BABYMONSTER Shines Alongside Ahn Hyo-seop At The 2025 MAMA Awards

The 2025 MAMA Awards, always a gravitational center of performance and profound expectation, presented an unusual complexity this year. The collaboration with the American animated film, *K-pop Demon Hunters*, established a jarring duality—the sleek reality of K-pop intersecting with a world of cinematic demons. Ahyeon, Pharita, and Rora of BABYMONSTER were set to engage with this manufactured darkness on Saturday, November 29, during Day Two of the ceremony.

They stepped onto the stage, ready to transform the fictional into the acutely real.

The Weight of Absence

The night was shaped by a sudden, devastating void. Two collaborative stages had been meticulously planned, yet only one materialized. The group intended to perform the second stage—dubbed the Saja Boys—was abruptly cancelled.

This included RIIZE’s Wonbin, TWS’s Shinyu, BOYNEXTDOOR’s Leehan, and ZEROBASEONE’s Gunwook and Yujin. Their track, "Your Idol," was silenced before it could ever resonate in the venue.

This erasure was not due to logistics or trivial concerns. It was the direct, chilling consequence of a real-world tragedy: the Hong Kong fire incident that had unfolded just days prior, on November 26. The gravity of that external event consumed the planned spectacle, turning what should have been a moment of high energy into a confusing, empathetic silence.

How do you reconcile celebratory ambition with genuine sorrow? This unexpected shift placed an undeniable, profound burden on the three young women remaining.

The Double Burden of the Stage

BABYMONSTER performed, bearing the weight of both their own scheduled segment and the palpable absence of the others.

Ahyeon, Pharita, and Rora initially delivered the vocal cover of HUNTR/X’s "Golden." It was an intense, unique projection into the theme of *K-pop Demon Hunters*, a fusion of power and vulnerable clarity.

In compensation for the cancelled Saja Boys performance, they took on a second, distinct track: "What It Sounds Like," also by HUNTR/X. This doubling of effort, this immediate absorption of unexpected responsibility, defined their unique contribution to the evening.

Pharita’s steady high register, Rora’s focused delivery, Ahyeon’s unwavering centrality—they held the space that five others could not. Separately, yet existing within the same cinematic shadow, the former JYP trainee and respected South Korean actor, Ahn Hyo-seop, offered his own shade, covering Jinu’s "Lament" from the film.

So many stories, running parallel paths, converging briefly. The performance itself became a testament to sudden, necessary resilience. They did not fill a gap, perhaps. They simply gave form to the feeling of moving forward when the structure around them has cracked.