MTV VMA's 2025: Fans cry foul as Lisa, Doja Cat, Raye win Best K-Pop for English Born Again, 'How is this fair?'

There’s always drama at award shows, so why should this year’s MTV VMA’s be any different? The drama in question: Best K-Pop was awarded to the song Born Again, by Doja Cat, Raye and Lisa. The song was English and two of the stars in question are not Korean, and Lisa, while she is in the K-Pop girl band Blackpink, is Thai, as angry fans noted.

Fans started resorting to memes and jokes, sharing photos of One Direction, or even Lionel Messi for that matter, saying that they deserved the Best K-Pop too. One fan wrote, “Jimin, Jennie, Rosé, and Stray Kids were more deserving. How is it possible for a song without any Korean lyrics to be nominated in the K-pop category and even win?”

The competition was fierce: Her bandmates Jisoo (Earthquake), Jennie (Like Jennie), and Rosé (Toxic Till the End) were all in the running, along with BTS’ Jimin (Who), Stray Kids’ Chk Chk Boom, and aespa’s Whiplash. Yet, Lisa came out on top, marking her third win in four years in the category.

Lisa first went solo in 2021 with the hip-hop smash Lalisa and snagged her 2022 Best K-Pop award with the same flair — bandmates cheering her on in person. She followed that up this year with her album lead single Rockstar from Alter Ego, which also brought her home another statue.

With this latest win, Lalisa is tied with BTS for the most Best K-Pop awards since 2019, and she remains the only artist to win every year she’s nominated. Meanwhile, the Born Again victory also adds to Doja Cat’s VMA collection, marking her sixth win, and celebrates RAYE’s first-ever VMA, after a nomination last year for Genesis in Video for Good.