BTS wins all Daesangs at 2019 Melon Music Awards–a historic feat

Dec 2, 2019 | Entertainment

By Ashley Cruz

From the official BTS Twitter account

BTS made a historic sweep at the 2019 Melon Music Awards Saturday night at the Gocheok Sky Dome in South Korea.

The group took home all four Daesangs (top awards) — Record of the Year, Song of the Year for “Boy With Luv,” Album of the Year for “Map of the Soul: Persona,” and Artist of the Year — making them the first group to win all major awards at a Korean year-end show. BTS also has the most Daesang trophies in history with a total of 33 since the group’s debut in 2013.

“Record of the Year” was the first Daesang BTS won that night, presented by Korean actor Choi Woo-sik (Parasite, Train to Busan), who acknowledged artists who keep thriving in the global scene and have become true “representatives” of their nation.

Accepting the award on stage, BTS gave a speech, led by RM (Kim Namjoon), who recognized the people who made success possible for the group.

“So for recording many days together with us, and for being the ink of the pen that records and writes it alongside us, all our BigHit employees, inclusive of Bang Si-hyuk PD-nim, and to all those involved in the music industry, and more than anyone else, to those who are greater protagonists than us — all the ARMYs who are watching the broadcast now and are here right now, as well as consumers of music — we receive this award in thanks, in the thought that we receive it on your behalf, and therefore we will move forward, working harder in the future with thankful hearts to leave even greater records in the future. Thank you. I love you,” he said.

Receiving more awards and sharing their accolades to the people behind the scenes, rapper-dancer j-hope gave a shout out to the team who make each performance a spectacle like no other in his speech for “Best Dance Performance-Male” award.

“I’d like to share the joy of this award with our dancers who work so hard in every album and award ceremony,” he said. “With Mr. Son — Son Sung Deuk Teacher — and Bangster, and Bangwoonie hyung — who work really hard. I thank them, and would like to share this joy with them. Thank you.”

Their 2019 hit “Boy With Luv” was recognized as “Song of the Year.” RM mentioned how worried Jimin (Park Jimin) was that the song title “A Poem for the Small Things” would mean that the love of their fans are small. “But small things aren’t necessarily bad, right? Until the day the small things aren’t small anymore, we will work hard, running, singing and dancing,” RM said.

Album of the Year and Artist of the Year are two coveted awards of the night just like in any music awards show, and BTS took home both.

Strutting back on stage after their intense 37-minute performance, BTS accepted their “Album of the Year” award in high spirits.

“While working on the Persona album, I honestly enjoyed it a lot,” rapper-producer Suga (Min Yoongi) said. “The process was really enjoyable; even while working on it in the midst of [a period that] was really busy, with a storm of schedules, it was really enjoyable.”

He ended his speech expressing gratitude and love to ARMYs, the BTS fandom.

Vocalist-dancer Jimin said getting the award was the group’s way of paying back all the love it had received. “Last year, I said that I wanted to repay you with this award,” he said. “And so, I’m happy that I was able to repay what you’ve done for us.”

“Because truly, as we [in BTS] always say to each other, the encouragement and love that you give us is so, so big that we really don’t know when we’d be able to repay it. And so, I think often that I’d like to continuously sing and dance together with the members and with you all in even higher places,” he said.

The anticipation went high as 2019 MMA host Park Seo-Joon came on the stage to announce the winner of the much-awaited “Artist of the Year” award.

Cheers broke through the roof as BTS was announced as the winner, and before members took to the stage to get their trophy, RM led a group hug with all the members.

Receiving the trophy from Park Seo-joon was V (Kim Taehyung), who was also his co-star in the Korean drama “Hwarang.”

In his speech, V reminisced how he once felt as a child. Directly addressing ARMYs, he said, “Truly, for me personally, I thought I was nothing, but that I could seriously receive acknowledgement through music and receive so much love from ARMY, and truly, you deliver messages to us saying that you receive healing due to us, that you’re happy because of us, and every time we received messages like that, we’d get a lump in our throats and keep thinking, ‘Let’s deliver even greater music to them.’”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to give it up this music,” he added.

RM said he was sincerely grateful to the fans who have been with BTS throughout its journey, even at times when members felt weak. “But because all of you have become the lamp to that long night of ours, we, too, though weak as it may be, through things that we can do — things that only we can do, in our position, as the people we are — we will try to be a lamp that brightens your night.”

BTS members ended their speech with another group hug on stage, and in classic ARMY fashion, fans took to Twitter to celebrate with the hashtags #BTSDaesangAllKill and #BTSDaesangSweep.

 

BTS also took home other awards such as the Melon Top 10, Netizen Popularity Award, Kakao Hot Star and Best Dance Performance by a Male Group for “Boy With Luv.”

—
Read the full English translations of their acceptance speeches here: