They brainstorm technologies that can best deliver artists' visions
At Tokyo Dome on the eve of the 2023 MAMA Awards, the machinery of spectacle was already in motion — a reminder that the grandest performances are built long before the lights come on. Billboard's Tetris Kelly ventured backstage on November 28th to find not merely a stage, but a philosophy: that art, technology, and collaboration can transform a ceremony into a cultural moment. In an era when attention is fragile and memory is short, MAMA's producers are quietly asking a deeper question — what does it take for a performance to stay with you?
- Hours before showtime, Tokyo Dome was alive with the controlled tension of an event too large to leave anything to chance.
- The stakes were high — BTS's legendary 2020 performance had set a standard that every subsequent MAMA production must reckon with.
- Producers like Hyoung-jin Lee described a genuinely collaborative model: artists and technical teams sit together first, letting the vision drive the technology rather than the other way around.
- Acts including TOMORROW X TOGETHER, LE SSERAFIM, SEVENTEEN, ENHYPEN, and ATEEZ were each promised a stage built specifically around what they needed to say.
- Billboard's Tetris Kelly captured the pre-show electricity — the seating logistics, the layered stage architecture, the sense that something significant was hours from becoming real.
The Tokyo Dome was deep in the controlled chaos that precedes a major live event when Billboard's Tetris Kelly arrived backstage on November 28th. What she found wasn't simply a stage — it was a series of engineered environments, each designed to transform how a performance could look and feel at the 2023 MAMA Awards.
MAMA has spent years building a reputation for technically ambitious productions — the kind where audiences remember not just who won, but what the stage looked like when they did. BTS's 2020 performance remains the benchmark. With TOMORROW X TOGETHER, LE SSERAFIM, SEVENTEEN, ENHYPEN, and ATEEZ all on the bill, the pressure to match that legacy was real.
Producer Hyoung-jin Lee articulated the philosophy driving it all: MAMA positions itself as the world's premier K-pop awards ceremony, and the technology woven into each performance is central to that identity. Rather than fitting artists into a predetermined setup, the team reaches out to the year's biggest acts and builds the stage around their vision — sitting down together first to understand what story each artist wants to tell, then engineering the technical architecture to make it possible.
Kelly's behind-the-scenes access revealed the sheer scale of the undertaking. Even the seating chart — determining where each act would be positioned across the vast dome — was its own production challenge. Her reporting carried the unmistakable electricity of an event on the edge of happening: something significant, carefully constructed, and about to unfold.
The Tokyo Dome was humming with the kind of controlled chaos that only happens when an awards show is hours away from going live. Backstage, the scale of it became clear: not just a stage, but a series of stages, each one engineered to transform how a performance could look and feel. Billboard News sent Tetris Kelly to Tokyo on November 28th and 29th to walk through the space before the 2023 MAMA Awards kicked off, and what she found was a masterclass in how an awards show becomes an event.
The MAMA Awards have built a reputation over years of elaborate, technically ambitious performances. The kind where you remember not just who won, but what the stage looked like when they did. BTS's 2020 performance had set a high bar—the kind of moment that stays with you. This year, with artists like TOMORROW X TOGETHER, LE SSERAFIM, SEVENTEEN, ENHYPEN, and ATEEZ all scheduled to perform, the producers knew they had to deliver something equally striking.
Hyoung-jin Lee, one of the show's producers, explained the philosophy behind it all. The MAMA Awards, he said, aren't just another awards show. They position themselves as the world's premier K-pop awards ceremony, and that distinction matters. What sets them apart isn't just the roster of artists—it's the technology woven into every performance, the future-facing approach that treats each stage as a canvas for innovation. Lee described a process that sounds almost collaborative: when MAMA season approaches, the producers reach out to the artists who've had the biggest year, and they sit down together. They talk through what the artist wants to say, what story they want to tell on that stage. Then the real work begins—brainstorming the technologies, the stage directions, the technical architecture that will let that vision actually happen.
It's a different model than many awards shows use. Rather than fitting artists into a predetermined stage setup, MAMA builds the stage around what each artist needs. That requires coordination, planning, and a willingness to push what's technically possible in a live setting. The result is performances that feel less like a singer standing on a stage and more like a fully realized artistic statement.
Kelly's access gave viewers a sense of the sheer logistics involved. The Tokyo Dome itself is a massive venue, and every seat had a sight line to consider. The seating chart alone—figuring out where SEVENTEEN would sit, where ENHYPEN would be positioned, how to arrange the space so that every artist and every audience member felt the weight of the moment—was its own production challenge. The energy in her reporting captured something real: the electricity of an event that hadn't happened yet, the sense that something significant was about to unfold.
Citas Notables
MAMA Awards is the world's No. 1 K-pop awards show, incorporating different technologies and representing the most future-oriented awards show— Hyoung-jin Lee, MAMA Awards producer
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does the MAMA Awards feel different from other award shows? What's actually at stake?
It's the scale of the collaboration. Most awards shows book performers and build a stage. MAMA reverses that—they talk to the artists first, understand what they want to express, and then engineer the technology to make it possible. That's a fundamentally different approach.
So it's not about the awards themselves?
The awards matter, sure. But what people remember is the performance. The stage. The moment. MAMA understands that the ceremony is the medium, and they're willing to invest heavily in making that medium extraordinary.
You mentioned BTS in 2020. What made that stick with people?
It was the kind of performance where the technology disappeared. You weren't thinking about how they did it—you were just watching it happen. That's the bar MAMA sets for itself every year.
And this year, with all these groups performing, how do you even manage that?
You plan obsessively. You talk to each artist weeks in advance. You map out sight lines, you test the technology, you rehearse. By the time the show starts, everything should feel inevitable, even though it's incredibly complex.
What's the risk if something goes wrong?
You're live, in front of thousands of people and millions watching online. A technical failure doesn't just ruin a moment—it undermines the entire premise that MAMA is the world's premier K-pop awards show. So the pressure is real.