South Korean K-pop boy band SEVENTEEN won the grand prize of “Album of the Year,” in the 2023 MAMA Awards with their album, “FML.”

They achieved the MAMA grand prize for the first time in the team’s 9 year history.

The MAMA Awards, also known as the Mnet Asian Music Awards, is one of the most famous and important music award ceremonies in Korea.

It was first awarded on November 27th, 1999, and the ceremony has continued to this very day.

The MAMA Awards is presented by CJ ENM and broadcasted through Mnet, CJ ENM’s music channel.

The MAMA Awards initially began recognizing only K-pop artists in Korea but today award Asian artists from around the continent.

In addition, through the rise of global K-pop fans, the MAMA Awards started to be held in other Asian countries.

SEVENTEEN is currently signed under Pledis Entertainment of the Hybe Corporation.

SEVENTEEN debuted on May 26th, 2015 with 13 members. Such large groups are uncommon in the K-pop industry.

They became known as the first K-pop idols to produce their own songs and compose their own choreography.

SEVENTEEN is well known for their performances due in part to the large number of members in the group.

In 2023, SEVENTEEN broke their first week sales record with their 11th EP, “Seventeenth Heaven,” beating their previous record release “FML”, by over 5 million copies.

Over 10 million copies of their albums were sold in 2023 alone.

With such an achievement, they became the first K-pop idols to present in the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France.

They spoke of their own story through a speech in the 13th UNESCO Youth Forum.

SEVENTEEN spoke to youths all around the world about achieving their dreams through learning how to progress in their journey as singers.

They also emphasized the importance of volunteering by speaking about their own experience of donating their first earned income to children in Africa.

SEVENTEEN’s influence on youths and teenagers all around the world led UNESCO headquarters to be filled up fully with people for the first time ever.

UNESCO highlighted the positive influence that SEVENTEEN could spread all around the world and the role artists can play in global dialogues and inspiring youths towards meaningful change.

This is not SEVENTEEN’s first bout with success.

SEVENTEEN won “World Performer” in the 2016 MAMA Awards, which was their first award from the MAMA.

In 2017, they won “Best Dance Performance Male Group” in the MAMA awards.

Their popularity only grew from that point and SEVENTEEN won a further 3 awards in 2018, 2 awards in 2019, 3 awards in 2020, 1 award in 2021, and 3 in 2022.

In 2023, they won five categories, making them the most decorated artist of the MAMA awards show.

Through the engagement between members and fans over the past eight years, SEVENTEEN finally won the most prestigious prize, also called the “Daesang,” of the MAMA Awards,

“Album of the Year.”

Yuna Lee

Grade 9

Jones International Christian School