MAMA 2021 Full Performance List: NCT, aespa, Ateez, Stray Kids, Ed Sheeran and more
The biggest night in K-pop is almost here. With the award season beginning, the K-pop industry, as well as fans, are looking forward to the Mnet Asian Music Awards aka MAMA. Since its inauguration in 1999, the glamorous night has been hosted all over Asia. With it only getting bigger and bigger every year, the organizers are even thinking of taking it to the USA and including new international categories. Well, we have the air date, venue and nominations for MAMA 2021. And fans were eagerly waiting for the performance lineup which includes the likes of Ateez, Stray Kids and NCT.
It had earlier been reported that Wanna One would be reuniting after three years on the stage of MAMA 2021 as they will have a special performance. Mnet also announced that the eight participating crews of their first all-female dance competition ‘Street Woman Fighter’ would be present. On top of that, the next artist in the performance lineup surprised everyone as it was announced that Ed Sheeran had been invited. And now, we have the complete list of the performance lineup for the K-pop award show.
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Artists attending MAMA 2021
The 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards will be held on December 11 at 6 pm KST (4 am ET) on Mnet's YouTube channel. They have also revealed those who will be attending the K-pop award show.
Presenters lineup
MAMA 2021 announced the lineup for the presenters who would be announcing the performances and giving away the awards.
K-pop idols - Rain, Uhm Junghwa, Super Junior's Siwon, Girls' Generation's Sooyoung and Tiffany
Actors - Kwon Yul ('Dali and Cocky Prince'), Kim Seo-hyung ('Mine'), Kim Young-dae ('The Penthouse'), Kim Hye-yun ('Extraordinary You'), Nam Yoon-soo ('The King's Affection), Song Joong-ki ('Vincenzo'), Ahn Bo-hyun ('My Name'), Yeo Jin-goo ('Hotel Del Luna'), Lee Do-hyun ('Sweet Home'), Lee Sun-bin ('Work Later, Drink Now'), Jo Bo-ah ('Tale of the Nine Tailed'), Jo Jung-suk ('Hospital Playlist'), Han Ye-ri ('Minari'), Heo Sung-tae ('Squid Game')
Other entertainers - Gabee of LACHICA, Prowdmon's Monika, Noh Hong-chul, HAHA, Ed Sheeran
MAMA 2021 performance lineup
On November 25, Mnet announced the performance lineup for MAMA 2021 which includes veteran groups like Brave Girls, currently popular fourth-gen groups like Stray Kids, Japanese groups like INI and monster rookies like aespa. And while ARMY have loved BTS' performances at MAMA through the years, they will not be attending this year due to new travel guidelines. The special stage for 'Show Me The Money's 10th anniversary will be pre-recorded at a later date due to a staff testing positive for Covid-19.
Aespa
Rookie girl group aespa has been nominated for ‘Artist of the Year’, ‘Song of the Year’, ‘Best Dance Performance - Female Group’, ‘Best New Female Artist’ ‘Album of the Year’ and ‘Worldwide Fans’ Choice Top 10’ in their first year at MAMA.
Ateez
Fans were angry that while Mnet praised them for their choreography and invited them for their survival show ‘Kingdom’, the boy group was snubbed and has not been nominated in any of the major award categories. They have only been nominated in the fan-votes-based category ‘Fans’ Choice’.
Brave Girls
The second-gen group has been nominated in four categories following the chart reversal of their 2017 song ‘Rollin’. This is the first time they have been nominated since their one rookie award nomination at 2011 MAMA. For 2021 MAMA, they are nominated for ‘Artist of the Year’, ‘Best Female Group’, ‘Album of the Year’ and ‘Fans’ Choice’.
Ed Sheeran
He previously had a K-pop collaboration with Sunmi and Jessi for the ‘Shivers’ remix.
Enhypen
The rookie group has been nominated for ‘Best New Male Artist’, ‘Artist of the Year’, ‘Fans’ Choice’ and ‘Album of the Year’.
INI
The J-pop group was formed in November 2021 from the Japanese version of ‘Produce 101’ Season 2.
Itzy and 'Squid Game' actor Heo Sung-tae
They have been nominated for ‘Artist of the Year’, ‘Song of the Year’, ‘Fans’ Choice’, ‘Best Female Group’, ‘Best Dance Performance - Female Group’ and ‘Album of the Year’. Itzy will have a special stage with Heo Sung-tae who played one of the antagonists in 'Squid Game'.
Jannabi
Indie rock band Jannabi are nominated for 'Best Band Performance', 'Song of the Year' and 'Fans' Choice'.
JO1
The J-pop group was formed from the Japanese version of ‘Produce 101’ and won ‘Best New Asian Artist’ at MAMA 2020.
Kep1er
Update: The girl group formed from Mnet’s survival show ‘Girls Planet 999’ were supposed to debut on December 14 after performing at MAMA 2021. But due to a staff member testing positive for Covid-19, Kep1er will not be attending MAMA 2021 and their debut date has been pushed to January 3, 2022.
NCT 127
The group is nominated for ‘Album of the Year’, ‘Artist of the Year’, ‘Song of the Year’, ‘Fans’ Choice’, ‘Best Male Group’ and ‘Best Dance Performance - Male Group’. We also have the sub-unit NCT U -- Doyoung, Jungwoo, Mark, Xiaojun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Yangyang and Shotaro who are set to perform 'Universe (Let's Play Ball)' for the first time at MAMA 2021.
NCT Dream
The second NCT sub-unit is also nominated for ‘Album of the Year’, ‘Artist of the Year’, ‘Song of the Year’, ‘Fans’ Choice’, ‘Best Male Group’ and ‘Best Dance Performance - Male Group’.
Stray Kids
They are nominated for ‘Artist of the Year’, ‘Song of the Year’, ‘Fans’ Choice’, ‘Best Male Group’, ‘Best Dance Performance - Male Group’ and ‘Album of the Year’.
Lee Hyori and ‘Street Woman Fighter’ crews
The ‘Street Woman Fighter’ crews — HolyBang, Hook, Lachica, Coca N Butter, YGX, Prowdmon, WANT and WAYB will be performing. Lee Hyori, the MC of this year will be performing at MAMA for the first time in 13 years.
TXT
They have been nominated for ‘Artist of the Year’, ‘Album of the Year’, ‘Fans’ Choice’ and ‘Best Male Group’.
Wanna One
Unfortunately, only 10 members will be reuniting since Kuanlin has a busy schedule.
MAMA 2021 will be held on December 11 at 6 pm KST (4 am ET) and can be live-streamed on Mnet’s YouTube channel.