BLACKPINK scoops 2 honors at this year’s MTV VMAs

South Korean girl group BLACKPINK has received two awards at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), one of the biggest annual music awards in the United States.

The K-pop quartet won Best Choreography and Group of the Year, according to the list of this year’s winners announced by the MTV VMAs on its homepage Tuesday (U.S. local time).

The Group of the Year category was created in 2019 to reflect criticisms that the award show does not adequately recognize the achievements of boy bands and girl groups.

K-pop giant BTS had since won in the category for four years in a row before BLACKPINK claimed the honor this year.

BTS member Jungkook won Song of Summer for his first solo single “Seven (feat. Latto),” beating other big-name contestants, such as Beyonce, Billie Eilish and Dua Lipa.

Jungkook was first nominated for the award for “Left and Right,” a collaborative single with American singer-songwriter Charlie Puth, last year but failed to take home an honor.

BLACKPINK and Jungkook, however, did not attend the awards ceremony held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Tuesday.

Boy group Stray Kids was named as winner of this year’s Best K-pop with “5-Star,” the main single of its third studio album.

The nine-piece group beat other popular K-pop groups, such as aespa, Seventeen, BLACKPINK and Tomorrow X Together, to take the honor.

“We have been making our own music since we started our career, and so this award is even more meaningful to us,” Stray Kids said after winning the prize. “We have a lot to show, so please look forward to our future,” it added.

Boy group Tomorrow X Together (TXT) was presented with Push Performance of the Year during the red carpet event held before the main ceremony.

The Push Performance of the Year honors the best artist from among those chosen for the U.S. music channel’s “MTV Push” campaign, which features interviews and other content with a different artist each month.

The two boy groups were also among the stars who performed in the awards show.

TXT gave the first live performance of its new single, “Back for More,” together with Brazilian pop star Anitta while Stray Kids performed “5-Star” for the first time on American television.