Near the end of the year, music award ceremonies are becoming more and more interested than ever when awards are given to artists who have contributed during the past 1 year. One of the most popular annual awards ceremonies for Korean artists is MAMA.
Every year, BTS becomes an indispensable key group in this awards ceremony, but before the group became famous, they were ignored by this awards ceremony itself. This is something that RM cleverly revealed when he received the MAMA Daesang award.
This story has even been spread widely by ARMYs and netizens to this day:
Since making a big mark in 2017 as a group of a small company that won big prizes at music awards ceremonies, BTS has officially extended their unbeaten streak at Korean awards ceremonies. There is hardly an award that BTS did not win or get big awards (Daesang).
However, before that was a dull time for BTS when they were not recognized for what they did at year-end awards ceremonies. Being invited to attend or receive awards becomes a luxury for a group from a small company. And MAMA is one of the award ceremonies that did not invite BTS to attend when they first debuted.
RM shared how the 2013 MAMA treated them in his speech when he received the Daesang at the 2020 MAMA, saying, "Thank you so much. There are so many things that I want to say but words can't well express, but I'll try to say it all calmly though.
MAMA is really the only award ceremony that we weren't invited to when we first debuted. We really wanted to come to this awards ceremony, and we envied those who did. But now, we received multiple big awards. I’m deeply moved."
And that year, BTS received 8 awards of Mnet Asian Music Awards 2020 (MAMA 2020), including 4 Daesangs of MAMA 2020 including 'Artist of the Year', 'Album of the Year', ' Song of the Year' and 'Worldwide Icon of the Year'. Even in the next year, 2021, BTS can't be at the awards ceremony, they "sat at home" and receive 9 awards of this awards ceremony.
Thus, it can be seen that MAMA is the only award that did not send an invitation to BTS when the group was not yet famous. Obviously they looked down on BTS because the group didn't have a big reputation and wasn't a Big 3 group either.
This probably made the 7 members feel very sad, to the point that RM even shared that 'they were jealous and wanted to attend once'. However, now, BTS is not only invited to attend but also is the key figure that Mnet invests in and promotes most enthusiastically at MAMA awards ceremonies. Even Mnet has to compete with other awards ceremonies to get BTS's appearance.
Many ARMYs assert that the awards that BTS has today are not as easy as people think, but it is a process they have had to go a long way in the dark before seeing the light of success. ARMY also recalled that in the first years after debut, Mnet really treated the group badly.
Not only with the award, this station is also said to not invite BTS to the weekly 'M Countdown' show. The group only started promoting on 'M Countdown' when a vacancy appeared in the line-up because other artists were not performing. In addition, Mnet has also repeatedly been questioned about "manipulating" the results of MAMA, making it impossible for BTS to receive important awards. It was only when the group's name began to become famous that MAMA treated the group fairly.
On the other hand, there are also many sources that say that Korean broadcasters when BTS first debuted were not interested in inviting BTS to shows, or treated the members poorly when they were filming these shows. Typically, there are many stories of BTS being disrespected by other artists or music stations and now have to regret their actions in the past.
RM's words may be 'accidental', but many ARMYs firmly believe that this is the intention of the BTS leader to mock Mnet for treating rookies from small and poor companies. And now, BTS has proven them to be a huge step forward - from an unsuspecting MAMA rookie to a 'Daesang All-kill' artist in the history of this awards ceremony.
