On the evening of November 16, the Korea Grand Music Awards (KGMA) took place for the first time in Incheon (Korea).
This is a new music award organized by Ilgan Sports newspaper (also the organizer of the Golden Disc Awards), honoring outstanding artists of the year.
The winner is determined through evaluation by a panel of professional judges, fan votes, and the artist's digital music achievements and album sales.
On the first day of the awards ceremony, the 3 Daesang trophies (grand prizes) respectively went to NewJeans (Grand Artist award), (G)I-DLE (Grand Record award) and Zerobaseone (Grand Honors Choice award).
NewJeans brought home their 10th Daesang trophy in their career (Daesang is the most prestigious category at Korean music awards ceremonies), the most among 4th generation Kpop groups.
NewJeans' award acceptance speech also caused a stir on social media, amid the tension between the group's contract with management company ADOR (part of HYBE Group).
Minji shared: “It’s been 2 years since our debut. In the past 2 years, we met a lot of people and learned a lot through many experiences. Today too, we think this is a place where we can learn new things. Thank you very much.
Over the past 2 years, we have had some fun moments, late nights where we stayed up talking to each other. We have also gone through some problems… But through these difficult times, I think NewJeans has become a stronger and closer band.
Thanks to the Bunnies (NewJeans fan community) who have always been there to support us, we were able to do our best to prepare and have fun in everything. The managers and staff have also helped us a lot, really thank you everyone.
And to our CEO (Min Hee Jin) who always gives us the strength to move forward. I don't know if you're following, but I want to say thank you.
In the future, NewJeans will continue to explore new things to create even better music, I hope everyone will look forward to and support the group."
Hanni continued, “We always want to say thank you to the Bunnies. It may sound like a cliche, but we want everyone to know that we mean it from the bottom of our hearts.
We don't know how long we'll be NewJeans, but I think the bond between the five of us and the Bunnies can't be destroyed, so let's stick together until the end."
Finally, Danielle declared: “Even though we are no longer NewJeans, NewJeans will never die.”
NewJeans' speech went viral in online communities. Many viewers left comments cheering for the group.
Previously, on November 13, 5 NewJeans members sent a notice letter to management company ADOR, requesting the company to correct any serious violations of the exclusive contract within 14 days, otherwise the group will terminate the contract.
