"MZ wannabe icon" IVE (IVE: An Yujin·Gaeul·Rei·Jang Wonyoung·Leeseo·Yeeso) set Macau ablaze.
IVE won the "Artist of the Year" award and the "Sound of the Year" award, the equivalent of this year's digital music grand prize, at the "2025 The Fact Music Awards (THE FACT MUSIC AWARDS, TMA)" held at the Macao Outdoor Performance Venue on the 20th.
Through their agency Starship Entertainment, IVE said, Thank you to DIVE (official fan club name) for always giving us so much love. Starting this year with "Rebel Heart," then with "Attitude" and most recently activities for "XOXZ," there have been many times when we've felt how music can bring joy to someone with its lyrics and sometimes provide comfort. Having been chosen as the Sound of the Year, we will strive to be IVE who pours our hearts into every moment so we can deliver the honor of this award and that power in better ways and to more people.
Also, we are about to start our world tour at the Gymnastics Stadium for three days beginning Oct. 31, and this award has given us renewed momentum so we can energetically carry out the tour. We'll work hard preparing the tour and go meet our beloved DIVE fans around the world, so please look forward to it, they said.
That day IVE appeared in black-toned styling embroidered with dazzling beads and immediately captured attention. Leeseo opened the stage with a charismatic performance against a dazzling stage set, and when all IVE members appeared they heated up the venue by performing the newly released song "XOXZ."
IVE then walked onto a protruding stage to the more rhythmically arranged mini album 3 title track "Attitude," raising the performance's intensity. With solid vocal ability and powerful performance they drew attention and continued the stage in a dreamy, sophisticated mood that maximized immersion for domestic and international music fans.
The maknae Yeeso's unusual collaboration stage also drew attention. Yeeso performed a duet of Girls' Generation Taeyeon's "To. X" with NMIXX's Gyujin, completing a "feast for the ears" stage with her lyrical tone and stable harmony.
IVE announced the start of their all-around activities in January by releasing the pre-release track "Rebel Heart" from mini album 3 "IVE EMPATHY." They achieved a perfect all-kill (PAK) on major domestic music charts with "Rebel Heart," and together with title track "Attitude" they recorded 15 music show wins for the single album overall ("Rebel Heart" 11 wins, "Attitude" 4 wins), and with "IVE EMPATHY" they became six-time consecutive million sellers, cementing their presence.
Not stopping there, they released their fourth mini album "IVE SECRET" in August, showing a different charm with the title track "XOXZ" while sweeping first place on the three major terrestrial broadcasters' music shows, proving their formidable strength.
Their activities at various festivals also shone. Beginning with performances at Lollapalooza in Berlin and Paris in July, they also took the stage at "Rock in Japan Festival 2025," one of Japan's four major rock festivals, reaffirming the "global IVE syndrome."
IVE recently proved their activities by taking first place in both girl group and idol brand reputation rankings for September released by the Korea Corporate Reputation Research Institute. As such, with IVE continuing broad activities this year, expectations are building about what diverse stages and content they will present next.
Meanwhile, IVE will hold their second world tour, IVE world tour 'SHOW WHAT I AM', for three days from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 at Seoul KSPO DOME (formerly Olympic Gymnastics Arena) to meet fans.
[Photo] Screenshot of the "2025 TMA" broadcast, Starship Entertainment
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