LIST: 10 of our favorite moments from the Asia Artist Awards 2023
It’s been a few days since, but the fever is still high for the recently held 8th Asia Artist Awards in the Philippines last Thursday, December 14. The country played host to the prestigious AAA for the first time, with the whole-day affair bringing together some of the biggest names from China, Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines.
The stars descended upon Bulacan as everyone awaited with bated breath who the year’s most notable performers in Asian entertainment will be. Co-organized by local promoter and hallyu concert pioneers, Pulp Live World, the AAA was definitely one of the shows to top off a spectacular year in the world-class concerts, fan meets, and shows held in the country this year alone.
While the entire red carpet and six-hour stage kept everyone glued to the live show and livestream, there were standout moments that wowed the crowd from yesterday’s show as some of the hottest, funniest, most touching, and overall most memorable! Here, we list down some of our favorite moments from the Asia Artist Awards 2023.
Ryan Bang as the red carpet MC
@meooow1998 Laroshie talaga sa red carpet ng AAA 2023 😭😭😭 - credits to the vids #AAA2023 #aaa2023inph #aaaredcarpet #asianartistawards #ryanbang #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #fypphilippines #fypPH #xyzbca #abcdefu #viral #kpop #ppop #korean #filipino #artists #actors #actress ♬ QKThr - Aphex Twin
What do you expect when you have a host like Ryan on the red carpet? Definitely not your typical MC! The Korean-born It’s Showtime entertainer injected Filipino humor into his commentary as stars walked the red carpet, keeping the audience engaged. “Sana mag-guest kayo sa ‘Showtime’!” “Thank you, thank you, ang babait ninyo!” and “Basta ikaw, Kim Seon-ho, take your time!” are just some of Ryan’s more adorable quips to South Korea’s big stars. Read more of Ryan’s AAA 2023 MC-ing gems here.
SB19 heats up the stage with &Team
@pouchwonki my girlies were so hyped #newjeans #sb19 #andteam #aaa2023 #asiaartistawards2023 ♬ ETA - NewJeans
After South Korea’s WHIB—a K-Pop boy group (formerly known as M.I.C.) of eight members: Jayder, Haseung, Jinbeom, UGeon, Leejeong, Jaeha, Inhong, and Wonjun—opened the ceremonies, our very own SB19 proceeded to wow the crowd with an intense seven-minute performance of their biggest hits.
The P-Pop quintet composed of Josh, Pablo, Stell, Ken, and Justin sure made the country proud with their medley of hits, from Mana, Bazinga, to CRIMZONE, and, finally, GENTO. The chilling stage finale saw SB19 being joined by members of &Team, HYBE Labels Japan’s multinational nine-piece boy band based in Japan and South Korea composed of K, Fuma, Nicholas, EJ, Yuma, Jo, Harua, Taki, and Maki.
All clad in white against a fiery stage of red, the last few minutes of GENTO showcased just how explosive a P-Pop and K-Pop collaboration truly is.
As proof, it was also the first time we saw K-idols like NewJeans and STRAY KIDS dancing along and getting hyped to SB19’s viral hit outside of TikTok. Indeed, a core memory for A'TIN and Filipinos!
SB19 took home two Asia Artist Awards, the AAA Hot Trend and the AAA Best Artist Award (Singer).
Everything Melai Cantiveros-Francisco, basically
In the number of times that Melai Cantiveros-Francisco was put on camera, there was no dull moment for the AAA artists and audience alike as she charmed everyone with her distinctly Pinoy humor. The Pinoy Big Brother: Double Up alum, Magandang Buhay host, and Ma’am Chief: Shakedown in Seoul star surely brought the laughs to the AAA that even her fellow nominees and awardees couldn’t help but cheer for her!
“Attending to AAA is a very honor. I feel like I am the first honor,” she said, while speaking to the ceremony’s host and IVE’s Jang Won-young during a short interview.
From her short banter on the red carpet with MC Ryan Bang to her brief interaction with her favorite K-actor Kim Seon-ho, and especially her acceptance speech, Melai won not just an AAA award but everyone’s hearts that night!
Melai won one award, the AAA Best Actor Award.
Lee Young-ji and BSS bring the house down
After receiving her award onstage, South Korean rapper and web talk show host Lee Young-ji performed her songs I Am Lee Young-ji and Not Sorry to the delight of the attending crowd. In her performance of the latter, Young-ji even went down from the stage to dance with BSS’ Seungkwan, DK, and Hoshi—members of the first sub-unit of South Korean boy group SEVENTEEN—which turned out to be a foreshadowing of their closing performance for the Asia Artist Awards 2023 show.
Lee Young-ji took home one award, the AAA Best Choice Award.
Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla win individual AAA awards
Despite being fresh from their breakup announcement earlier this month, Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla—one of the Philippines’ former formidable love teams that brought us box office hits like The Hows of Us, Can’t Help Falling In Love, and Crazy Beautiful You—were 100% pros on the Asia Artist Awards stage as they received their awards individually.
While Daniel preferred to keep his acceptance speech short and sweet, Kathryn delivered a heartwarming message in hers as she thanked her fans for continuing to support Filipino TV series and films and expressed great pride in the Philippines being able to host such a prestigious awards show such as the Asia Artist Awards. Even STRAY KIDS couldn’t help but cheer for her!
Kathryn and Daniel won one award each, the AAA Fabulous Award.
NewJeans, LE SSERAFIM, STAYC, and ITZY perform in one night
There was barely any room to breathe as K-Pop’s reigning fourth-generation queens took to the AAA stage with their stunning visuals, vocals, and vibes!
NewJeans, the global K-Pop phenomenon behind hits like Ditto, OMG, and Super Shy performed back-to-back with Fearless and Anti-Fragile five-piece LE SSERAFIM. Later on in the show, STAYC (composed of members Sumin, Sieun, Isa, Seeun, Yoon, and J) and ITZY (composed of members Yeji, Lia, Ryujin, Charyeong, and Yuna) also took the stage to perform their high-energy hits to keep the AAA crowd hyped.
NewJeans was the night’s biggest winner with a total of six awards: AAA Hot Trend, AAA Asia Celebrity, and AAA Fabulous Awards, as well as AAA Grand Prize: Song of the Year for “Ditto” and AAA Grand Prize: Singer of the Year. LE SSERAFIM took home three awards: AAA Asia Celebrity, AAA Best Performance, and AAA Best Artist (Singer) Awards. STAYC won one award, the AAA Best Musician Award. Lastly, ITZY took home one award, AAA Best Artist Award (Singer).
Kim Jae-joong celebrates 20 years in the industry
Kim Jae-joong, a South Korean solo artist previously from K-Pop groups TVXQ and JYJ, was awarded one of the most prestigious recognitions of the night in honor of his upcoming 20th debut anniversary in the K-entertainment industry. “I’m excited for the next coming years,” he said in his acceptance speech, as he revealed he is currently working on a new album to be released soon.
Kim Jae-joong won one award, the AAA Top of the K-Pop Record Award.
Lee Jun-ho, Suho, Kim Seon-ho, Kim Se-jeong, Ahn Hyo-seop under one roof
Any self-respecting K-Drama fan would have known that these trending actors from their favorite titles of previous years have all recently visited the Philippines. The Red Sleeve and King The Land’s Lee Jun-ho, Behind Your Touch’s Suho, Start-Up and Hometown Cha Cha Cha’s Kim Seon-ho, Business Proposal, and The Uncanny Counter’s Kim Se-jeong, and Business Proposal and A Time Called You’s Ahn Hyo-seop have all been to Manila to hold their respective fan meetings just this past year.
At the ceremony, Jun-ho, Suho, and Seon-ho—playfully dubbed the “Three Hos”—all sat together at one table, while on-screen couple Se-jeong and Hyo-seop shared a table.
Lee Jun-ho won four awards, including the AAA Popularity, AAA Hot Trend, and AAA Best Acting Performance Awards, as well as the AAA Grand Prize: Actor of the Year. Suho took home one award, the AAA Emotive Award. Kim Seon-ho won two awards: AAA Asia Celebrity and AAA Best Artist (Actor) Awards. Kim Se-jeong won two awards, the AAA Popularity and the AAA Best Actor Awards. Lastly, Ahn Hyo-seop took home two awards, the AAA Hot Trend Award and the AAA Best Actor Award.
STRAY KIDS kill the stage
Undeniably one of the most awaited performers of the night, STRAY KIDS’ Bangchan, Leeknow, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin, and IN. The eight-piece South Korean boy group that has taken the world by storm got the audience and even their fellow artists off their seats as they performed hits MANIAC, GET LIT, TOPLINE, and LALALA in a four-minute non-stop stage that lit up the Philippine Arena.
STRAY KIDS won two awards, the AAA Fabulous Award and the prestigious AAA Grand Prize: Stage of the Year.
BSS close the show with high energy
@svtize he is so 😭😭😭 cr. hanniee_kookiee on twt #dk #dokyeom #hoshi #seungkwan #bss #booseoksoon #seventeen #svt #AAA2023 #asianartistaward2023 #kpop #kpopfyp #fyp #carat #carats ♬ 거침없이 - BSS (SEVENTEEN)
From their precious interaction with Lee Young-ji earlier in the show, the fun continued as the boys of BSS aptly wrapped up the AAA with their hyped-up performance of their viral hit Fighting, in which Young-ji joined them once again onstage. Seungkwan, DK, and Hoshi ended the night with a banging performance, with onstage antics that even left most of their fellow K-idols with their jaws on the floor!
The Asia Artist Awards is an annual awards ceremony organized by global media brand StarNews and MTN. The 2023 edition was co-organized by Pulp Live World and TONZ Entertainment, hosted by Kang Daniel, Jang Won-young, and ZEROBASEONE’s Sung Han-bin.