2021

## 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards

The **2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards** ceremony, also known as **2021 MAMA**, organized by CJ E&M and broadcast through its music channel Mnet, took place live on December 11, 2021. The ceremony was held at CJ ENM Contents World in Paju, South Korea. The theme for the ceremony was titled as *"Make Some Noise"*. The ceremony was the 23rd in the show's history.

## Background

On July 20, 2021, it was reported by Ilgan Sports the ceremony is undergoing discussion to be held in Hong Kong despite the ongoing pandemic and travel restrictions. On September 7, it was announced the ceremony would be held at CJ ENM Contents World in Paju, South Korea. This will be the second consecutive year, the ceremony will take place in South Korea only.

On October 13, Mnet announced that Lee Hyori will be hosting the ceremony. She will be the first female host for Mnet Asian Music Awards. In addition, Mnet also announced that the theme of the ceremony titled as "Make Some Noise". Mnet also announced that it will be airing a 7-episode special documentary titled "MAMA: The Original K-pop Awards" from October 28, to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the Mnet Asian Music Awards. According to video teaser posted on Mnet's Twitter, the documentary is expected to feature interviews from Psy, Park Jin-young, EXo's Kai, Twice's Nayeon, Sana, and Jihyo, Mamamoo's Hwasa, Stray Kids, Super Junior, Shinee, and 2NE1.

On November 16, a global press conference was held. It was revealed that the awards ceremony will be an offline event with a limited audience in accordance with government disease prevention guidelines. South Korean-based company, Samil PwC, will be auditing the ceremony. Mnet also announced additional performers including British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, the 8 crews of Street Woman Fighter, a reunion stage of Wanna One, and a collaboration stage between members of top fourth-generation K-pop groups.

On December 9, Mnet announced the 2021 MAMA Ambassadors. Rain, Song Joong-ki, Ed Sheeran and Han Ye-ri will deliver the key values that made K-content globally loved by global audiences. On December 11, Mnet released a special album titled, *"Do the dance"*, performed by Lee Hyori on music streaming platforms.

## Performers

Ed Sheeran, Street Woman Fighter, and Wanna One were announced as performers on November 16, 2021. The rest of the performers were announced on November 25. On December 5, Kep1er withdrew from the ceremony after a staff member from the group tested positive for COVID-19. Some performances are pre-recorded.

## Presenters

The list of presenters was announced on December 7, 2021. Choi Si-won was originally scheduled as a presenter but was diagnosed with COVID-19 a day before the ceremony.

* Lee Hyun-yi & Ahn Hyun-mo – red carpet hosts
* Lee Sun-bin & Lee Do-hyun – Best New Artist (Best New Male Artist & Best New Female Artist)
* Haha, Monika, & Shin Ga-bee – KTO Breakout Artist
* Kim Seo-hyung – Best Band Performance
* Kim Young-dae & Kim Hye-yoon – Best HipHop & Urban Music
* Yeo Jin-goo – Best Dance Performance– Female Group
* Jo Jung-suk – Album of the Year
* Heo Sung-tae & Nam Yoon-su – Best OST
* Jo Bo-ah & Ahn Bo-hyun – Worldwide Fans' Choice Top 10
* Rain & Noh Hong-chul – Worldwide Fans' Choice Top 10
* Han Ye-ri – The value of being different segment
* Lee Jung-jae – Worldwide Icon of the Year
* Song Joong-ki – Breaking the Norm
* Kwon Yul – TikTok Favorite Moment
* Tiffany Young & Choi Soo-young – Best Female Group
* Song Joong-ki – Song of the Year
* Uhm Jung-hwa – Artist of the Year

## Winners and nominees

Winners and nominees are listed in alphabetical order. Winners listed first and highlighted in **bold**.

Online voting for Worldwide Fans' Choice Top 10 opened on the official website and Twitter on November 4, 2021. Online voting for Worldwide Icon of the Year opened on the official MAMA website and Twitter on November 25, 2021. Voting on the official website and Apple Music ended on December 9, 2021, while voting on Twitter ended during the live broadcast.

### Main Awards

The list of nominees for all categories excluding TikTok Album of the Year, TikTok Worldwide Icon of the Year, and Best Music Video, were announced on November 3, 2021, through the official website.

	+ Aespa
	+ IU
	+ NCT 127
	+ Oh My Girl
	+ Aespa – "Next Level"
	+ IU – "Celebrity"
	+ Lee Mu-jin – "Traffic Light"
	+ Aespa – *Savage*
	+ IU – *Lilac*
	+ NCT 127 – *Sticker*
	+ NCT Dream – *Hot Sauce*
	+ Enhypen
	+ Lisa
	+ NCT 127
	+ NCT Dream
	+ Seventeen
	+ Stray Kids
	+ Tomorrow X Together
	+ Treasure
	+ NCT 127
	+ NCT Dream
	+ Seventeen
	+ Stray Kids
	+ Tomorrow X Together
	+ (G)I-dle
	+ Brave Girls
	+ Itzy
	+ Oh My Girl
	+ D.O
	+ Kai
	+ Kang Daniel
	+ Lee Mu-jin
	+ Heize
	+ Lisa
	+ Rosé
	+ NCT 127 – "Sticker"
	+ NCT Dream – "Hot Sauce"
	+ Seventeen – "Ready to Love"
	+ Shinee – "Don't Call Me"
	+ Stray Kids – "Thunderous"
	+ Itzy – "In the Morning"
	+ Oh My Girl – "Dun Dun Dance"
	+ Red Velvet – "Queendom"
	+ STAYC – "ASAP"
	+ Baekhyun – "Bambi"
	+ Hyuna – "I'm Not Cool"
	+ Jeon Somi – "Dumb Dumb"
	+ Lisa – "Lalisa"
	+ Taeyeon – "Weekend"
	+ AKMU – "Nakka" (with IU)
	+ Davichi – "Just Hug Me"
	+ Heize – "Happen"
	+ 10cm – "Borrow Your Night" (*Romance 101*)
	+ Choi Yu-ree – "Wish" (*Hometown Cha Cha*)
	+ Lee Mu-jin – "Rain and You" (*Hospital Playlist Season 2*)
	+ Yang Yo-seob & Jeong Eun-ji – "Love Day" (2021) (*Romance 101*)
	+ Coldplay & BTS – "My Universe"
	+ Gaeko & Kwon Jin-ah – "I Feel Like"
	+ Hyolyn & Dasom – "Summer or Summer"
	+ Drippin
	+ Epex
	+ Mirae
	+ P1Harmony
	+ Jo Yu-ri
	+ Kwon Eun-bi
	+ Lightsum
	+ Changmo – "GJD"
	+ Jessi – "What Type of X"
	+ Mino – "Run Away"
	+ Yumdda – "9ucci"
	+ 10cm – "Sleepless in Seoul" (featuring Lee Su-hyun)
	+ CNBLUE – "Then, Now and Forever"
	+ Day6 – "You Make Me"

### Favorite Awards

The list of nominees for Worldwide Fans' Choice Top 10, were announced on November 3, 2021, through the official website.

* **Enhypen**
* **Lisa**
* **NCT 127**
* **NCT**
* **Seventeen**
* **Stray Kids**
* **Tomorrow X Together**
* **Treasure**
* **Twice**

* Aespa
* AKMU
* Ash Island
* Astro
* Ateez
* Brave Girls
* Chungha
* CL
* Davichi
* EXO
* Fromis 9
* Heize
* Hyuna
* iKon
* Itzy
* IU
* Jannabi
* Jeon Somi
* Jessi
* Lee Mu-jin
* Lee Seung-gi
* Loona
* Mamamoo
* Mino
* Monsta X
* NU'EST
* Oh My Girl
* Rain
* Red Velvet
* Rosé
* SF9
* Shinee
* STAYC
* Sunmi
* Super Junior
* Taeyeon
* The Boyz
* Weeekly

### Multiple Awards

The following artist(s) received three or more awards:

## Broadcast

The ceremony of the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards was broadcast live worldwide from Mnet in South Korea, to simulcast across CJ E&M channels; other international networks, and online via Mnet K-pop, Mnet TV, M2, and KCON's YouTube account. The red carpet was broadcast live 2 hours before the main ceremony.