This 2022, the American Music Awards (AMAs) has added six more categories, which included Favorite K-pop Artist! Interestingly, among the other three major U.S. music awarding bodies (Grammy Awards and Billboard Music Awards), AMAs is the first to have a category dedicated to K-pop artists.
According to reports, the act of AMAs including a category for K-pop "celebrates the latest and greatest of the contemporary music scene." Supplementarily, the U.S. music magazine, Billboard, mentioned that it is a "breakthrough" for K-pop to have its category in the awarding body.
AMAs is an annual event pioneered by Dick Clark in 1973. AMAs were put into flesh when Grammy Award's contract to air on ABC Network got expired. For this year, the prestigious awarding ceremony will be held on November 21, 2022, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.
On October 13, 2022 (local time), the AMAs released the roster of nominees. For 2022, five respected K-pop groups bagged their nominations for the newly inaugurated award category and a handful of these groups will debut as AMAs nominees through this category. Alongside, forty other artists are also first-time nominees.
BTS, SEVENTEEN, More Bag Nominations
The inaugural competitors for the Favorite K-pop Artist are BLACKPINK, BTS, SEVENTEEN, TXT, and TWICE. Moreover, BTS is also nominated in another category - Best Pop Duo or Group Category, going head-to-head against Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, Maneskin, and OneRepublic.
Since the 47th AMAs, BTS has been bringing home the bacon for Best Pop Duo/Group. Will they bring home the pride once again for this year? Also, last 2021, the multi-awarded pride of South Korea received the "Favorite Pop Song" for 'Butter' and the honorable "Artist of the Year," making them the first Asian act to do so.
READ MORE: BTS Wins in 3 Categories at the 2021 AMA Including 'Artist of the Year' + Performs 'My Universe' with Coldplay
To check the full list of nominees for AMAs 2022, you may follow this link. Meanwhile, to know the voting procedures, you may click this link.
K-Pop Gears for Further International Dominance
Korean popular music, known for the mononymous "K-pop," is continuously proving to the world that this genre is indeed POPULAR!
The addition of the Favorite K-pop Artist category in AMAs supports this claim. According to reports, transcending the timeline of K-pop in the global landscape, the said genre emerged as an "international phenomenon" due to the popularity of enormous forefronts such as hip-hop artist Rain and rapper PSY.
PSY's 'Gangnam Style' currently has 4.5 billion views on YouTube, which significantly helped K-pop to be popularized in other parts of the world.
With the progressive fame of K-pop, fans are hoping that this will not just be an opportunity to spread the love for pop culture and music but become an opportunity to introduce Asian culture.
Who are you rooting for in AMAs 2022? Stay in tune with the updates for this music award through clicking here.
KpopStarz own this article.
Sophia Carson wrote this.