MAMA in Hong Kong celebrates Kpop in its 17th round

One of the 2015 MAMA performances by the female group “2NE1”

The ‘2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards’ is taking place in Hong Kong this year round, being hosted by Psy, awarding idol stars and groups for their amazing music.

Originally launched in 1999, the ‘MAMA’ is a major K-pop award ceremony that attracts performers from all over the world. It aims to bring together international fans and musical artists of different cultures and languages on one great stage as well as bring Asia’s music to the world. This is the sixth time the event has been held outside of South Korea.

Members of the boy-group EXO on the red carpet of Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

This year some artists won the same award for a couple of years in a row, while new artists were introduced. Firstly with the grand prizes, the award for artist of the year went for Big Bang, while album of the year award went to EXO’s album “Exodus”, and once again Big Bang proved their fame as they win the award for the song of the year with their song, “Bang Bang Bang,” dominating the grand prizes for this year as well. This proves the Big Bang and EXO have another year of stardom internationally, as these two groups have established themselves over the past year.

Best male artist was awarded to J.Y.Park who made his comeback this year with a dance song after being away from the spotlight for years, while best female artist was awarded to Taeyeon, the leader of the famous SNSD, who made her solo debut a short while ago. Best male group award was awarded to EXO, and the best female group award was given to Girls’ Generation, marking it a category for SM Entertainment groups’ domination.

Members of South Korea boy band Big Bang pose for the photographers after winning the Artist of the Year of the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

As for the upcoming artists, best new male group award went to iKON, while the best new female group award was given to TWICE, both of whom made their debuts earlier this year.

There were a couple of genre-focused awards as well, for the best dance performances, SHINee won the male category for their “View” performance, while Red Velvet won the female category with their “Ice Cream Cake” performance, and the solo award for the best dance performance was awarded to HyunA for her “Roll Deep” performance.

South Korean singer Seohyun, left, and Tiffany from the female group Girls’ Generation, pose for the photographers on the red carpet of the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Best collaboration award was given to Zion.T and Crush for their song “Just.” Other genre award was the vocal performance, with Zion.T winning the male category with his song “Eat”, and Ailee winning the female category with her song “Mind Your Own Business.” Other category awards were the best band performance which was awarded to CNBLUE for their song “Cinderella”, while the best rap performance was awarded to San E for his song “Me You”

A couple of special awards were a main focus as well, as Big Bang once again won the music video of the year with their video “Bae Bae.” And when given the chance to cast their vote and choose, EXO and f(x) won the male and female awards for Kpop fan’s choice.

South Korean musician Park Jin-young walks on the red carpet of the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

MONSTA X who debuted this year as well, unfortunately didn’t win the new artist award, but they weren’t overlooked as they managed to snatch the Next Generation Asian Artist award. Other awards were best world performer which was awarded to the rookies BTS, and the best Asian style award was awarded to EXO. Best producer award was given to J.Y.Park, who has shown effort in his JYP entertainment with his stars

A couple of the nominations were sadly overlooked, like Kyuhyun of Super Junior who just came out with his solo album, and BoA and IU both strong female artists and have managed to brand themselves this year, especially IU who came with a new refreshing album about her growing up from the little girl we’ve gotten used to years ago.