Music awards in Seoul, South Korea
The 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) was the eleventh of the annual music awards in Seoul, South Korea that took place on November 21, 2009, at the Seoul Sports Complex.
Newcomer girl group 2NE1 lead the nominations with 4 counts, followed by label-mate G-Dragon, soloist Baek Ji Young, and boy group 2PM with 3 each. At the end of the ceremony, 2NE1 received the most wins with 3 out of 4 including the Song of the Year daesang award. Next to them was boy and girl groups 2PM and Brown Eyed Girls respectively with 2 wins.
Background
After ten years of holding the event under the name "M.net Korean Music Festival" (MKMF), the award-ceremony started to have a new name called "M.net Asian Music Awards" or simply "MAMA". This marked a change in concept and the way they will handle how people may vote for which artists win the awards.[1] With its slogan "Asian Wave", MAMA was broadcast live in China, Japan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia through Channel V International.
A VTR of artists congratulating the event was also shown including Janet Jackson, Nicole Scherzinger, Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, Mai Kuraki, and Ludacris. Taiwanese artists Ming Dao, future Miss A member Wang Feifei, and Sarah also presented an award, which was broadcast live in Taiwan.[2]
Winners and nominees
Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.[5][6]
- Special awards
Multiple awards
Artist(s) with multiple wins
The following artist(s) received two or more wins (excluding the special awards):
Artist(s) with multiple nominations
The following artist(s) received more than two nominations:
Controversy
SM Entertainment and Inwoo Production boycotted the event on November 21, hence none of their artists attended the event. The latter company, representing trot singers Jang Yun-jeong and Park Hyun-bin, announced the boycott and questioned the fairness of the awards ceremony. Meanwhile, the former stated through a press release that they have reservation regarding the standard of fairness and criteria used in their selections, citing that Girls' Generation had topped a music chart for nine consecutive weeks but was never placed first place on their show and only debut on their charts a month after the album was released. They also asked that their artists be removed from a mobile poll which requires participants to pay a fee in order to vote saying they "do not want to see fans suffer any damage from the poll which has commercial intentions".[7]
SS501 from DSP Media, Son Dam-bi and After School from Pledis Entertainment also did not attend the award ceremony but cited scheduling conflicts rather than boycott.[8][9]
2NE1 performing
Kara walking the red carpet
Kara
4Minute performing
Park Ji-yoon and Zhu Dan
Ivy performing
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