Colton: What do you guys know about
end of the year award show programs for K-pop?
Jason: Nothing!
Jacob: Literally nothing.
Colton: Alright, well today you're gonna learn a lot.
The MAMA Awards is a major music award ceremony
presented annually by entertainment company CJ ENM.
The MAMA Awards was launched in 2009 as MNET Asian Music Awards,
declaring itself the first Asian music awards in Korea.
And now they are rebranding to MAMA Awards
with the goal of becoming the worlds number one K-pop award show
as they set to grow beyond the borders of Asia to the rest of the world.
The concept of 2022 MAMA Awards is 'K-pop world citizenship'.
It delivers the message that the moment when a lot of I's
who love K-pop gather together and become we,
the fans all around the globe can stay equal within music
and stand in solidarity with music.
Therefore they hope to spread the mindset
of K-pop world citizenship through a tesseract
As global fans gather and create fandom
the fandoms who gather together will spread the message,
eventually expanding with the space time, like a tesseract.
The trophy, called the hypercube, is gold in color
to both reflect on their heritage
while also representing the continuity of the gold journey
of the artist and the fans.
Each side of the hypercube contains a meaning.
The nonstop challenge.
The undying passion.
The endless dream.
The limitless development.
The expansion beyond the rule.
And the originality of the artist who wins it.
Are you guys ready to react to a compilation video
introducing you to 2022's nominated best new female and male artist?
Ju Young: Hell yeah. Ali: Yeah.
Jacob: I feel like I'm about to watch the Olympics.
Jason: The Olympics of K-pop.
Jacob: Oh?
Ju Young: That's like the cleanest dance ever.
Like, it's so, like, in-sync.
Jason: I think it's very interesting that the camera work is syncing up with some of the movements,
it really emphasizes their movements.
And I like that of course, when the timbre changes, piano comes in and stuff,
it slows and starts zooming, that's nice.
Ali: How did they do that?
They just like did so much cardio and are singing effortlessly?
Jason: Nice.
Jacob: A lot of this feels really angular which I think is interesting
cuz a lot of what we were talking about before was how
a lot of the Award ceremonies are inspired by geometric stuff
Jason: Yeah.
Ju Young: I like how bright it is but it's also kind of spooky,
Ju Young: like it's very like... (Ali: The song?) ...yeah.
Jason: Going from like a rapper and then into harmony voices,
how it shifted like that, so it was nice.
Jason: Nice.
Jacob: Oh, I love the choreo.
Ali: I like that.
Jacob: I like this vibe.
The other, like, I feel like the first one had like a really bad boy,
like you know, like edgy vibe, and this one is really soft.
Jason: Oh the music is so good!
Ju Young: It's similar to the first group that we listened to, they like,
they have something like "aaaa", in the pre-chorus
Jacob: Okay?
Jason: These guys are good.
Jacob: That was like a high D. What the heck? That was so pretty.
Jason: Oh?
The set work is really good too, the backing and everything.
Ali: It's always like cute and bubbly in the chorus, (Ju Young: Yes)
Ali: And then when you listen to the verse it's just like:
"We're men"
Feel tough!
Ju Young: John Deer!
Ali: Ford. Built to last!
Jacob: Oh my god this is just like really cute.
Jason: Yeah the bass was really nice there.
Ali: But this is so cute!
Ju Young: It's so youthful!
Ali: Yeah. Like, all look really young.
Ju Young: Yeah!
Jason: It's almost addicting to watch, like,
especially because the camera angles work so well with the music
and the artists themselves in the choreography.
Like, you just, you don't get bored watching it.
Ju Young: See, it always breaks down.
It's so, like mellow.
Jason: That's fantastic.
Jacob: Oh here we go.
Jason: Yeah.
Ali: That's hype!
Ju Young: The production though, like the confetti-
Ali: I know...
Jason: Oh, it looks like
these awards have some pretty great groups on them, so...
That's fantastic.
Ju Young: I feel like the camerawork too, like it's so- look at that!
Ali: Yeah, I noticed there's one in this video.
Ju Young: Yeah
Ali: Did you like the zoom in?
Ju Young: Yeah, and then that *grwpslk*
Oohhh~
I like kinda know this group.
Ali: Do they play for real?
Ju Young: Yeah, they play for real.
Ali: Oh, that's kinda tight.
Ju Young: They're from JYP, right?
The Heroes? The He-
Jacob: Okay, this is different.
Jason: Yeah
Jason: Fire.
Ju Young: It's so spooky.
Ali: It is really spooky.
Jacob: I love the chromaticism in the vocal line, it's so new,
I feel like oftentimes it's so normal to have chromaticism
either in the lower notes or only in the accompaniment, but like...
Jason: Oh, that was nice.
Ju Young: Wow.
Ali: I like this one the most, I feel. Ju Young: Wow. Wohohow!
Ju Young: It's giving...
Ju Young: What's that anime, that high school anime? Ali: That's really clean.
Ali: Ouran High School Host Club? Ju Young: Yeah!
Jacob: Ohh~
Jason: I'm loving the color palette of the background
and their suits and everything.
Ju Young: I like the synth.
Like, this is the type of synth that I like.
It's like cute but also like...
like, "bwaa!"
Jason: I love the music.
Jacob: Awww
Jason: The grooving kind of like rhythm guitar.
Ju Young: I like this, I really like this one.
Ali: Mhm Ju Young: This is cute!
Jacob: And I feel like the TBB [Tenor, Bass, Baritone] voice is really nice.
Jason: And I also like how there is like screens behind and actual set.
Ju Young: Look at him, he's so cute!
Jacob: Oh that was so nice, oh my gosh. Jason: That was awesome.
Jacob: There is so much variety between all the groups. Jason: Yeah, I would absolutely watch this to discover new groups.
Jason: I think that's something that's missing a lot today is like,
there is so many really good artists everywhere,
in any field, any genre,
but there is no place that you can go which is like:
Alright, let me watch a bunch of good groups.
Colton: Let's move on to the best new female artist.
Jason: Alright, good?
Ju Young: Okay, I'm excited for the girl groups.
Ali: Do we know them?
Ju Young: Yeah, I think we listened to them.
Jason: The camera work is really nice.
That really brings you in.
Oh, interesting.
Also brings you into their choreography,
which then, the choreography brings you into the music.
Physical into aural.
Very cool.
Jacob: Mm.
Ali: You know what this set looks like?
You know in Hercules, when they're like in Mount Olympus
and like, Hercules is a baby?
Ali: Those vibes. Ju Young; Ahhh~
Ju Young: Maybe this-
I don't know what this song is, but maybe that's what it's about.
Jacob: It's so engaging,
I feel like especially because the bass line feels like a heart thump
and there's a lot of like, you know,
like lovey, like heart imagery and like...
Their choreo as well.
Ju Young: Women? We love women.
Jason: Oh see, that was good. Jacob: Mhm.
Jason: Double timing it.
Jacob: Now this is impressive because the formations are so complicated.
Ali: This one, this one is a vibe.
Ju Young: EhhHh~
Jason: I'm really enjoying how like the backgrounds are changing so drastically.
And that they are very interesting and very cool.
Ju Young: There's like so much going on.
Ali: There's a lot of them. Ju Young: Like so many like...
Jacob: Sserafim~
Jacob: Oh my god!
I've seen this song, it's literally a favorite!
Jacob: I just feel like this group has so much performance potential.
I feel like that the characters and the attitudes they choose are so strong.
Ali: I like their voice.
Ju Young: Hm?
Ali: I like her voice.
Ju Young: Mm.
Jacob: ~What you lookin' at? What you, what you lookin' at?~
Jason: Okay Jacob... this is good.
I like the kind of slap bass figure going on.
But there was a-
That's great, almost like a cowbell type thing.
Yeah, it's good influence by funk
and it's influenced by rock, vocally, in the beginning.
Ju Young: We know them! Ali: Oh we know them!
Ali: I really like them.
Jacob: Hm, this is an interesting beginning.
Jason: That's a GORGEOUS set.
Ju Young: It's giving school girl vibes.
Jacob: This is theater, they're like... Jason: Yeah, literally. This is incorporating theater
Jason: in life performance like that.
Jacob: Hmmmmm
Jason: Interesting.
Ju Young: They use the most interesting instruments.
Ali: Yeah, even with the synth. Ju Young: In this song.
Ju Young: Yeah, and then that little *clink* Ali: It's like so soft bodied.
Ali: But it's still percussive.
Jason: That's really interesting.
With that pulsating offbeat kinda...
and its more dissonant harmony on the last chord.
Ju Young: I think this camera work is like the smoothest. (Ali: Mmm)
Jason: I like how it's kind of in a 3-ish feel.
But it's not, it's:
It could be felt in compound duple.
That's really cool.
And now it brings you to:
Uh!
Look at that set in the back, what the hell, that's crazy!
A whole bike in there?!
Ju Young: Oh wait, so is this a solo artist?
She is a solo artist!
Ali: Oh.
Jason: The camera work is so mesmerizing,
like it just goes perfectly with the choreography.
That's actually something in classical music that's important,
is that when people are videoing classical music, like,
the one who is doing the camera work needs to know the score,
like, when do I go to the timpani, when do I go to the clarinet,
when do I go to the conductor, when do I go to the cellos,
it's the same here, it's like
they need to know the choreography very well
to be able to get when they are moving this way or that way or something,
so that's really cool.
Ju Young: Like, the sets are insane. Look at that! Ali: That's so nice.
Colton: To watch the grand performances from many artists
and see who wins what awards,
MAMA Awards is held in Japan for two days on November 29th and 30th
as well as live streamed on YouTube.
Jacob: It's on YouTube? I'll definitely watch it. Jason: Now I'm curious to see like what's gonna happen
Jason: After we put our votes in, so now it's like, huh...
Jacob: You're invested.
Jason: Right, now we're invested!