"Isn't this clearly a sabotage?" — Fans slam ASEA 2025 for redefining 'Song of the Year' as Daesang one year after BTS' Jungkook's 'Seven' win

On May 28 and 29, the second edition of the Asia Star Entertainer Awards (ASEA 2025) took place, honoring singers and actors from the South Korean and Japanese entertainment industries. This two-day event was presented by ZOZOTOWN and produced by Newsen and @Star Magazine.

ASEA 2025 was hosted by Kim Hye-yoon, MONSTA X's Hyungwon, IVE's Rei, and THE BOYZ's Younghoon, with actors Choo Young-woo and Jang Gun-seok appearing as presenters. The event went by without hiccups, however, a few fans noticed the change in award titles. BTS' Jungkook won the Song of the Year award last year, and this year, the award title was reportedly changed to 'Daesang,' meaning a grand prize.

This year, SM Entertainment's girl group aespa won the Song of the Year award for Supernova at ASEA, and it was publicized as a 'Daesang.' Fans were not happy with this change and took to X to express their views.

"Isn't this clearly a sabotage?? 2024 when jungkook wins it isn't a daesang but suddenly SM artists wins its a daesang???" one fan tweeted.

Fans also pointed out alleged bias within the awards shows, not just in South Korea but elsewhere as well.

"These award shows are rigged, shows how real talent & art rarely wins...biases, corruption.. Be it korean industry or western industry or anywhere else. Oscar judges not watching movies to vote, deserved artists not winning grammy/other awards & here asea changing rules suddenly," a fan wrote.

"didn't south korea have a recent change in the entertainment industry about regulating these awards shows better? what happened to that mandate because lots of award-giving bodies who do not respect the artists and their achievements in the ent industry still keep on popping up," a fan commented.

"The previous year they didn't consider AOTY as daesang but this year the same award is considered as daesang?" another fan wrote.

Fans also pointed out a similar instance where the award titles were changed from last year when TXT won the award, to this year when aespa won the same award. Since ASEA had put out a claim that they could change the award titles without any notice, fans were further disappointed at the alleged skewed nature of award honoring.

"it also happened with txt with this same award show. last year they won artist of the year and it wasn't daesang; this year æspa won and they said it was a daesang. moas were very mad yesterday," a fan wrote.

"so artists shouldn't even care about these awards if one year the same award is a daesang, next year it's not. what's the point of even counting how many daesangs a group has if it's just random lol," another fan wrote.

"Why didn't they make this change last year?.. This honor should have been given to the past year's winners too. This is totally unfair," another fan commented.

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Who were the awards winners at the ASEA 2025?

From Kim Hye-yoon and Byeon Woo-seok of Lovely Runner, to aespa, ENHYPEN, NCT Wish, i-dle, and PLAVE, several names from the entertainment world found recognition for their work in the past year in the ASEA 2025.

Winners on Day 1 of ASEA 2025 are as follows:

• Artist of the Year: aespa
• Song of the Year: aespa for Supernova
• Album of the Year: ENHYPEN for ROMANCE: UNTOLD
• The Platinum Award: aespa, ENHYPEN, IVE, NCT WISH, NiziU, timelesz
• The Best Performance: NCT WISH
• The Best Solo (Female): BLACKPINK’s Jisoo
• The Best Solo (Male): Lim Young-woong
• The Best Group (Female): NiziU
• The Best Band: Xdinary Heroes
• The Best Trot: Lee Chan-won
• The Best Artist: timelesz
• The Best New Artist: Hearts2Hearts, KiiiKiii, NEXZ
• Top Touring Artist: ENHYPEN
• Hot Trend: NOWADAYS

Winners of Day 2 of the ASEA 2025 are as follows:

• Record of the Year: i-dle
• Performance of the Year: ZEROBASEONE
• The Platinum: Sakurazaka46, ZEROBASEONE, &TEAM, THE RAMPAGE from EXILE TRIBE, THE BOYZ, i-dle
• The Best Artist (Actress): Kim Hye-yoon
• The Best Artist (Actor): Choo Young-woo, Byeon Woo-seok
• The Best Group (Male): PLAVE
• The Best Vocal Group: BTOB
• The Best Artist (Singer): ATARASHII GAKKO
• The Best New Artist (Singer): HANA
• The Best New Artist (Actress): Jo Yu-ri
• The Best Conceptual Artist: THE BOYZ
• The Best OST: Byeon Woo-seok (ECLIPSE) for Sudden Shower (Lovely Runner OST), BTS' Jin for Close to You (When the Stars Gossip OST)
• Producer: SKY-HI
• Hot Icon: n.SSign, FANTASY BOYS
• Hot Trend: BADVILLAIN, NouerA
• Global Rising Artist: Choo Young-woo
• Global K-pop Leader: i-dle
• Fan Choice Couple: Lee Se-young and Sakaguchi Kentaro
• Fan Choice Character: Kim Hye-yoon
• Fan Choice Artist (Actor): Byeon Woo-seok
• Fan Choice Artist (Actress): Kim Hye-yoon
• Fan Choice Artist (Singer): Lim Young-woong
• Fan Choice 5th Generation: PLAVE

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Stay tuned for more updates.