December 14 saw some of the biggest stars in K-Pop and Asian music come together for the 2023 Asian Artist Awards.
Members of BSS The members of LE SSERAFIM The members of ZEROBASEONE
Although the stars all looked amazing, fans couldn’t hide their disappointment at the setup from the very beginning. While some joked about it, fans pointed out how cheap it looked with huge spaces between “basic” tables, poor attendance due to high ticket prices, and the overall quality.
the debutant will now take pictures per table please be seated and proceed accordingly to the catering section after the photo opportunity pic.twitter.com/MAApztzJgQ
— andi (@wonrideu) December 14, 2023
i might get jumped for this but the event looks cheap talaga in all ways. parang year-end party lang ng kagayaku soap. the artists deserves better than this
— lia ς(˃◡˂·) (@thatonedinorara) December 14, 2023
I expected this event to be sold out given the lineup of artists, turns out it’s a total flop. Daming empty seats and the quality of the equipment doesn’t match the ticket prices.
Si Ryan Bang lang naambag natin na maganda 🥲
— reese ฅ՞•ﻌ•՞ฅ (@tiredmaltese) December 14, 2023
So disappointed w/ the organizers. Ang plain ng stage, wala man lang carpet ang sahig, walang cover ang mga upuan ng artists, ang awkward ng space at arrangement ng mga tables, ang daming vacant seats sa audience. Pinuchu puchu niyo lang
Pics not mine, cttro. pic.twitter.com/3rWrIXjD8B
— HoonBi¹⁷ (@RubiCaratUjidan) December 14, 2023
If the setup wasn’t disappointing enough for fans, many netizens couldn’t even watch a lot of the show because of unstable network conditions. For many fans, Weverse was the only place to watch, but for a large majority of the show, it was either lagging, buffering, or showing the error message.
Yet, when the stream did start to work, netizens complained that the awards show seemed boring. Although it is common for so many awards at the event, many thought this teamed with huge gaps between segments and leaving all the “Big” artists until the end. In particular, the AAA Awards are six hours long, which many think is excessive.
Congratulations AAA for winning ‘Most boring’ at the 2023 Award show Awards.
— kim ✧ DIXTAPE (@cosmokwan) December 14, 2023
mma 2023 aaa 2023
too boring
— TAERIRAHMAWATI (@BooNon_98) December 14, 2023
Aaa kinda boring, we need BSS, WHERES BSS
— Tori (@hrtcoups) December 14, 2023
In particular, with SEVENTEEN‘s BSS in the crowds, many felt that the show was just using the members. With such a long and grueling schedule, many thought the members should rest rather than attend, but they did not need to until the end.
AAA better give seventeen/bss awards already they could have just spent their time resting since they still have fukuoka on sat and sunday but still attended 🥲 i need to hear svt/bss receive awards already
— mai ♡ 뀨 d-30 (@akitasoundinomg) December 14, 2023
what’s the function of inviting bss to aaa if you don’t give them award?? they could use that time to rest before their next concert day.
— na (@KYE0MSHUA) December 14, 2023
no way in hell seventeen and bss is getting robbed in the same place they just filled out last year. this award show can’t even fill out half of what seventeen has filled out just for their concert alone.
— les 🪐 (@noncheolants) December 14, 2023
Many even joked it was so boring because they saw BSS doing random things.
imagine how bored bss were for them to write on the table using confetti
pic.twitter.com/ZD9md8XDDY
— lili 🫧 (@_lilihae) December 14, 2023
U know its boring when u started doing ridiculous things pic.twitter.com/16e6O16FzS
— Tori (@hrtcoups) December 14, 2023
While awards shows always go through problems, many think the AAA Awards have cemented the poor planning and direction many have gone through this year. Similarly, the usually popular Mnet Asian Awards also received criticisms, with many finding them unnecessary and just glorified music shows.
