BTS, Blackpink, Seventeen win big at MTV Video Music Awards

BTS (top) and Blackpink. Image: Big Hit Entertainment, Yonhap via The Korea Herald

BTS, Blackpink and Seventeen took home a bag of trophies from the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards, extending a winning streak for K-pop in the global music scene.

BTS, the most-nominated group of this year’s awards ceremony, won for group of the year for the fourth consecutive year. The MTV VMAs are one of the four major annual United States music shows, along with the Billboard Music Awards, Grammy Awards and American Music Awards.

The K-pop phenomenon’s win was announced at the award ceremony held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Sunday, but the bandmates did not make the trip to the show this time as they are currently focusing on solo projects here in South Korea.

Other nominees who competed in the same category were Blackpink, City Girls, Foo Fighters, Imagine Dragons, Maneskin, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Silk Sonic. BTS was also nominated for best K-pop, best choreography, best metaverse performance and best visual effects. Jungkook was nominated separately in the song of the summer category for “Left and Right,” his collaboration with U.S. singer-songwriter Charlie Puth.

The septet picked up its first awards at the VMAs in 2019 by winning for best group and best K-pop. It collected another four trophies in 2020 and three more at last year’s VMAs. Alongside BTS, other K-pop artists snagged nominations at this year’s VMAs and took home prizes as well.

Blackpink was also nominated in group of the year and best metaverse performance. The last time the act won at the U.S. music show was in 2020, when it became the first K-pop girl group to nab a trophy for song of the summer with the 2020 hit, “How You Like That.”

Before the ceremony began, Blackpink took home the award for the newly created best metaverse performance for its in-game concert in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Other nominees included BTS, Charli XCX, Justin Bieber, Rift Tour and Twenty One Pilots.

Lisa, who received the award for best K-pop, after beating strong fellow competitors — BTS, Itzy, Seventeen, Stray Kids and Twice — became the first solo female K-pop star to attain the honor at the annual U.S. music show.

Blackpink also became the first female K-pop act to perform at the MTV VMAs and the fourth among all girl groups on the stage, following TLC, the Spice Girls and Fifth Harmony. The act graced the annual event with a performance of its latest single, “Pink Venom.”

Boy band Seventeen was announced as the winner of “Push” performance of the year, after the group was named as the first-ever K-pop artist to be part of the global “MTV Push” program. With this win, the group has become the first K-pop act to take home the award. JB

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