November 11, 2013
MAMA is most definitely among one of the most prestigious and watched music awards programs in South Korea with numerous artists annually lining up and throwing out songs as fast as they can produce them having subtle hopes to claim even one award at this award show. Although many people try to brush off the importance of this award show, they obviously fail to comprehend it; their biases not winning despite all the reasons they actually shouldn't win and them acting as if it's a crime when in fact, it's not. Nevertheless, because all the K-Pop Ranter staff are fans of the MAMA awards, we're all getting down and dirty with the predictions for each and every category of this awards show, placing our bets at who will win and who will lose as well as our lingering sentiments towards this program.
Best New Male Artist
Despite his plagiarism scandal earlier in the year, Roy Kim is possibly one of the most popular contestants in the line up of nominees. His song Bom Bom Bom, as well as his song Love Love Love (someone really likes the number 3) did very well on the charts and we expect this guy to be the winner in this category. We chose BTS as our runner up despite the constant comparison between them EXO and BAP.
Best New Female Artist
Lee Hi, also known as the monster rookie, is where we place our bets in this category. Nearly every single she's released has received an all kill and is very popular in Korea. Crayon Pop comes in as our runner up due to the great success of their song Bar Bar Bar. They have received a lot of attention internationally as well as some hate from pure jealousy because their oppars and unnirs have yet to receive that kind of attention.
Best Male Artist
G-Dragon may have been caught in a bit of a scandal involving marijuana not too long ago but he's still held strong to his popularity with nearly all of the songs off of his album, Coup D'etat, doing extremely well on the charts. Together, we couldn't quite decide on one runner up, leaving Lee Seungi and Psy tied as our two runner ups. Lee Seungi already has a stable fanbase in Korea while Psy has massive popularity worldwide. We'll just have to see what happens next.
Best Female Artist
Tiffany: One reason I think IU is gonna whoop Hyori's ass is because
IU has gotten back up after what seemed like a terminal scandal.
Despite my previous doubts, she didn't end up like T-ara, shunned with
every single breath exhaled and article put out and was
different--basically admitting to her mistake and having a lot of her
songs rom her Red Shoes comeback top charts. Sorry, Hyori fans, she's
the 'queen o' K-Pop' but her album was subpar. In fact, the only song
I really, truly enjoyed was Miss Korea and by now, it has already
became that song I skip on my playlist cause it's boring. I'm not
saying IU's song isn't either (haven't even listened to it more than
twice) but I just think she was more... impactful this year. Hyori had
a 2 year hiatus, came out with an album, topped charts. So what? IU
did about the same but remained the topic of the conversation
throughout the full year. If she doesn't win, this contest is rigged
by pedojusshis who felt betrayed IU got some fresh, monkey dick rather
than their wrinkly, smelly one.
Andi: I mainly think Lee Hyori is going to win is just due to how long she's been in the business and how well known she is. Of course, points are taken off for going off on a whole 2 year hiatus which could be the reason why IU wins but queen or not, my bets are placed here. If Lee Hyori wins, Tiffany owes me 10 dollars.
Best Male Group
Due to the fact that
this is an online vote, both of us immediately agreed that EXO
would more than likely take this prize home; can you guess why?
(hint: It's because EXOtics are crazy). As for the runner up, we
chose SHINee who have been
hard at work this year, releasing song after song in both Korea and
Japan. SM Entertainment has
really been pushing the boys hard this year, possibly to make up for
last year's slack.
Best Female Group
At
the moment, 4minute
is
one of the most popular groups in Korea which is why we believe they
are going to receive the award for best female artist of the year. f(x)
tied
for us as well due to the success of their album Pink
Tape.
Sistar came in as runner up because they are
also popular but they still lack a strong fanbase.
Best Dance Performance - Female Solo
We both agreed that the award for this category should go to Lee Hyori for her amazing dance performance in the song Bad Girl. CL is who we chose as our runner up because the dance wasn't half bad and despite everyone saying that her song was the worst song of the year (and trust us, it really wasn't), she is still quite popular.
Best Dance Performance - Male Solo
First of all, let us address the fact that Jay Park was nominated for the song Joah which didn't even feature a dance, unless you consider stalking a girl on the streets and madly singing to her a dance. We would have understood if he was nominated for I Like to Party which actually has a dance to consider but no. They went with Joah. Because of this and the fact that the other nominees aren't very strong contenders, we went with Psy for his dance in Gentleman which was recognized nationwide even though it did not do as well as Gangnam Style.
Best Dance Performance - Female Group
Who doesn't love jumping around and watching girls dance with bicycle helmets on? We chose Crayon Pop as our winners because of their recent jump in popularity. Plus, let's face it, the dance for Bar Bar Bar is just plain awesome, with or without track suits and helmets. 4minute takes the spot as our runner up for their dance in What's Your Name which was actually pretty good.
Best Dance Performance - Male Group
We believe that SHINee will walk away with this award for their spectacular microphone dance in Dream Girl. The dance was creative and quirky and numerous covers of it can be found on YouTube. EXO comes in as our runner ups for their dance for Growl which was filmed in one whole shot without any editing as can be seen when Kai drops his hat and gracefully swoops it back up and continues on with the dance.
Best Vocal Performance - Female
For us, this one was a no brainer: Davichi is going to be the one that wins in this category. Their vocal talent is very well known in Korea and their song Turtle did well on charts as well as a few other songs in their album. Though Tiffany may personally hate Minkyung, when she's alongside Heari as Davichi, they are well loved. IU is runner up for this category for her song The Red Shoes which topped the charts and helped redeem her from her scandal.
Best Vocal Performance - Male
Both K Will and Cho Yongpil did very well this year but we believe that the odds are in K Will's favor for his song Love Blossom which was a very popular song. Cho Yongpil's song Bounce also did great and his album managed to get top five in sales despite the fact that SM Town fans are batshit insane and buy out albums like nobody's business.
Best Band Performance
Tiffany: Busker Busker: Nationwide, no doubt. Need I say more? I just feel like
they'll win just cause they're Busker Busker. Nothing else.
Andi: For me it's a little more personal rather than actually factoring and calculating popularity records but I chose CNBlue. Why? Because they were nominated for the song I'm Sorry which not only topped the charts but won my heart.
Best Rap Performance
It was actually quite a task for us to decide on just one winner for this category. It's a toss up between Dynamic Duo, Geeks, and BaeChiGi. All three did well on the charts for each of their respective songs and Choiza managed to dodge the bullet with his scandal with Sulli seeing that netizens mainly cared about the female side of the deal, never caring about the male. Though all three have a good chance at winning, we do lean a little more towards Dynamic Duo.
Best Music Video
The word popular doesn't even begin to describe G-Dragon's current state
in Korea. Almost every aspect of him is well received (even the whole marijuana scandal just adds to his "bad boy idgaf" image), which is why we strongly believe that he will receive the award for best music video for Coup D'etat. Psy is our runner up for the video for Gentleman which was actually pretty good.
Artist of the Year and Best OST
So tell us what your predictions are. Do you agree with any of ours? Are there any groups you absolutely don't want to see win? Comment below!
