'2025 Melon Music Awards' G-Dragon and Jennie continued to showcase their skills.
On the 20th at Gocheok Sky Dome, the '2025 Melon Music Awards' (Wavve, Melon) ceremony was held. At the ceremony, HANRORO, Hearts2Hearts, KiiiKiii, BOYNEXTDOOR, NCT WISH, RIIZE, aespa, ALLDAY PROJECT, G-DRAGON, Jennie, EXO and others performed.
aespa, which sold out global performances in 18 countries and 28 cities, received the "stage of the year" award. aespa, which dominated 2024 with "Whiplash," "Supernova" and "Armageddon," continued to show consistent skill. aespa member Winter said, "When we debuted and performed remotely, I was sometimes scared of the stage. Performing with our My made me happy. My, thank you for making the stage happy. We will become artists who can give Myers lots of happiness," expressing her commitment to fans.
After receiving the "global artist" award, Ningning said, "It's already been a year and we are performing at the MMA stage. I am really, really grateful this year, and it is an honor that we became a source of strength; we will work harder to make better music," expressing gratitude. Ningning was reported to be out of sorts earlier and briefly did not appear, but she showed a perfect performance on stage.
Jennie won the grand prize as a solo artist. Opening with "Seoul city," Jennie appeared in an outfit embroidered with Korean characters and showcased a proper sense of "Korean beauty." Jennie then performed "Zen" and "Like Jeniee" perfectly, turning the stage into a spectacle that rivaled Coachella and electrified the venue.
Jennie, who received one of the grand prizes, the "record of the year," said, "Hello, I'm Jennie. Actually, I just finished performing and came down, so I'm out of it," and added, "This year has deep meaning for me. My first album came out and I am happy to end the year on a high note. I want to say our company worked so hard and I love them, and I'm so grateful to all the staff and everyone who created today's stage. I want to thank the 50 dancers."
Jennie continued, "And I miss our members so, so much. Being alone is so lonely. And Blinks, I love you," expressing love for fans and saying she wanted to be with her members.
EXO attended the MMA for the first time in eight years. Although they did not release an album this year, the appearance of the K-pop kings who opened the third generation and started the era of million-selling albums was itself a promise to bloom brilliantly next year along with clean reminiscence. Also, member DIO showed devotion by briefly attending the wedding of Kim Woo-bin and Shin Mina and returning to the stage, and leader Suho freely showed his love for EXO-Ls on the red carpet.
EXO performed among many hits "Wolf and Beauty," "Monster," "The Eve," "Love Shot," and "Growl." EXO's iconic logos passed by in a VCR, and "Back it up," a track from their eighth album to be released next month, was revealed and heated the venue. When main dancer Kai's intense dance began and Sehun's dance followed, and DIO's vocals punctuated the new song, evaluations such as "I can't even imagine how much better the title track will be" were made.
G-DRAGON proved the value of his solo album released after eight years with three grand prizes. G-DRAGON, who won "album of the year," "artist of the year" and "best song of the year," said, "I'm really happy. The road to winning awards is long and arduous. But because it's that meaningful, it's not hard at all, and I'm so happy," and after pausing for a long time he added, "'Home Sweet Home' is the first track on my album, and Big Bang members participated, so I spent a warm year. I hope you also spend warmth with your families and friends, happy new year, merry Christmas, I love you, thank you!" expressing his gratitude.
Below is the '2025 Melon Music Awards' winners list
▲ artist of the year: G-DRAGON
▲ KakaoBank album of the year: G-DRAGON Übermensch
▲ best song of the year: G-DRAGON HOME SWEET HOME (feat. Taeyang, Daesung)
▲ record of the year: Jennie
▲ rookie of the year: ALLDAY PROJECT, Hearts2Hearts
▲ top 10: Rosé, Lim Young-woong, Jennie, aespa, BOYNEXTDOOR, G-DRAGON, IVE, NCT WISH, PLAVE, RIIZE
▲ millions top 10: IVE IVE EMPATHY, Jennie Ruby, G-DRAGON Übermensch, PLAVE Caligo Pt.1, RIIZE ODYSSEY, BOYNEXTDOOR No Genre
▲ best solo male: G-DRAGON
▲ best solo female: Rosé
▲ best group male: BOYNEXTDOOR
▲ best group female: IVE
▲ best OST: Huntrix Golden (K-pop Demon Hunters)
▲ best pop artist:
▲ Berriz global fans choice: Hearts2Hearts
▲ track zero choice: HANRORO Time Runs Differently
▲ Japan favorite artist by U-NEXT: BOYNEXTDOOR
▲ KakaoBank everyone's star: NCT WISH
▲ stage of the year: aespa
▲ music video of the year: KiiiKiii I DO ME
▲ best songwriter: G-DRAGON
▲ J-pop favorite artist
▲ best performance female: ILLIT
▲ best performance male: RIIZE
▲ best music style: ALLDAY PROJECT, 10CM
▲ global artist: aespa
▲ global rising artist: IDID
▲ 1theK global icon: KiiiKiii
▲ hot trend: WOODZ
▲ best producer: Zico
[photo source] '2025 Melon Music Awards'
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