criteria K-pop categories All songs that have been released from October 29, 2020, to October 31, 2021, are eligible to be nominated. Division MAMA professional panel Digital sales Record sales Global music video view counts Global music platform Online voting Artist of the Year 40% 20% 20% 10% 10% — Categories by Artist Song of the Year 40% 30% 10% 10% 10% — Categories by Genre Album of the Year 40% 10% 40% — 10% —Best Music Video70%——30%—— Worldwide Icon of the Year — — — — — 80% 10% 10% Worldwide Fans' Choice Top 10
Asia Music categories Artists from Japan, Greater China, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam who have worked on songs released from October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021.
Professional categories Music experts who participated in the production, creation, activities etc., of K-Pop's records and digital songs released from October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021.
Winners and nominees
Winners and nominees are listed in alphabetical order. Winners listed first and highlighted in bold.
Online voting for Worldwide Fans' Choice Top 10 opened on the official website and Twitter on November 4, 2021. Online voting for Worldwide Icon of the Year opened on the official MAMA website and Twitter on November 25, 2021. Voting on the official website and Apple Music ended on December 9, 2021, while voting on Twitter ended during the live broadcast.
Main awards The list of nominees for all categories excluding Album of the Year, Worldwide Icon of the Year, and Best Music Video, were announced on November 3, 2021, through the official website.
Artist of the Year(Daesang) Song of the Year(Daesang) BTS Aespa IU NCT 127 Oh My Girl BTS – "Butter" Aespa – "Next Level IU – Celebrity Lee Mu-jin – "Traffic Light" Oh My Girl – "Dun Dun Dance" Album of the Year(Daesang) Worldwide Icon of the Year(Daesang) BTS – Be Aespa – Savage IU – Lilac NCT 127 – Sticker NCT Dream – Hot Sauce BTS Enhypen Lisa NCT 127 NCT Dream Seventeen Stray Kids Tomorrow X Together Treasure Twice Best Male Group Best Female Group BTS NCT 127 NCT Dream Seventeen Stray Kids Tomorrow X Together Twice (G)I-dle Brave Girls Itzy Oh My Girl Red Velvet Best Male Artist Best Female Artist Baekhyun D.O Kai Kang Daniel Lee Mu-jin IU Heize Lisa Rosé Taeyeon Best Dance Performance – Male Group Best Dance Performance – Female Group BTS – "Butter" NCT 127 – "Sticker" NCT Dream – "Hot Sauce" Seventeen – "Ready to Love" Shinee – "Don't Call Me" Stray Kids – "Thunderous" Aespa – "Next Level" Itzy – "In the Morning" Oh My Girl – "Dun Dun Dance" Red Velvet – "Queendom" STAYC – "ASAP" Twice – "Alcohol-Free" Best Dance Performance – Solo Best Vocal Performance Rosé – "On The Ground" Baekhyun – "Bambi" Hyuna – "I'm Not Cool" Jeon Somi – "Dumb Dumb" Lisa – "Lalisa" Taeyeon – "Weekend" IU – "Celebrity" AKMU – "Nakka" Davichi – "Just Hug Me" Heize – "Happen" Lee Mu-jin – "Traffic Light" Best OST Best Collaboration Jo Jung-suk – "I Like You" (Hospital Playlist Season 2) 10cm – "Borrow Your Night" (Romance 101) Choi Yu-ree – "Wish" (Hometown Cha Cha) Lee Mu-jin – "Rain and You" (Hospital Playlist Season 2) Yang Yo-seob & Jung Eun-ji – "Love Day" (2021) (Romance 101) AKMU & IU – "Nakka" Coldplay & BTS – "My Universe" Gaeko & Kwon Jin-ah – "I Feel Like" Hyolyn & Dasom – "Summer or Summer" Rain & J.Y. Park – "Switch to Me" Best New Male Artist Best New Female Artist Enhypen Drippin Epex Mirae P1Harmony Aespa Jo Yu-ri Kwon Eun-bi Lightsum STAYC Best HipHop & Urban Music Best Band Performance Ash Island – "Melody" Changmo – "GJD" Jessi – "What Type of X" Mino – "Run Away" Yumdda – "9ucci" Jannabi – "A Thought on an Autumn Night" 10cm – "Sleepless in Seoul" CNBLUE – "Then, Now and Forever" Day6 – "You Make Me" N.Flying – "Moonshot" Best Music Video BTS – "Butter"
Favorite Awards The list of nominees for Worldwide Fans' Choice Top 10, were announced on November 3, 2021, through the official website.
Worldwide Fans' Choice Top 10 BTS Enhypen Lisa NCT 127 NCT Dream Seventeen Stray Kids Tomorrow X Together Treasure Twice Favorite Asian Artist Favorite International Artist INI Ed Sheeran
Special awards Category Winner Best Asian Artist Japan JO1 Mandarin Accusefive Thailand Tilly Birds Indonesia Anneth Vietnam Best New Asian Artist Japan Ado Mandarin Anson Lo Thailand Sprite X Guygeegee Indonesia Lyodra Vietnam TikTok Favorite Moment BTS KTO Breakout Artist Brave Girls2021 Visionary (CJ E&M)BTS Aespa Yoo Jae-suk Choi Jung-nam Youn Yuh-jung Hwang Dong-hyuk
Professional Categories Category Winner Work Best Executive Producer of the Year Bang Si-hyuk BTS Best Producer of the Year Teddy Lalisa Best Composer of the Year Yoo Young-jin "Savage" Best Engineer of the Year Gu Jong-pil & Kwon Nam-woo "Celebrity" Best Video Director of the Year Lumpens "Butter" Best Choreographer of the Year Leejung Lee "Money" Best Art Director of the Year MU:E "Butter"
Multiple Awards The following artist(s) received three or more awards: AwardsArtist(s) 10 BTS3 IUAespa
Broadcast The ceremony of the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards was broadcast live worldwide from Mnet in South Korea, to simulcast across CJ E&M channels; other international networks, and online via Mnet K-pop, Mnet TV, M2, and KCON's YouTube account. The red carpet was broadcast live 2 hours before the main ceremony. Country Network WorldwideYouTube (Mnet K-Pop, Mnet TV, M2 & KCON Official) United StatesKCON USA South KoreaMnet, TVING, tvN STORY, tvN Show JapanMnet Smart, Mnet Japan, au Smart Pass Hong Kong JOOX, ViuTV, ViuTVsix, viu.tv, NOW Drama tvN Asia Macau ViuTV, ViuTVsix, viu.tv, NOW Drama Taiwan FET Friday Video, FET Mobile Circle app (Far EasTone) Philippines GigaPlay (Smart Communications) Singapore MeWATCH Indonesia Indosiar, Vidio, JOOX Malaysia JOOX, TonTon Thailand JOOX MyanmartvN Asia Maldives Sri Lanka Vietnam FPT TV, FPT Play, Foxy Sub-Saharan Africa tvN Asia (through DStv)
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