Jennie recently dropped her single Mantra and has been promoting it in various ways, including pre-recording performances for Korean music shows. However, controversy arose following the October 19th episode of MBC’s Music Core.
Before the show aired, many expected Jennie to be nominated alongside aespa’s Karina (Up) and QWER (My Name Is Malgeum). A popular account known for analyzing music show scores had even shared a pre-show ranking, where Jennie was among the top three, with a clear lead over other artists.
But when the episode aired, fans were shocked to see that Jennie wasn’t nominated. Instead, boy group AB6IX was in the running, with Karina ultimately winning. Fans speculated that Jennie’s Mantra was disqualified due to the music video’s “explicit” version, which features the word “ass.” This likely resulted in the removal of points from the SNS category, which includes music video views.
Outraged fans quickly took to social media, accusing MBC of unfairly snubbing Jennie. While most fans did not blame AB6IX for the outcome, they highlighted a double standard, comparing the lyrics of Mantra and AB6IX’s NVCKED. Many pointed out the alleged misogyny behind the decision, arguing that Jennie’s song was unfairly penalized.
