The 22nd annual Korean Music Awards has revealed this year’s winners!

On February 27 at 8 p.m. KST, the 22nd Korean Music Awards took place, announcing the winners across various music categories.

Unlike many other South Korean music awards, which typically use sales figures as a major criterion in determining each year’s winners, the Korean Music Awards focuses on musical achievement as its primary criterion. The Korean Music Awards also places greater importance on albums and songs in and of themselves.

This year, aespa took home three awards after receiving five nominations, winning Song of the Year, Best K-pop Album, and Best K-pop Song.

Lee Seung Yoon, who also snagged three awards, was named Artist of the Year, while Danpyunsun and the Moments Ensemble, the most nominated indie group, earned Album of the Year.

Check out all of the winners below!

Song of the Year: aespa – “Supernova”

Album of the Year: Danpyunsun and the Moments Ensemble – “Hail to the Music”

Artist of the Year: Lee Seung Yoon

Rookie of the Year: Sanmanhan

Best K-Pop Album: aespa – “Armageddon”

Best K-Pop Song: aespa – “Supernova”

Best Pop Album:John Park – “PSST!”

Best Pop Song:BIBI – “Bam Yang Gang”

Best Rock Album: Soumbalgwang – “Fire & Light”

Best Rock Song: Lee Seung Yoon – “Anthems of Defiance”

Best Modern Rock Album: Danpyunsun and the Moments Ensemble – “Hail to the Music”

Best Modern Rock Song: Lee Seung Yoon – “Waterfall”

Best R&B and Soul Album: SUMIN, Slom – “MINISERIES 2”

Best R&B and Soul Song:Jung In, Mild Beats – “Blame”

Best Rap and Hip Hop Album: B-Free, Hukky Shibaseki – “Free Hukky Shibaseki & the God Sun Symphony Group : Odyssey.1”

Best Rap and Hip Hop Song:G-Dragon (BIGBANG) – “POWER”

Best Electronic Album: NET GALA – “GALAPAGGOT”

Best Electronic Song: Mount XLR – “Oving”

Best Folk Album: Moher – “Kaleidoscope”

Best Folk Song: Kang Asol – “Anyone But Me”

Best Metal & Hardcore Album: Seaweed Mustache – “2”

Best Jazz Vocal Album: Jihye Lee Orchestra – “Infinite Connections”

Best Jazz Music Album: Nam Yeji – “Old Songs, Tmmm”

Best Global Contemporary Album: BANDO – “Shape of the Land”

Honorary Award: Lee Ho Jun

Committee’s Special Award: LIVE CLUB DAY

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners!

Source (1)

BLACKPINK’s Jisoo has snagged her first music show trophy for “earthquake”!

On the February 27 episode of M Countdown, the candidates for first place were BLACKPINK’s Jennie‘s “ExtraL” (feat. Doechii) and Jisoo’s “earthquake.” Jisoo ultimately took the prize with a total of 9,266 points.

Congratulations to Jisoo!

Today’s episode also marked RIIZE’s Sohee’s last day as the show’s MC. Watch a clip of the winner announcement as well as Sohee’s farewell greeting below!

Performers on today’s show included BIGBANG’s G-Dragon, ONF, ZEROBASEONE, Hearts2Hearts, KiiiKiii, EVNNE, KickFlip, ONE PACT, ALL(H)OURS, ARrC, LUN8, NouerA, Gyubin, and special performance from MCs Sung Han Bin, Jaehyun, and Sohee.

Check out their performances below!

G-Dragon – “TOO BAD” (feat. Anderson .Paak) + “DRAMA”

Sung Han Bin, Jaehyun, and Sohee – “Love Equation” (Orig. VIXX)

ONF – “The Stranger”

ZEROBASEONE – “BLUE” + “Devil Game”

Hearts2Hearts – “The Chase”

KiiiKiii – “I DO ME”

EVNNE – “HOT MESS”

KickFlip – “Knock Knock”

ONE PACT – “100!”

ALL(H)OURS – “ Graffiti”

ARrC – “nu kidz”

LUN8 – “Butterfly”

NouerA – “N.I.N (New is Now)”

Gyubin – “LIKE U 100”

The Korean Business Research Institute has published its brand reputation rankings for all stars during the month of February!

The rankings were determined through an analysis of various stars’ media coverage, consumer participation, interaction, and community awareness indexes, using big data collected from January 26 to February 26.

IVE topped this month’s list after seeing a whopping 122.01 percent increase in their brand reputation index since January, bringing their total score to 10,567,361.

Choo Young Woo shot to second place with a brand reputation index of 7,871,201, marking a 94.81 percent rise in his score since last month.

Meanwhile, Lim Young Woong came in at a close third with a brand reputation index of 7,650,766.

BLACKPINK ranked fourth for February with a brand reputation index of 7,112,499.

Finally, Yoo Jae Suk rounded out the top five with a brand reputation index of 2,453,609, marking a 30.76 percent increase in his score since January.

Check out the top 30 for this month below!

1. IVE
2. Choo Young Woo
3. Lim Young Woong
4. BLACKPINK
5. Yoo Jae Suk
6. BTS
7. Byeon Woo Seok
8. Lee Jun Hyuk
9. Lee Byung Hun
10. Ju Ji Hoon
11. Lee Jung Jae
12. SEVENTEEN
13. ASTRO’s Cha Eun Woo
14. Lee Chan Won
15. Kwon Sang Woo
16. Kim Jong Min
17. Park Ji Hyun
18. aespa
19. Jung Hae In
20. Han Ji Min
21. Lee Byung Hun (This repetition appears to be an error by the Korean Business Research Institute.)
22. EXO
23. Faker
24. BIGBANG
25. SHINee
26. Song Joong Ki
27. Jun Hyun Moo
28. Red Velvet
29. Song Hye Kyo
30. DAY6

Check out Choo Young Woo’s drama “Oasis” with subtitles on Viki below:

Watch Now

And watch Yoo Jae Suk in his variety show “Whenever Possible” below!

Watch Now

Source (1)

BIGBANG has hit the 600 million mark for the second time on YouTube!

On February 27 at approximately 5:17 a.m. KST, BIGBANG’s music video for their 2012 hit “FANTASTIC BABY” surpassed 600 million views on YouTube, making it their second music video to achieve the feat after “BANG BANG BANG.”

BIGBANG originally released “FANTASTIC BABY” on March 7, 2012 at midnight KST, meaning that it took the song around 12 years, 11 months, and 20 days to reach the milestone.

Congratulations to BIGBANG!

Watch the epic music video for “FANTASTIC BABY” again below: