While it's still too early to discuss the line-up for this year's Mnet Asian Music Awards or MAMA, as it is popularly known, rumours about the performances and hosts for the event have been rife.
To be sure, 2016 has been a rather eventful year for several K-pop bands. While bands such as BLACKPINK debuted after a seven-year wait, SM Entertainment's girl group, Red Velvet, made its comeback.
However, it's not just the girl groups who have stamped their musical prowess in 2016. Chinese-Korean boy band EXO released its third studio album, Ex'Act, in June. Perhaps it is this flurry of album releases and fresh content that made fans speculate on the performances in this year's MAMA awards.
A Soompi article noted that several social media platforms have been rife with rumours about EXO, I.O.I, Red Velvet, WINNER, iKON, BLACKPINK, and INFINITE's performances.
In response, CJE&M, the organisers of the awards show, stated that it's too early to speculate on MAMA 2016's line-up.
The statement read, "The rumours appear to have come from China. It appears as if they were posted to a famous K-pop site in China. But both confirmation and discussion is still in its premature stages. We will release the lineup ahead of the event, but not yet."
The bands' agencies, SM, YG and JYP Entertainment, said nothing has been confirmed yet.
MAMA, held towards the end of the year, celebrates the best of K-pop. In 2016, the event is scheduled to take place at the AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong on December 2.
