BTS Wins 3 Awards Including Musician Of The Year For 2nd Year In A Row At 16th Korean Music Awards

Feb 26, 2019

BTS took home three trophies at this year’s Korean Music Awards!

The 16th Korean Music Awards were held on the evening of February 26 at the Guro Arts Valley Theater. The annual ceremony is known for focusing on music’s artistic merit rather than sales, with winners decided through evaluation by industry experts.

The Musician of the Year award at the 16th Korean Music Awards was given to BTS, and the group is now the winner two years in a row. This is the first time in the ceremony’s history that an artist has been given the award twice in a row.

Their track “Fake Love” was also named Song of the Year and Best Pop Song.

BTS attended the 6th Edaily Culture Awards earlier that evening, but arrived at the 16th Korean Music Awards in time to accept their awards for Song of the Year and Musician of the Year.

As they accepted the Song of the Year award for “Fake Love,” Suga said, “‘Fake Love’ is a song that’s such an honor and meaningful to us because we made our comeback at the Billboard Music Awards and did well with it. There’s something that I’ve realized while at Billboard and while working with many artists overseas. I think that music has no rank. When I said I was going to be an idol, a lot of my friends that I worked on music with asked me ‘Why?’ But as someone who is making and loving music without classifying it by gender, age, or nationality, I really know the meaning of this award and I think of it as an honor. We’ll continue to try to make good music and spread Korean popular music widely around the world.”

When the group received the award for Musician of the Year, RM said, “We’re so sorry to arrive late. We knew that we had been honored by receiving nominations in many categories, so we ran over here right away after the previous award show ended. Before I express my thanks in detail, I want to say that I heard that Yang Hee Eun received the Lifetime Achievement Award earlier. She has been singing for 45 years, which is much longer than the time that I’ve been alive. It’s because of such amazing senior artists that we’re able to be here, so I want to express my thanks.”

RM also said he had felt great sadness last year over not being able to attend the Korean Music Awards and having to send a photo instead, considering the prestige of the award. “It’s an honor to be able to see such great senior artists and express my gratitude in person,” he said. “We know that this is being given to us as a way to tell us to spread knowledge of Korean popular music even more widely, and we will humbly work harder on our music and performances.”

Check out the full list of winners below!

Album of the Year: Jang Pil Soon’s “soony eight”
Song of the Year: BTS’s “Fake Love”
Musician of the Year: BTS
Best Rock Album: Life and Time – “Age”
Best Rock Song: Life and Time – “Jamsugyo”
Best Modern Rock Album: Say Sue Me — “Where We Were Together”
Best Modern Rock Song: Say Sue Me — “Old Town”
Best Metal and Hardcore Album: DARK MIRROR OV TRAGEDY – “THE LORD OV SHADOWS”
Best Pop Album: Jang Pil Soon’s “soony eight”
Best Pop Song: BTS’s “Fake Love”
Best Dance and Electronic Album: Mid-Air Thief – “Crumbling”
Best Dance and Electronic Song: YESEO – “Honey, Don’t Kill My Vibe”
Best Rap and Hip Hop Album: Bassagong – “TANG-A”
Best Rap and Hip Hop Song: XXX – “Ganju Gok”
Best R&B and Soul Album: Jclef – “flaw, flaw”
Best R&B and Soul Song: SUMIN – “Your Home” (Feat. Xin Seha)
Best Folk Album: Kim Sawol – “Romance”
Best Folk Song: Kim Sawol – “Someone”
Best Jazz Album: Sunji Lee – “SONG OF APRIL”
Best Crossover Album: near east quartet – “near east quartet”
Best Jazz and Crossover Performance: Youngjoo Song – “Late Fall”
Lifetime Achievement Award: Yang Hee Eun
Rookie of the Year: AIRY