The biggest gathering of some of Asia’s most sought-after and multi-awarded artists held in the Philippines became the highlight of so many fans’ holiday season. Thousands flocked to the Philippine Arena on Dec. 14 to recognize and celebrate an incredible roster of actors and musicians from South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines at the Asia Artist Awards (AAA) 2023.
A fun-filled fan zone
The eighth AAA presented by StarNews Korea, the Asia Artist Awards Organizing Committee, TONZ Entertainment, and PULP Live World offered fans an opportunity to get together and look back on the history of the awards show well before the program began.
Outside the arena, fans got to enjoy a festive atmosphere as AAA backdrops, artist banners, and even fan-commissioned LED trucks bearing videos of idols greeted them. Even more impressive is the fun-filled fan zone inside the Philippine Stadium, reachable via free shuttle buses.
The fan zone was composed of several activity areas, one of which was dedicated to the history of the AAA. Fans can walk through an equivalent of a hall of fame with blown-up photos of winners through the years such as BTS, EXO, Twice, and more.
Fans could live out their celebrity fantasy with recreations of a performance stage, a recording stage, a set with director’s chairs, and even a mini red carpet with a backdrop identical to the official one for AAA 2023.
They also got to leave out messages for their biases on several message boards. Also worth noting are the panels with framed AAA 2023 posters with signatures of the artists attending the event.
But perhaps the real highlight of the zone is the booths manned by fandom chapters handing out freebies like banners, stickers, and pickets of artists. For some booths like those for LE SSERAFIM and NewJeans, the lines were long but many found it well worth it to brave the drizzle for souvenirs of their bias.
Standout looks on the red carpet
The excitement kicked up a notch by noon when the stars started arriving on the red carpet. Host Ryan Bang, who was looking dapper himself in a Jowi Guzman suit, would later trend after injecting his signature Pinoy humor during his introductions and side comments such as invites for guest appearances on the local noontime show “It’s Showtime.”
While every artist showed up in style, there were standout looks that put several stars on our best-dressed list.
Starting off our list are the AAA 2023 hosts: IVE’s Jang Won-young in a classic floor-length spaghetti strap red gown paired with simple gold accessories, Kang Daniel without a tie in a relaxed fit suit, and ZEROBASEONE’s Sung Han-bin in a red velvet blazer over his black shirt and tie.
Actresses Moon Ga-young and Kim Se-jeong were especially ethereal in contrasting black and white. Moon showed off her figure in a corseted, semi-sheer mini dress paired with strappy heels. Kim captured hearts as she teased us with poses overlooking her shoulders while she was in a flowy silk-satin halterneck gown with a slit.
The actors, on the other hand, gave us a master class on why you can never go wrong with the classic suit and tie formula. Among those who looked dashing on the carpet were Lee Jun-ho, EXO’s Suho, Kim Seon-ho, Ahn Hyo-seop, Kentaro Sakaguchi, Lee Jun-young, and Jung Sung-il.
Solo, duo, and co-ed artists were able to take more liberties with their ensembles—with the looks worn by Lee Young-ji, Kard, Kwon Eun-bi, AKMU, and Lim Young-woong reflecting the certain qualities of their music.
For K-pop groups, cohesion is the name of the game with group members dressed in color-coordinating outfits while playing with different silhouettes. Take the matching ensembles worn by LE SSERAFIM, ITZY, NMIXX, Kep1er, Dreamcatcher, STAYC, Lapillus, and Sakurazaka46 for example.
NewJeans, however, didn’t mind breaking the rules when they showed up in their trademark blokette and newtro aesthetic which set their red carpet looks apart from the other groups.
Over in boy group land, Seventeen’s BSS (BooSeokSoon), SB19, and ONEUS were particularly noticeable with interesting visual elements coming to play that veer away from the usual suit and tie.
That’s not to say that groups such as Stray Kids, BOYNEXTDOOR, ZEROBASEONE, &TEAM, TEMPEST, and ATBO came out without a flourish.
Filipino artists such as Melai Cantiveros-Francisco and Ben&Ben round up our list for stealing the scene by adding that much-needed pop of bright colors on the red carpet.
World-class performances
Soon after the red carpet came to a close, the show started with a bang when it began with a high-octane performance led by SB19. The P-pop supergroup delighted fans with “Gento,” “Mana,” “Bazinga,” “CRIMZONE,” and a collab stage with &TEAM for part two of “Gento.”
Some of the most-awaited stages include NewJeans’ near 10-minute performance of “OMG,” “ETA,” and “Super Shy,” LE SSERAFIM’s stage for “Perfect Night” and “Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard’s Wife,” ITZY’s performance of “Kill Shot” and “Cake,” as well as Stray Kids’ powerful medley of “Maniac,” “Get Lit,” “Topline” and “LALALALA.”
But what really brought the house down was the finale performance from BSS as they had both their fellow artists and the crowd laughing and with “7pm,” “Fighting” which featured Lee Young-ji and “Just Do It.”
The class of 2023 AAA winners
The almost-seven hours-long awards show had a long list of winners with NewJeans bagging the most wins at six, including two grand prizes. Lim Young-woong follows hot on their heels at five wins.
AAA Grand Prize: Fandom of the Year
Lim Young-woong
AAA Grand Prize: Performance of the Year
BSS
AAA Grand Prize: Stage of the Year
Stray Kids
AAA Grand Prize: Song of the Year
NewJeans – “Ditto”
AAA Grand Prize: Album of the Year
SEVENTEEN – “FML”
AAA Grand Prize: Singer of the Year
NewJeans
AAA Grand Prize: Actor of the Year
Lee Jun-ho
The other awards presented are as follows:
AAA Focus Award
HORI7ON
LUN8
Younghoon (The Boyz)
Ahn Dong-gu
AAA Icon Award
Tempest
NMIXX
Kep1er
Cha Joo-young
AAA Potential Award
Lapillus
ATBO
Yoo Seon-ho
Paul Blanco
AAA Best Creator Award
3RACHA
AAA Popularity Award
Lim Young-woong
Sakurazaka46
Lee Jun-ho
Kim Se-jeong
AAA Hot Trend Award
SB19
NewJeans
Lee Jun-ho
Ahn Hyo-seop
Lim Young-woong
AAA New Wave Award
Yaochen
Kingdom
Ash Island
Jaechan
AAA Emotive Award
ONEUS
BOYNEXTDOOR
&TEAM
Suho
AAA Rookie of the Year
ZEROBASEONE
Moon Sang-min
Lee Eun-saem
AAA Asia Celebrity Award
NewJeans
LE SSERAFIM
Jang Won-young
Kim Seon-ho
Kentaro Sakaguchi
AAA Emotive Award
ONEUS
BOYNEXTDOOR
&TEAM
Suho
AAA Best Choice Award
Lee Young-ji
KANG DANIEL
BOYNEXTDOOR
&TEAM
NewJeans
NMIXX
Ben&Ben
Dreamcatcher
Lim Young-woong
DinDin
Kim Jae-joong
AAA Best Acting Performance Award
Kim Young-dae
Lee Jun-young
Moon Ga-young
Suho
AAA Fabulous Award
Kathryn Bernardo
Daniel Padilla
NewJeans
Stray Kids
Lim Young-woong
AAA Best Musician Award
ZEROBASEONE
Sakurazaka46
KARD
STAYC
Kwon Eun-bi
AAA Scene Stealer Award
Jung Sung-il
AAA Best Actor Award
Kim Se-jeong
Ahn Hyo-seop
Lee Dong-hwi
Melai Cantiveros-Francisco
Lee Jun-hyuk
AAA Top of K-pop Record Award
Kim Jae-joong
AAA Best Performance Award
LE SSERAFIM
AAA Best Artist Award (Singer)
SB19
LE SSERAFIM
AKMU
ITZY
IVE
The Boyz
AAA Best Artist Award (Actor)
Kentaro Sakaguchi
Kim Seon-ho
Kim Ji-hoon
Filipino scene-stealers
Ryan Bang wasn’t the only local celebrity that trended during the AAA. Kathryn Bernardo and Melai Cantiveros-Francisco were among the stars who received the loudest cheers.
“For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Kathryn Bernardo and I’m a Filipina actress. Wow! What an honor to be recognized tonight with these beautiful and talented people. Thank you so much, AAA, for this Fabulous Award,” Bernardo said in her acceptance speech.
“It’s my first time attending this. Nakaka-proud na bilang Pilipino, tayo ‘yong nagho-host ng ganitong event. Also, I want to take this opportunity to thank everybody for supporting Filipino-made TV series as well as movies,” she continued. “Patapos na ’yong taon but I feel so blessed and I’m sharing this award with all of you. Maraming maraming salamat.”
“Ma’am Chief: Shakedown in Seoul” star Cantiveros-Francisco brought out her comedic chops in her acceptance speech which includes memorable lines like “If someone question[s], why I have award—don’t worry I question, too” and “I just receive award all of my life from my mother and father every time they’re angry to me” with the latter a play of the Filipino slang meaning for award which means scold.
She also had a funny interview segment with Won-young where she dropped this iconic line in response to how she’s feeling: “Attending to AAA is a very honor. I feel like I am the first honor, a valedictorian in attending in AAA.”
The AAA 2023 is a testament that it’s more fun in the Philippines as this year’s show brought glitz, glamour, powerhouse performances, and a ton of laughs to boot.
Photos courtesy: PULP
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