Stars take to the stage for this year's Mnet Asian Music Awards

PAJU — The Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) returned to the offline stage after two years on Saturday evening, complete with a star-studded list of presenters and performers. The five-hour event took place at the CJ ENM Content Studio in Paju ..

The 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) took place at the CJ ENM Content Studio in Paju, Gyeonggi, on Saturday. Singer Lee Hyo-ri, who served as the awards’ first-ever female host, graced the stage with the all-female dance crews featured on Mnet’s hit competition show “Street Woman Fighter.” [CJ ENM]

PAJU — The Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) returned to the offline stage after two years on Saturday evening, complete with a star-studded list of presenters and performers.

The five-hour event took place at the CJ ENM Content Studio in Paju, Gyeonggi, with on-site audience while simultaneously being broadcast live on television.

Girl group aespa performs its hit song "Next Level" (2021). [CJ ENM]

aespa won Best New Female Artist and Best Dance Performance Female Group. [CJ ENM]

Notable winners include aespa for Best New Female Artist and Best Dance Performance Female Group; Enhypen for Best New Male Artist; Brave Girls for KTO Break Out Artist; Jannabi for Best Band Performance; Japanese boy band INI for Favorite Asian Artist; BTS for Best Male Group, Best Dance Performance Male and Tiktok Album of the Year with “Be” (2020); Twice for Best Female Group; IU for Best Female Artist and Best Vocal Performance; Baekhyun of boy band Exo for Best Male Artist and Rosé of Blackpink for Best Dance Performance Solo.

Boy band Ateez performs during MAMA 2021. [CJ ENM]

The artists recognized as “Worldwide Fans' Choice Top 10” were boy bands Stray Kids, NCT Dream, NCT 127, Enhypen, Tomorrow X Together, BTS, Seventeen, Treasure, girl group Twice and Lisa of girl group Blackpink.

Boy band Wanna One, which disbanded in early 2019, reunited especially for the ceremony to perform their hits “Energetic” (2017) and “Burn It Up” (2017).

Boy band Wanna One, which disbanded in early 2019, specially reunited for MAMA 2021. [CJ ENM]

British singer Ed Sheeran, who was awarded Favorite International Artist, performed a specially rearranged mashup of his hit songs “Bad Habits” (2021) and “Shivers” (2021).

Performances from K-pop acts incorporated augmented reality (AR) and extended reality (XR) technology to offer a spectacle for viewers both in Korea and all over the world.

Actor Lee Jung-jae served as one of the presenters at MAMA 2021. [CJ ENM]

Popular actors such as Ahn Bo-hyun, Song Joong-ki, Cho Jung-seok and “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae, along with singers Rain and Tiffany Young were among the list of star presenters who announced winners and handed out trophies.

For the finale, singer Lee Hyo-ri, who served as the awards’ first-ever female host, graced the stage with the all-female dance crews featured on Mnet’s hit competition show “Street Woman Fighter.”

Boy band NCT 127 performs its song "Favorite (Vampire)" (2021) during MAMA 2021. [CJ ENM]

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]