15th Korean Music Awards Announces Nominees

This year’s Korean Music Awards has revealed the nominees!

On February 6, a press conference was held to announce the nominations for the 15th year of the ceremony. The Korean Music Awards focuses on the albums and songs more than the artists, and musical achievement is considered rather than sales. The awards show aims to go beyond the barrier between mainstream and non-mainstream music.

This year’s nominees are as follows:

Album of the Year

Kang Taegu – “bleu”
The Black Skirts – “Team Baby”
Kim Mok In – “A Day in the Life of Mr. X”
IU – “Palette”
Hyukoh – “23”

Song of the Year

Red Velvet – “Red Flavor”
BTS – “DNA”
IU – “Through the Night”
Woo Won Jae – “We Are” (Feat. Loco and Gray)
Hyukoh – “Tomboy”

Artist of the Year

Kim Mok In
BTS
IU
Hyukoh

Rookie of the Year

Rad Museum
Light and Noise
Se So Neon
Shin Hae Gyeong
Yeseo
Woo Won Jae

Best Pop Album

Red Velvet – “Perfect Velvet”
BTS – “Love Yourself: Her”
IU – “Palette”
Lee Jin Ah – “Random”
Taemin – “Move”
Taeyeon – “My Voice”

Best Pop Song

NCT 127 – “Cherry Bomb”
Red Velvet – “Red Flavor”
BTS – “DNA”
Sunmi – “Gashina”
IU – “Through the Night”

Best Rock Album

Lowdown 30 – “B”
Raw by Peppers – “Cosmos”
Magna Fall – “Mad Metropolis”
Se So Neon – “Summer Plumage”
Light and Noise – “Irregular”

Best Rock Song

ABTB – “Free Rider”
Grancale – “Treadmill”
Light and Noise – “Mudang”
Se So Neon – “The Wave”
Asian Chairshot – “Mountain, Bird and Me”

Best Modern Rock Album

3rd Line Butterfly – “Divided by Zero”
The Black Skirts – “Team Baby”
In The Endless Zanhyang We Are – “Inevitability Under Consecutive Coincidence”
Sister’s Barbershop – “People Who Stay Alone”
Hyukoh – “23”

Best Modern Rock Song

ADOY – “Grace”
Jaemyoung Doe – “Under the Sign of Saturn”
Shin Hae Gyeong – “Everything to Me”
Sister’s Barbershop – “People Who Stay Alone”
Hyukoh – “Tomboy”

Best Metal and Hardcore Album

End These Days – “Ambivalence”
Kim Jaeha – “Into Ashes”
Abyss – “Recrowned”
PAKK – “Salpuri”

Best Dance and Electronic Album

Mojave – “Something the Braun Tube Left Us”
SOWALL – “Favorite”
Idiotape – “Dystopian”
KIRARA – “KM”
Yeseo – “Million Things”

Best Dance and Electronic Song

Locked On – “Say Yeah”
Raiden – “Heart of Steel”
CIFIKA – “My Ego”
Yeseo – “Silhouette”
Idiotape – “Dystopian”

Best Rap and Hip Hop Album

Kim Ximya X D. Sanders – “Moonshine”
Legit Goons – “Junk Drunk Love”
VIANN x KHUNDI PANDA – “Reconstruction”
Chaboom – “Sour”
Fana – “Fanaconda”

Best Rap and Hip Hop Song

Jazzyfact – “Harujongil”
Kim Ximya – “Career High” (Feat. Cautious Clay”
Chaboom – “Ribbaddong”
Fana – “Power”
Woo Won Jae – “We Are” (Feat. Loco and Gray)

Best R&B and Soul Album

Rad Museum – “Scene”
Rico – “White Light Panorama”
Minje – “Now”
offonoff – “boy.”
Hippy was Gipsy – “Tree”

Best R&B and Soul Song

Horim – “TEMP-TON”
PEEJAY – “Na B Ya” (Feat. Zion.T)
Rico – “Paradise”
Samuel Seo – “Off You”
offonoff – “gold”
Hippy was Gipsy – “Dot”

Best Folk Album

Kang Taegu – “bleu”
Kim Mok In – “A Day in the Life of Mr. X”
Doma – “Drifting to an Island for Reason I Don’t Know”
Dhani Song – “Songs for an Afterlife”
Jeongmilla – “Galaxy”
Gonne Choi – “Nomad Syndrome”

Best Folk Song

Kang Taegu – “bleu”
Kim Mok In – “Walking”
Kim Mok In x Siwa x Hwang Puha – “Let’s Go Home”
Doma – “Is this Love”
Jeongmilla – “Star”
Gonne Choi – “Highlander”

Best Jazz Album

JOONSAM – “A Door”
Youn Sun Nah – “She Moves On”
Seo Young Do Electric Ensemble – “The Hazy World”
Sunny Kim & Ben Monder – “The Dream of the Earth”
Lee Jiyeun Contemporary Jazz Orchestra – “Feather, Dream Drop”

Best Crossover Album

11 – “Transparent Music”
DoYeon Kim & Chase Morrin – “GaPi”
Ajaeng Ensemble – “Bow+ing”
Lee Heemoon & Prelude – “A Korean Man”
Han Seung Seok & Jung Jaeil – “And There, The Sea At Last”

Best Jazz and Crossover Performance

JOONSAM – “A Door”
Kim Chul Soo & Oh Jin Won – “a:”
Myungsup Shin Group – “Circular Dilemma”
Choi Sung Ho Singularity – “Different Is Different From Wrong”
Hogyu Hwang – “Straight, No Chaser”

The winners will be awarded at the 15th Korean Music Awards on February 28 at 7 p.m. KST. The ceremony will be broadcast in March via EBS.

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