BTS, EXO, TWICE lead Golden Disc awards nominations

By Kwak Yeon-soo

The 33rd Golden Disc Awards logo

The Golden Disc Awards ceremony, a popular music awards show likened to the Grammys, is to take place on Saturday and Sunday at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.

The first night of the show will be co-hosted by actor Lee Seung-gi and actress Park Min-young while balladeer Sung Si-kyung and actress Kang Sora have been announced as hosts for the second night.

On Saturday, the awards for the digital song of the year will be presented while Sunday's show will celebrate the album of the year.

Songs released from Dec. 1, 2017, to Nov. 30, 2018, are eligible for nomination. However, the sales records will be counted until the end of December 2018.

The selection committee, which consists of 30 members ― K-pop reporters, music program producers, culture critics and officials at major music distributors ― has looked into artists' album sales, digital streaming as well as the social and cultural impact of their music to determine the winners.

In addition to Best Digital Song and Best Album Awards, Special Awards will be presented to the artist who has excelled in leading the trend of any genre of the music industry. Rookie Artist of the Year will be given to a person or a group who debuted during the applied period and contributed to K-pop.

BTS was named Most Popular Artist as determined solely by fan votes.

The voting process has been shrouded in controversy over voting fraud allegations. Some fans allegedly duplicated their IDs to vote multiple times for their favorite artists.

Local media outlets reported that thousands of new IDs were suddenly created to vote for EXO just a few hours before the voting period ended. One of EXO's fan clubs with over 170,000 followers even encouraged its members to create more IDs to vote for the band, according to reports.

Marking its 33rd anniversary, this year's theme for Golden Disc will be “Transcendence.” Top artists will give special performances that carry the message that music has no generation, age, language, race or religion. From well-known idol groups that seem to transcend the K-pop frame to prominent artists who have diversified music genres will be present.

BTS, TWICE and Wanna One have confirmed to attend both days, while GOT7, SEVENTEEN and Monsta X among many other artists will show up on second night. Veteran singers Im Chang-jung and Kim Jong-jin of Spring Summer Autumn Winter are expected to perform on the show.

The organizing committee also announced its full line-up of presenters for the two-day event on Thursday.

Actors who will be presenting include Hwang Jung-min, Park Sung-woong, Bae Sung-woo, Jung Hae-in, Byun Yo-han, Kim Dong-wook and Park Hae-jin. From actresses, Kim Hee-sun, Claudia Kim, Jang Yoon-joo, Han Go-eun, Kim Ji-won and Kim Da-mi will attend the show as presenters.

The 33rd Golden Disc Awards will be broadcast live on JTBC, JTBC2 and JTBC4 from 5 p.m. (KST)

Founded in 1986, the annual Golden Disc Award is presented for outstanding achievements in the music industry in Korea.