29 November 2011 is certainly a night to remember, especially for Singaporeans and K-pop fans around the world. The Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) 2011 was held right here at the Singapore Indoor Stadium with over 10,000 fans gathered for the award. Being a K-pop fan myself, even though I am not present at the venue, the live telecast on Channel U made it easy for me to access the show.
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| 10.000 fans gathered at the Singapore Indoor Stadium to witness the award ceremony. |
Coming from Mnet which holds much experience under their belt in stage set-up from their own music program back in Korea, there was certainly no lack of ideas for a stage suitable for such a large scale event. True enough, I was really amazed at the elaborate decorations, especially the huge curtain which formed the word “人” or “Human” in Chinese. The stage was further extended to where the artistes could have a closer experience with the fans.
Performance for the night was certainly hot as top artistes from the international community such as will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg held special performances which certainly blew the crowd away. Check out the performances below:
Renowned Chinese pianist Lang Lang was also present at the event, where he collaborated with B2ST and performed their hit track “Fiction”. Check out the performance below:
The best performance for the night, in my opinion would definitely go to Girls’ Generation and 2NE1. With the energetic and special remix by the former, the crowds’ emotions were definitely brought to a higher level. The transition of lyrics from Korean to English during the performance clearly showed me how much practice they have put in mastering it.
For 2NE1, the lightings and special effects on the backdrop were perfect in displaying their style of hip hop and what they are made of. Check out the performance below:
However, despite the success of the event, I personally felt that the red carpets show was not exactly well executed. Utilising the four emcees strategy, they were not given an equal chance of interviewing the guests. For example, with Michelle Chia’s fluency in English and mandarin, most of the interviewing of the guests was left to the Korean emcees and Michelle’s job was practically just holding the microphone for the guests.
Furthermore, there were times when the newly arrived artists were introduced and the camera goes to focus on the previously interviewed artistes getting their photographs taken, such as at 0:17 in the video below.
Overall, although the event is considered a success, there are definitely areas for improvement for the organisers, both Mediacorp Vizpro and Mnet.
Ratings: 4/5
