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People touting BTS’ Jung Kook as the first Korean soloist to get nominated at the iHeartRadio Music Awards has drawn flak from the K-pop community.
Criticisms poured across the internet as other K-pop fans reminded them that Girls’ Generation’s Tiffany Young was the first Korean soloist to not only get nominated but also win an iHeartRadio Music Award.
Some fans were also tangled up in the ‘first K-pop soloist’ vs. ‘first Korean soloist’ debate. But the majority agreed that Tiffany Young was both since the awards committee used Girls’ Generation’s name.
The music awards released their nominations list on Wednesday, January 11, 2023. In the Best Music Video category, BTS’ Jung Kook scored a nomination for Left & Right, his trendy collaboration with Charlie Puth.
K-pop fans correct people mistakenly diminishing Tiffany Young’s historical achievement by praising BTS’ Jung Kook
Korean artists making their way into the mainstream Western music industry has since long been a major achievement. While BTS is often touted for paving the way for K-pop across the world, a few Korean musicians have achieved historical feats in their own right before them.
One such case was brought up recently when the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards nominations were released on January 11, 2023. After multiple accounts praised BTS’ Jung Kook for being the first Korean soloist and K-pop soloist to be nominated at the award show, many commented that the information was wrong and lacked research.
In 2019, Girls’ Generations’ Tiffany Young won Best Solo Breakout for her song Lips on Lips at the iHeartRadio Music Awards. The artists’ fans made several comments on how misinformation was, in a way, erasing Tiffany Young’s historic achievement.
One Twitter user even mentioned that they “didn’t fight against racist commenters and haters back in 2019” while voting for the Girls’ Generation artist not to be paid attention to in the future.
Take a look at how K-pop fans reacted to the chaos that ensued below:
2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards: BTS and BLACKPINK are the only K-pop artists nominated
The 2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards revealed its nominees on January 11, and only two K-pop artists made the list - BTS and BLACKPINK.
The former achieved two nominations, Best Music Video for Yet to Come and Best Fan Army for their fandom, ARMY (Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth). Jung Kook also earned a nomination in the same category as a soloist for his collaboration with Charlie Puth, titled Left & Right.
BLACKPINK took the crown with the most nominations amongst K-pop artists. It earned nominations in four categories - Best Duo/Group of the Year, Favorite Use of a Sample for Pink Venom, Best Music Video for Pink Venom, and Best Fan Army for BLINK.
Favorite Use of a Sample, Best Music Video, and Best Fan Army are socially voted categories, which means that the winners are decided based on fan votes. The 2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards fan vote began on January 11 and will continue until March 20. The awards ceremony will be held on March 27 at 8 pm ET.
