Seventeen, first grand prize in 8 years since debut... A total of 5 wins at the ‘2023 MAMA Awards’

“It took a long time for us, Seventeen, to reach the grand prize. I received a lot of criticism from the beginning. Everyone said right in front of my eyes that it would never work... ”

Group Seventeen (S.Coups, Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, The8, Mingyu, DK, Seungkwan, Vernon, Dino) won the grand prize at the '2023 MAMA Awards' eight years after their debut.

Seventeen appeared at the '2023 MAMA Awards' held at Tokyo Dome in Japan for two days from the 28th to the 29th and won the 'Album of the Year' category, receiving the first grand prize at the 'MAMA Awards'. Along with the grand prize, Seventeen won a total of 5 awards, including 'Worldwide Fans' Choice', 'Best Male Group', 'Best Performance Male Group', and 'Bibigo Culture and Style'.

This grand prize has an even more special meaning as it is the first grand prize at the 'MAMA Awards' for Seventeen, who debuted in May 2015 and is now in their 9th year since debut. Seventeen, who was named the winner of the ‘Album of the Year’ (Grand Prize) category on this day, went on stage and delivered their thoughts about winning the award. In particular, general leader S.Coups, who is temporarily on hiatus due to injury, appeared on stage together and cheered from the audience.

S.Coups said, “While we were idols under the name Seventeen, we often thought, ‘Will we be able to win this award even once?’ Thanks to Carat, I am grateful for renewing my contract and allowing me to receive this award. “I want to give glory to CARAT people,” he said with tears in his eyes as he expressed his sincere acceptance of the award.

SEVENTEEN's album producer Woozi opened his mouth with an overflowing heart and added, "It's already been 11 years since I made SEVENTEEN's music, and I'm so grateful for this kind of repayment, and I will work hard to become a good team that presents better music until the end." Lastly, Seventeen expressed their extraordinary love for their fans by conveying their thoughts in English, Chinese, and Japanese for overseas fans.

Seventeen was the main character of the performance on the second day of the ‘2023 MAMA Awards’. When the performance began, the audience cheered and waved light sticks in unison to the music, and Seventeen presented a mega crew performance of 'God of Music' and 'Son Goku' with a total of 80 dancers.

Seventeen heated up the Tokyo Dome by radiating intense energy with overwhelming scale performances of 'God of Music' and 'Son Goku' with augmented reality (AR) added. Seventeen showed off their true value as 'representative K-pop performers' by filling the stage with a spectacular group dance break of 13 members in the middle of the stage and a personal dance break by The8, who seemed to be controlling the choreography team.

With their recently released 11th mini-album 'SEVENTEENTH HEAVEN', SEVENTEEN became the first artist to sell more than 5 million albums in the first week of release, becoming the first K-pop artist to become the first artist to do so. Even in the 9th year since their debut, Seventeen broke various records and became the winner of the 'Album of the Year' award.

Meanwhile, Seventeen will be holding the largest Japanese dome tour since their debut at Vantelin Dome Nagoya on the 30th and December 2-3, Kyocera Dome Osaka on December 7 and 9-10, and Fukuoka PayPay Dome on December 16-17. SEVENTEEN TOUR ‘FOLLOW’ TO JAPAN’ continues.

Kim Se-ah, Ten Asia reporter haesmik@tenasia.co.kr