Seoul Music Awards: Song Joong Ki, Shim Eun Kyung Attend

The 35th Seoul Music Awards will be held at the Inspire Arena in Jung-gu, Incheon, on January 20th at 6 PM. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Seoul Music Awards, which began in 1990. It is a historic awards ceremony that has led the growth of K-pop and is considered a benchmark for understanding the K-pop trends of the year. This year's ceremony is drawing attention with expectations for three newly established categories, a star-studded lineup, and special collaboration stages.

This year's Seoul Music Awards will feature three new categories: "Golden Revival" (for artists who achieved a comeback success or dominated the charts for an extended period), "​New Icon" (for artists active in various fields), and "​SMA Best Artist" (the top artist among those performing at the main ceremony). Furthermore, the tradition of selecting only one grand prize winner will continue, with much anticipation as to which artist will receive the honor this year, following last year's winner, the group IDOLS.

A total of 20 artists will participate in this year's ceremony, with groups like ATEEZ, Lee Chan-won, LE SSERAFIM, and ZEROBASEONE confirmed for the lineup. Stars leading the popular culture scene, including Song Joong-ki, Shim Eun-kyung, Go Youn-jung, Kwon Nara, Park Ji-hwan, Ryu Kyung-soo, Ha Yoon-kyung, Kim Do-hoon, Jo Yu-ri, Kim Jae-won, Arin, Lee Yu-bi, and Heo Nam-joon, will be presenting awards. The MCs will be Super Junior's Leeteuk, ZEROBASEONE's Park Gun-wook, and Kiki Lee Sol, promising a performance that bridges generations.

The Seoul Music Awards is set to showcase a diverse range of performances from top K-pop artists and emerging talents. Last year, original grand prize winner Byun Jin-sub made a surprise appearance, delivering a special joint performance that spanned generations and garnered significant attention. Consequently, there are high expectations for whether special collaboration stages will be realized again this year. The awards ceremony will be broadcast live globally via Hello Live.