As award season is now in full swing for South Korea, BTS put on the performance of their career on November 30th at the 2019 Melon Music Awards, trickling in the old and the new and showing the world why they are at the top of the game.
After the masterpiece that was their 2018 performance, which saw Jimin, Jungkook and J-Hope perform traditional Korean dances and out the spotlight on Korean culture, the bar was set incredibly high for this year and yet they still managed to outdo themselves.
Opening with INTRO: PERSONA from their record-breaking EP ‘Map of the Soul: PERSONA‘, RM sets the tone for the performance with the long-awaited debut of the song that kickstarted the latest era from the septet. At the level BTS is at, the are no limits to their stages and that allowed a trip down memory lane to their 2014 hit Boy In Luv, which effortlessly transitioned into their global smash Boy With Luv and fans favourite Mikrokosmos. While these were jam-packed with energy, flair, charisma and incredibly impressive visuals, this was just the appetiser for the main course that was yet to come.
After RM’s solo stage for Intro: Persona, the remaining six members all got their individual time to shine through stages dedicated to their previous eras. V shone through a solo dance to their debut single No More Dream while Jin entered the stage on a Trojan horse to Danger. Jimin sent the crowds hearts racing through a stunning contemporary dance performance to I Need U, while Jungkook presented a showstopping water dance to a stripped back version of Save Me. Bringing back the energy was Suga’s iconic opening line to their 2016 anthem Fire and J-Hope closed the solo stages with the electronic strobe light bonanza that was a dance break to Fake Love.
If that wasn’t enough to crown them the best performers of the night, BTS gave the crowd, even more, to talk about with a celebration of ancient Greece through a spectacle of gladiator warriors, an array of horses (none of which were harmed in the making of this epic performance) and a diverse set of harp players to provide a full ancient Greek feeling for their Speak Yourself Tour opener Dionysus.
Dionysus, an extravagant performance in itself, was amped to an even higher level with a dance break no short of perfection. Sampling their early title track N.O to an EDM remix the seven guys popped, locked and glided across the stage like there was no tomorrow.
BTS always deliver the highest level of performances, but their 2019 Melon Music Award stage was at a level that even BTS had not reached before, showing the efforts the seven members put in to constantly challenge themselves as performers, vocalists and rappers than the previous time they took to the stage.
In addition to their outstanding performance, BTS also became the first Korean artist to receive all of the biggest awards of the night for Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Artist of the Year.
After their snub in the 62nd Grammy Award nominations, the wins and performance show the true capacity that BTS has when given the creativity and freedom to express their artistry and the embarrassment that award shows have in not giving these opportunities to BTS yet.
You can watch their Melon Music Award performance below and let us know what you thought of it by tweeting the CelebMix account!