By Honorary Reporter Sonya Galcheva from Bulgaria
Photos= Sonya Galcheva

Do you know the feeling of watching something you love on TV? One of my dreams was to watch in person a K-pop music awards show in Seoul.

As part of Korea Grand Sale 2020, the Visit Korea Committee organized an international event that offered the chance to win tickets to the High1 Seoul Music Awards. All applicants had to do was to promote the event on social media like through Facebook or Instagram. Not only was I one of the lucky winners, I got not one but two tickets. So I got to fulfill my dream and bring my friend.

The 29th edition of the awards was held on Jan. 30 at Seoul's Gocheok Sky Dome. With 20,000 seats, the stadium is one of the biggest stages for cultural events like concerts and awards ceremonies. And fans of Koreana, especially K-pop, would die to attend this ceremony. The awards were given in 15 categories based on sales of albums and songs, mobile voting, a judging panel and input from the Seoul Music Awards Organizing Committee.

Right before the event started, a K-pop cover group from the Philippines began the festivities with a performance, which made us want more. At 7 p.m., the ceremony began. The announcement of the winners was perfectly mixed with the live performances, so even a foreigner who didn't understand Korean hardly got bored. There was one break during the entire four hours. I don't know how the event was aired on TV, but it didn't feel like there were any commercial breaks.

So how did it go? In the beginning, the lights were off and all you could see was an ocean of light sticks that the fans waved. Everyone in the stands acted like one big crowd, waiting for their favorite stars to come out. And as soon the acts appeared, I heard the roar of the audience before even I could see the artists. The fans greeted every group and singer with the screams and applause they deserved.

I was so eager to see their performances and get to know who won the awards. Among them were BTS (Physical Album Award), TaeYeon of Girls Generation (Digital Music Award), EXO (Popularity Award) and TXT, ITZY and AB6IX (Rookie Award).

What excited me the most, however, was the performances of two groups: Mamamoo and Super Junior. The first of the two to perform was Mamamoo, who was cool and gorgeous performing its famous song "Gogobebe and HIP." And Super Junior was the last to perform, and I knew it would perform its new song "2YA2YAO." I was hoping to hear an older song because I started listening to Super Junior back in 2010. So I was really excited and pumped up when I heard the first notes of "Sorry Sorry," and this performance was definitely the highlight of the show for me.

chaey0726@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean