YG Entertainment flagship girl group BLACKPINK will not attend this year's Mnet Asian Music Awards on Dec. 2.
YG confirmed that it will boycott MAMA 2016 reportedly due to the hectic schedule of the agency and its artists in December. According to a representative of the label, the agency is prepping for the comebacks of some of their biggest artists such as BigBang and PSY. 90s boy band Sechs Kies will be holding a concert next month following their comeback on Dec. 1.
"The final decision has been made that YG singers will not be participating in the 2016 MAMA at AsiaWorld-Expo on December 2 in Hong Kong." a representative from YG Entertainment has purportedly confirmed with Star News on Nov. 22.
"'MAMA opened up online voting on Dec. 1, and we don't know if there's the possibility of winning an award yet," YG rep stated, as per AllKpop. "However, even if we do get invited, it's been decided that it would be impossible to prepare a performance for the award show," the source added.
This means that the label's hot girl group as well as BigBang will be absent in the line up of performers. YG girl group BLACKPINK is nominated for the best new female singer and best music video. They are also nominated for Artist of the Year along with iKON, PSY, and Lee Hi. Individually, PSY was nominated for best male singer and Lee Hi was nominated for best female singer. Finally, MOBB's "Hit Me" was nominated for best collaboration and Song of the Year.
BLACKPINK debuted on Aug. 8 with YG's longest trainees Jennie Kim, Kim Jisoo, Lalisa Manoban, and Park Chaeyoung or Rose. The girls are dubbed as the second coming of YG's female group 2NE1, which the new group claimed as a big influence in their songs and style.
Watch the performance of BLACKPINK in SBS Inkigayo.