A week after the MAMA Awards, it’s Melon’s turn to throw its annual celebration. Since the ceremony is centered around a digital streaming service, the criteria is more statistics-based than other shows. However, I’m always surprised how many random award categories these events can come up with to make sure everyone goes home with something. Congratulations to all the winners, of course. It was nice to see so many newer acts be awarded so heavily.
Honorable Mention: ATEEZ
ATEEZ’s theatrical performance would have made my list if they had better songs this year. As it stands, it felt like a lot of pomp and circumstance propping up so-so material. Very solid on a technical and staging level, though.
5. AESPA
I still find Whiplash monotonous as a performance, but I loved the symphonic reworking of Supernova. I think they could have pushed the mix even further and gone really celestial with the instrumental. I would have loved some live instrumentation on the stage, too.
4. BOYNEXTDOOR
Wow, what a ferocious mix of Earth, Wind & Fire! BND lend themselves to a rock-infused approach and it was fun to see them let loose on this song. They really burst with personality and both songs drew upon that strength.
3. TWS
I predict we’ll hear just about every possible rearrangement of Plot Twist during TWS’s year-end stages. I didn’t love this video game mix as much as last week’s marching band interpretation, but it was still a total shot of adrenaline. The jump rope performance between songs was incredibly impressive.
2. TRIPLES
There’s a lot you can do on stage with so many members, and I thought the opening dance sequence was really well done. I also liked the rock remix of the track. You’ll always get me with a rock remix, and it was smart to focus the whole performance on one song rather than a medley.
1. RIIZE
Combo makes for a very dramatic awards show performance. The video interstitial between songs was a bit too long and killed momentum, but the combination of guitar and dance leading into Boom Boom Bass was brilliant and the rock mix toward the end of the song was even better. I told you I love a rock remix!
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I hope one day we’ll get Wonbin playing the guitar and Anton playing the cello on a stage. It’s gives performances an umph. I agree, cut scenes are getting a bit too long for my taste. I think it’ll be interesting what SM will try to do with the eclipse concept/sun they’ve been pushing (is it naive to hope for a Rising Sun-esque song?). I don’t remember exactly, but last I remember an eclipse this prominent (from SM artists) was in the EXO’s ‘What is Love’ mv (btw, perfect song for the season, and the Miracles in December album has been enjoying quite the play in my playlists). I love how they refer to themselves as rockstars, but I would say they could also call themselves groovestars, because those funky guitars that appear frequently in their music are so well done.
I absolutely loved how cinematic Supernova felt, and it deserves that treatment for all of its accomplishments
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Idk I think the symphonic elements of Supernova are more distracting than anything. They don’t seem to be properly integrated– simultaneously replacing too much of the original arrangement while also letting enough of the original to remain that the end result is just supernova with strings and brass playing at the same time. Cool idea, but unfocused enough to not really accomplish anything.
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all i can say about melon is fuck. them.
they made a bts tribute video to air doe the awards where they purposefully excluded yoongi from any clips
think about that, they’re treating him like he doesnt exist over falling off a fucking scooter while drunk! yet they apparently showed fucking seungri in the same award show!!!
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Excuse me?!? They did what!!! So you’re telling me they consider someone drunk on while riding a scooter worse then an actual sexual offender?!?
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south korean entertainment is a fucked up place
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Then, why don’t they remove all the songs which he made as well?
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It’s a shame we couldn’t get OT24 tripleS to perform (∞! are still promoting in Japan) but their performance was awesome. That opening sequence with Seoyeon and Jiyeon (the first and last member) was so good + I have a love-hate relationship with Modhaus stylists, but they ate with these outfits. Overall, I think they did an amazing job at conveying the message of the song. The only thing I would’ve changed about this performance is having OT24.
Also, the parallels between their performance and that one scene from the Rising music video made me emotional, the girls have come a long way :’)
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My favourite performance was definitely IVE. (Melon didn’t upload it initially with the rest but it’s there now.) It felt so fresh to base the whole concept around a (very good) B-side, and both the ballet and symphonic elements fit in great. The whole thing was just very well executed. Plus these ladies are showing up to these awards shows with the confidence of a group that just came back from a world tour and are not afraid to sing live, which makes the performance so much more satisfying to watch.
Speaking of singing live, both YOASOBI and (especially) Christopher really showed these Korean idols how it’s done.
Finally TripleS proved once again how hilariously outrageous a group they are (in a good way): 1/3 of the group was otherwise engaged and so as a result they showed up with “only” 16 members.
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I LOVED WONYOUNG’S BALLET PERFORMANCE
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I loved BoyNextDoor’s and TWS’s performance very much. I believe my liking for their music spilled over to the performances as well. I also liked Lee YoungJi’s performance this time more than MAMA.
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I love Combo, but why did the RIIZE boys look so terrified? They didn’t look nervous; they looked scared. It’s like they were looking around waiting for something really bad to happen. It was pretty sad to watch.
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I loved Christopher’s performance, he’s so good. He filled the stage on his own. That’s why I felt bad about the audience’s somewhat cold reaction.
Now I agree with you about singing live. Christopher did spectacularly but I’d like to see if he can sing just as well dancing Boom Boom Bass or Plot Twist. I don’t defend lypsinc although there are cases, especially in boy groups, who have a very intense choreography and this makes singing live very difficult.
Aespa disappointed me a lot by not singing any of their songs live, they already have a long career and the 4th generation groups that performed did sing live or made the effort. Aespa doesn’t have an intense choreography so I don’t understand why they keep doing lypsinc, all of that made their performance look bad when they were the artists of the night.
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Did you mean to reply to me? Eh my personal position is that if the choreography is too intense to sing then maybe they should have dialled it back to begin with (or tweaked it for the awards shows specifically), but clearly these agencies have decided that they don’t expect lip-syncing to affect the reputations or sales of their idol groups. A shame really.
And I agree it’s particularly disappointing with Aespa because they certainly don’t lack the skill! They recently performed the same songs live on KBS The Seasons and they completely nailed them, plus they looked way more invested in their own performance when they were singing live. In the MMA stage… they looked like they were just going through the motions.
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A bit confused by this ranking.
Aespa and Triples didn’t sing a word live and their dances were lukewarm. Nor did they do any interesting stages.
What was the point of these performances?
Youngji, IVE and Gidle atleast managed a note every now and then.
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yeah i found ive’s performance the best, it’s a shame melon didn’t upload it until a day after which entirely killed the momentum
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