BTS, EXO, TWICE win big at MAMA 2016

SEOUL: South Korean idol groups Bangtan Boys (BTS), EXO and TWICE took top awards at the 2016 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) at AsiaWorld-Expo Arena in Hong Kong.

K-pop boy band BTS of modest-sized Big Hit Entertainment won the Artist of the Year title, one of the event’s three big honors, along with Album of the Year and Song of the Year awards, on Friday night. The band also snatched the best dance performance award for male group artists.

The seven-member boy group has soared in popularity at home and overseas this year, gaining momentum as leading K-pop artist in the three years since its debut. The band’s latest full-length album, “WINGS”, was ranked as high as 26th on the Billboard 200 chart — the highest placement for a K-pop group to date.

Big Hit Entertainment chief Bang Si-hyuk won the best label award largely in recognition of creative content related to BTS.

K-pop boy band EXO of entertainment giant S.M. Entertainment won the Album of the Year award for the fourth consecutive year.

This year, the band additionally snagged three more awards, including the best male group artist’s title.

This year, EXO enjoyed robust album sales from its third fulllength LP, “EX’ACT”, and its re-packaged sequel “LOTTO”, with accumulative sales exceeding 1 million copies in roughly two months.

Girl group TWICE of JYP Entertainment won the Song of the Year award with its mega-hit dance-pop song “Cheer Up”. The idol group also seized the best female group artist’s award.

“Cheer Up” hit 100 million YouTube views in 207 days after its release on Apr 25, setting a record as the fastest K-pop music video to reach the milestone.

Blackeyed Pilseung, the producer of “Cheer Up”, won the best producer’s award. The honour of best international producer went to US producer Timbaland, while the best contributor’s award went to Quincy Jones.

The best visual and art director’s award went to director Min Hee-jin, who managed the visual directing of S.M. Entertainment idols, including EXO and SHINee.

The best engineer and best performance organiser’s titles went to Japanese professionals Hironobu Tanaka and Hidaka Masahiro, respectively.

The best choreographer’s award was presented to Thai artist J.Da.

— AFP photos Members of TWICE pose on the red carpet at the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) at Asia-World Expo in Hong Kong on Dec 2. • (Top) Members of BTS, also known as Bangtan Boys, leave the red carpet. • Members of EXO arrive on the red carpet.