BTS' 2018 MMAs 'IDOL' performance where Jimin received an award for his 'fan dance', wins 'Legendary Performance' at the 2021 MMAs

The 2021 Melon Music Awards ceremony took place on December 4 as an online event. BTS won a total of 6 awards, one of which was the Legendary Performance award, where the 2018 MMAs 'IDOL' performance had been nominated.

BTS' performance of the song 'IDOL' during the 2018 MMAs has remained engraved in the hearts of many and is still talked about to date, and Jimin had a lot to do with this. The performance consisted of individual stages by all members where they all had a chance to showcase different styles for the intro of the song, and Jimin performed the traditional Korean 'fan dance'. His execution of the dance was majestic, and he left the audience in awe of his moves. The fan0dance performance was legendary for many reasons.

First, Jimin received an award for this fan dance performance. The Appreciation Plaque for his fan dance was awarded by the 'Kim Baek Bong Fan Dance Conservation Society,' stating that 'By having re-interpreted the beautiful Korean fan dance in a unique way, Jimin had made a great contribution in raising the status and aesthetic value of the Korean fan dance globally.' 

Jimin was awarded for having helped raise the status and aesthetic value of the Korean fan dance globally because of how his performance went viral on that day (December 1, 2018), not just nationally but internationally. For instance, he trended #2 worldwide only after the show itself, with a whopping 1.5 million mentions to his name. As reported by Poli News Korea, he also topped Twitter trends in approximately 40 countries, including Australia and France. He was still topping real-time trends in countries like Greece on 4th December 2018, 3 days after the award show. Fans around the world were left speechless by the beauty and smoothness of his moves. 

The article said, "The fever of the legendary performance fan dance that BTS Jimin showed at the MMA awards ceremony on the 1st is not going away. Even after 3 days have passed since the performance, the real-time trend is still rising."

Jimin did largely help to draw lots of attention from foreign nations to the Korean fan-dance, making the performance legendary.

Secondly, apart from his performance being honored with an Appreciation Plaque, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of South Korea also published a magazine where they used JImin's photo from his fan dance on the cover, further emphasizing and acknowledging his performance's impact. It is no wonder that Korean media has given him the title of 'Korea's Front-man' since even government publications have him as a representative of the country's culture. Only a legendary performance of national value would ascend to such a status.

Thirdly, on the part of the MMAs recognizing and acknowledging the impact of Jimin's performance, the show placed a picture of this performance on its wall of greatest performances on the show and featured the same picture in a video that was released in 2020 to show the history of the show in anticipation of the 2020 awards show. This wall of most fantastic performances and the video also included other performances by Jimin, such as his 2019 MMAs 'I Need You' solo stage. This year, the show used his part of the 2020 MMAs 'Black Swan' stage in a preview clip of the show in anticipation of the 2021 Awards show as well. The show acknowledges the power of Jimin as a performer.

Fourth, Jimin's fan dance performance made an impact that transcended into the art world as well. Many famous artists have been using Jimin's individual stages as inspiration for their artworks, which have been placed on display in national exhibitions, as detailed here. 

In particular, in the case of the fan dance, the artist, Goheon Kim Ho-Sung, was inspired by the performance and constructed an art piece from it. This piece of art was put on display in 2019 at his 'Fun & Fan' exhibition, which was held at the Insa Art Plaza. The exhibition had artworks inspired by other famous figures around the world. There were art pieces of the Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson is known for her role in highly popular movies such as the 'Avengers' and 'Black Widow,' among others. Scarlett was listed as the highest-paid actress in the world in 2018 and 2019 and has been featured on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list multiple times. There was also an art piece of the current president of South Korea, President Moon Jae-in. 

By featuring Jimin among such prominent individuals, the artists acknowledge and recognize Jimin as a powerful figure in the world of performances just as the other individuals are prominent in their respective fields. Jimin's fan dance and its impact became legendary, placing him at par with such influential individuals.

With the award of Legendary Performance', the legend of Jimin's 2018 MMAs fan dance performance still lives on in 2021, and it will continue to be remembered in the coming years as well. Congratulations to Jimin and BTS for all the wins at the 2021 MMAs. 

Here is a clip of Jimin's fan dance performance.