by Singer-songwriter Lee Rang was nominated for the most categories at the ’19th Korean Popular Music Awards’.
In the announcement of the nominations for this awards ceremony, which was broadcast live on YouTube on the afternoon of the 9th by the Korean Popular Music Awards Selection Committee (Chairman: Kim Chang-Nam, Professor of Sungkonghoe University), Lee Rang was nominated for a total of six nominations in five categories.
It was nominated for ‘Best Folk Song’ and Best Album (‘A Wolf Appeared’) among genre divisions, including three general categories: ‘Album of the Year’, ‘Song of the Year’, and ‘Musician of the Year’. In particular, in the ‘Best Folk Song’ category, he uploaded two songs, ‘A Wolf Appeared’ and ‘Generation of Tribulation’.
Lee Rang’s 3rd full-length album, ‘A Wolf Appeared’, which contains ‘A Wolf Appeared’ and ‘Generation of Tribulation’, is considered a masterpiece among albums released last year. Unusually in the domestic popular music world, they sang about poverty. I heard that it was a clear statement about reality and proved that the song has the role of appeal and solidarity to trigger change.
Lee Rang is already remembered as having a solid impression on Han Dae-eum fans. The ‘Best Folk Song Award’ trophy received at the ’14th Han Dae-eum’ in 2017 was immediately put up for auction. At that time, the trophy was sold for 500,000 won.
In addition, at this year’s awards ceremony nominations announcement, singer and actor IU, group ‘Espa’, and sibling duo ‘AKMU’ were nominated for a total of 4 categories, following Lee Rang.
IU was nominated for ‘Album of the Year’ (‘Lilac’), Artist of the Year, Best Pop Song (‘Lilac’) and Best Pop Album (‘Lilac’). Espa was nominated for Song of the Year (‘Next Level’), ‘Rookie of the Year’, Best K-Pop Song (‘Next Level’), and Best K-Pop Album (‘Savage’). AKMU is nominated for Album of the Year (‘Next Episode’), Song of the Year (‘Falling’), Best Pop Song (‘Falling’), and Best Pop Album (‘Next Episode’).
BTS, which swept the US Billboard’s main singles chart ‘Hot 100’ with ‘Butter’ last year, was nominated in three categories: Song of the Year (‘Butter’), Artist of the Year, and Best K-Pop Song (‘Butter’). BTS has been nominated for the Han Dae-eum nomination for five consecutive years since 2018.
If we look at the candidates in the general field in detail, the strong candidates compete.
In this year’s album category, besides Lee Rang, Akmu, and IU, Kim Hyun-Cheol (‘City Breeze & Love Song’) and Cheon Yong-Seong (‘Submerged’) were ranked. In addition to Espa, Akmu, BTS, and Lee Rang, Lee Moo-jin (traffic light) competes for the year’s song. In addition to Lee Rang, IU, and BTS, in the Musician of the Year category, Kim Hyun-Cheol and Baek Ye-rin’s band ‘The Baluntiers’ compete. In addition to Espa, this year’s rookie of the year was nominated for SINCE, STAYC, Lee Moo-jin, and Jellyfish (Minhee and Hyewon).
The difference between this year’s awards ceremony and the previous awards ceremony is that the name of the ‘Best Dance & Electronic’ division was changed to ‘Best Electronic’, and instead of abolishing the ‘Best Crossover Album’, it was subdivided into the best jazz performance and vocal albums. In particular, the fact that the Best K-Pop Division was newly established is attracting attention.
“We can indeed sympathize with the question of whether K-pop can be classified as a specific genre, but we created this section separately due to its presence due to its tendency to have a distinct and unique aesthetic orientation in our music market,” said Mimyo, a pop music critic, head of the K-pop section. “he explained.
In particular, he said, “The difference between the Pop and K-Pop divisions is that the K-Pop division is centred on dance-pop that focuses on performance based on the idol system.” I was selected through it,” he added.
The achievement award for announcing the winners in advance went to ‘Devils’. It is a group sound that enjoyed popularity in the 1970s. I heard that it completely embodied Soul, the hippest African American pop music of the time, in the form of a band. Famous music critic Shin Hyun-Joon, Han Dae-eum selection committee member, said, “The strong music of those who once endured the ‘oppression’ to change the name of the band to ‘Friends’ will remain and will remain as ‘You are what I miss’.” said.
This time, Han Dae-team was selected for three categories and 25 categories. Active singers from December 1, 2020, to November 30, last year, and released albums and songs are eligible.
A total of 59 members, including critics, music reporters, and music broadcast producers, participated in the selection committee. The awards ceremony will be held at the Nodeul Island Live House on March 1 at 6 pm. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Korea Creative Content Agency, and Nodeulseom are sponsored.
