The US Presidential election has been very contentious.
Out of Trump and Kamala Harris, I fully support Kamala Harris, for the sole reason that she is more friendly to KPop.
She has met BTS
and is less likely to be friendly with the country music dominating the Billboard Hot 100.
-----
Now the value of Grand Prizes has significantly declined because of the proliferation of bullshit Grand Prizes, essentially an excuse for shows showing a lot of acts in some foreign city.
However, in 2017 the value of Grand Prize was still worth something.
Out of the 3 major Grand Prizes,
Melon
Artist - EXO
Song - BTS, Dynamite
Album - IU, Palette
MAMA (IU not eligible because she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from there in 2014)
Artist - BTS
Song - Twice, Signal
Album - EXO, The War
So, both EXO and BTS had two Grand Prizes and were tied, and the last remaining Grand Prize, Golden Disk, would decide who is the boss.
Tensions between ExoLs and Armys reached to the top. Both were only eligible for the Album of the Year Grand Prize.
If EXO won, it would reaffirm its status as the boss of KPop and would beat BTS and continue the SM domination of KPop.
If BTS won, it would become the new boss of the town, ending the years old SM domination.
The Song of the Year Grand Prize , on Jan 10, 2018, would be the decisive battle even though EXO would not be there.
It was a show to behold, featuring Red Velvet, Twice, BlackPink (and GFriend, shuned by all three) , as well as AKMU.
If any of them won the Grand Prize, the old system of awarding Grand Prizes only to acts from major companies would continue, and EXO would win the next day's Album Grand Prize and things would continue as if nothing would occur.
However, things got grim when IU, who was cheated of her Grand Prize from Golden Disk in 2011 because SM decided to give Grand Prizes to SNSD and Super Junior (although, as everyone knows, IU did pay back SJ later in 2012).
The only reason IU , 24 years old at that time (her true age not yet revealed) and a 10 year industry veteran, would show up in there, in an award which shunned her before, would be because she is going to collect a Grand Prize.
And she did
The impact was enormous.
It meant now Golden Disk was giving Grand Prizes to acts not from the 3 major companies,
which meant BTS would win the Grand Prize the day after.
And it did.
However it was all but decided when IU, the #1 personal non grata in Grand Prizes, won her first real Grand Prize (MMA was not considered seriously until 2017) , ending 10 years of SM domination although it might be partially restored on 2024 with aespa.
It was the day IU's lifelong struggle against SM reached its final conclusion, and also probably the last time a nonKPop song , Through the Night, would win a major Grand Prize in a Kpop award as well.
