#don't think i didnt notice that was a rugby ball enhypen

[sanstropfremir]

Imma bite the bullet and ask for your thoughts on this year's mama stages

oh anon i knew i was going to be disappointed with award shows without taemin but i didn't think i would be this disappointed. i should have known, but alas. also this got long so i'm putting it under a cut like the good ol' kingdom days.

ok i'm sorta gonna go in reverse order they were uploaded to the mnet youtube channel because i'm much too lazy to actually figure out when each group actually performed:

lee hyori and swf

nice to see hyori performing again even though i'm fairly certain she didn't wanna be there. i thought this was a good stage collab idea and it was fun, but also it didn't really have the showstopping power to be the finale, which i think it was? as far as the crew specific performances, they were about what i expected. i think i liked holybang's outfit the most, but hook's choreo the best. which is unsurprising because they're very good at short choreos. i also like that they went strictly with a one take on a steadicam.

nct 127

i don't have any complaints but i also wasn't blown away? they were one of the only groups that didn't struggle with the sound techs though, so i will give them that. my real complaint has nothing really to do with mama and more that favourite itself didn't really have a clear enough aesthetic unity that would tie over into sticker and also make a good large scale performance. i feel like as a default they fell into the 'sparkly awards show' outfits and got paid absolute DUST by mnet in terms of production design. i liked the ending dance break of sticker, it was fun and noisy.

enhypen

wasn't bad! i'm generally bored by enhypen so i wasn't expecting much but i think they did a pretty good job. i just wish that (and this is a theme with pretty much all the performances) there was more effort to draw the two songs together, aesthetically. like are they teenaged football vampires who don't have access to an actual football? what's going on here boys. i liked their dance break + solos, they were creative and interesting to watch, but back to my previous statement; what was the thematic point?

aespa

these were fine. i was right in that the girls are warming up with an audience, but i don't think mnet really utilized the possibilities of aespa's concept that well and the projection/ar designs that they did in for the sm groups were Not good. you can absolutely do ar performance better than that, riot did it for k/da like two years ago. they also won against the sound techs somehow, go ningning.

wanna one

oh boy. oh dear. i mean.......they sounded ok at least...? i've never seen a group so unenthusiastic before, it was truly a feat. that piano move is maybe one of the most iconic choreo moments in kpop but was seeing it again worth this? absolutely not. i'm so sorry they made you do this boys, i know you just wanted to go home.

nct dream

the transition from hello future to hot sauce made me snort with laughter ngl. loved the hot sauce costumes and i actually thing the use of the vcr was a great transition even if something fucked up with the ar. also very glad they had a practical set, having them all climb out of the broken bottle was fun. again, would have loved better aesthetic unity between the two songs but at least they actually played into the transistion.

stray kids

clearly mnet and jype have something going on, because the jype groups got the extra mile. i was kind of expecting it for skz because of kingdom but the differences were STARK. it wasn't my favourite performance but i really did appreciate the unity and the bombast and that they finally got more use out of the theme of their last comeback, because i felt it was very under utilized. thunderous is a great end of year song and it was one of the only performances that actually felt like an awards show performance, which is sad that there were so few. LOVE that they gave hyunjin a fire sword, 10/10. sound techs won this round.

txt

the stylists and design team really did them dirty with this one, tbh. y'all know how i feel about all black outfits but i feel like this was like, egregiously bad, for frost and the dance break especially. i also feel like they were hiding them? like why on earth were they blocked so far back on the stage??? i get that they wanted to use the big led panels but they did not need to be right up kissing them, they could have done way more blocking and it would have been a much more dynamic performance. same complaint about aesthetic unity.

ateez

hongjoong said no egot that's ok, i'll show you what you missed out on. i yelled when i saw him doing a contemp dance solo like HELLO???? also whoever stuck that lantern on that drone name yourself i will kiss you that was SUCH a good moment. their stages weren't as good as their previous mama stages or even their kingdom ones, but they really did give it a college try while mnet was giving them nothing and the sound techs were also trying to nerf them. also......did their 'uniform' jackets have fake cigarette packs in the breast pocket. because if so that is SO funny. i'm not saying anything about the high notes, they're not real and they can't hurt me.

nct u

xiaojun was fighting for his fucking LIFE. i don't what they did to mark but he literally looks like did for chewing gum. is it the blond hair? the shorts? i don't know but it's weird, he shouldn't be out here still looking 17. i know this is like literally their first stage as a unit so i'm not about to be that hard on them for not doing something 'awards show worthy', especially because of how the sm stages have been. i like the choreo and i like this nct u unit, i think they have potential.

ini + jo1

no real thoughts, honestly. about in line with everything else at mama this year. i did like the solo dance break in the middle though, japanese dancers really are built different. i was impressed by ini managing to cram everyone and a camera crew and tech and pyro and still perform relatively well in such a small space on top of a boat of all places. props for most interesting stage location.

hiphop stages

no thoughts. they exist. wish they used those cool stair+arch combos more, they were fun.

jannabi

i actually really like jannabi as an artist and even though his mixing was off (did every sound tech just forget how to sound tech?) i really liked this performance and it felt appropriately 'awards show' for his style. love that he brought in a choir and an orchestra and had a little bit of set, plus used that main circle thrust.

itzy

hilarious that they got heo sungtae to do a cameo for them and objectively this is one of the better performances in terms of concept and continuity because they based it (partially?) on my name but did they have to title it 'be a good kitty'? because that is truly skin crawling, yuna is like, barely 18???????????? i know it's mostly because i'm old but still. the fight choreo was fun even if this was maybe the worst performance sound wise- it would have been perfectly fine without the catwoman implications please and thanks.

dancer solos

i hated the ar transitions, they were so unnecessary. also it really would have been nice for them to have all danced together but i guess that's too much to ask. kinda cute that they all had elemental themes? i wasn't like, blown away by anyone but i did think that wooyoung and hyunjin did a good job. they did that poor enhypen boy a disservice by putting him in the dark.

brave girls

the best stage. perfect. they picked a theme and stuck with it, even though chi mat ba ram is absolutely a summer song. their outfits were excellent and i'm obsessed with how they got a personal wind machine.

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some general thoughts:

not sure what's up with mnet this year but they really have some terrible stage designers/architects. this stage was a weird shape and was extremely underutilized in performances. like if you're going to put a giant round out there you really need to have people on it most of the time, especially if you have audience in the house. honestly i feel like this was a lackluster mama because no one's really figured out what the rules are for performances with audiences yet. like there was a lot of stuff that was meant specifically for (online) broadcast, but then they defaulted to a lot of old styles of live performance (both filming and actual performance technique) that just didn't match. it felt like a lot of the performers attention was confused. even though mama 2020 was a mess and had horrible conditions for the performers at least they actually got to go full ham on unconventional staging because they were only performing for a camera and had that giant modular stage. like the got7 stage may not have been the most interesting stylistically but the blocking and staging were SO good. also king taemin.

also like. i do understand that we're in the thick of a generation changeover and i do think that it's important for younger artists to perform at year end events but like. the lack of more experienced artists really showed. and also in a year where we had a SLEW of second gen comebacks; shinee, 2pm (thank u hanya), highlight, t-ara, cnblue, afterschool had that special stage earlier in the year, even btob! like all of btob is back now, they could have done a fun first post-enlistment stage. and no exos? i know the ones that aren't enlisted rn are the introvert ones but kai literally just had a comeback. mx isn't there because they're in the states rn but no seventeen? or even tbz? i dunno. i know nothing about the intricacies of the politics that go on behind the scenes of these awards shows. i just think this was a weird lineup and a weird show and honestly mnet kinda deserves it.