As singer G-Dragon took home the newly introduced ‘Music Visionary of the Year’ trophy at the ‘2024 MAMA AWARDS’, attention is also focused on the ‘2025 Visionary’, which will be announced in the new year.

The ‘2024 MAMA AWARDS’ selected an unrivaled icon who contributed greatly to the K-pop industry with their musical challenges and pioneering spirit this year and presented the signature award ‘Music Visionary of the Year’, which embodies MAMA‘s heritage. The first trophy went to G-Dragon, the ‘icon of our era’, who has opened a new path with his own originality and become a role model for many. G-Dragon is evaluated as an artist who has opened new horizons by leading the K-pop era that is cheered by the world. G-Dragon’s acceptance speech also became a hot topic. G-Dragon said, “I‘ve been with (the ‘MAMA AWARDS) for 17 years,” and wittily added, “I don’t know if this is an award that I can never receive again once I receive it, but I won‘t miss it next year either.” Winning the ‘Music Visionary of the Year’ has made his journey with MAMA even more meaningful, and has become an important milestone ahead of CJ ENM’s ‘2025 Visionary’, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary next year.

Since 2020, CJ ENM has selected people who have inspired the global public by leading the flow of the entertainment industry with their own unique worldview (Originality) and unrivaled impact (Impact) as ‘Visionaries’, and highlighted their activities. Based on the principle of ‘Awarding to creators who have presented new possibilities and visions with unparalleled achievements’, award recipients are selected without restrictions in fields such as acting, music, and directing. So far, CJ ENM ‘Visionaries’ have included people from various fields such as Director Park Chan-wook, Director Bong Joon-ho, Director Hwang Dong-hyuk, Writer Kang Full, Writer Kim Eun-hee, PD Na Young-seok, BTS, Yoo Jae-suk, and IU.

2025 marks the 30th anniversary of CJ ENM. As a ‘global IP powerhouse’ that has presented content that everyone can relate to in various fields such as movies, dramas, entertainment, music, performances, musicals, and animation, and has been recognized for its solid originality, CJ ENM plans to select the ‘2025 Visionaries’ based on CJ ENM‘s representative works to commemorate this. Through this, ‘2025 Visionary’ is expected to be an important turning point for CJ ENM to discover more innovative IPs, present a future-oriented vision, and open a new chapter in the K-content business in the global entertainment market.

‘2024 MAMA AWARDS’ successfully concluded last November, creating numerous topics and creating a great stir globally.

Jeon Hyo-jin, Donga.com Reporter jhj@donga.com