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Lights, Cameras and Action, the Metro FM Music Awards are making a comeback this year.

The SABC has announced the return of one of Africa’s biggest nights in music, The Metro FM Music Awards after a 5 year hiatus. The last awards which were hosted pre-covid in 2017 and were hosted in Durban by then Metro FM’s daytime duo Pearl Modiadie and Amon Mokoena.

Now that the awards are making a return this year after half a decade, many have questions on whether the show will do away from the controversy they faced in 2017 after the late Riky Rick slammed the radio station for accepting payola for the awards during his acceptance speech after winning Best Hit Single.

During his acceptance speech at the 16th MMA’s Riky said “90% of the sh*t on radio is garbage. So, if you’re a kid and you’re watching this right now, forget radio. If they don’t ley you play on radio, you better go to the internet and let your songs pop on the internet.” before his mic was muted and shortly started trending on twitter.

Even though not much has been revealed about this year’s show, Metro FM has announced that the event will be returning to the Mpumalanga Province and have opened online entries which will run until 28 February 2023 for 20 categories of awards which will be handed out for albums and singles released between 28 February 2022 and 28 February 2023.

Speaking to the media in Johannesburg, SABC Radio Group Executive Nada Wotshela said “We are excited to bring back one of SABC’s biggest events that are loved by millions of our audiences. This event has grown to be embraced by the industry and surely has made an indelible mark, hence the demand for it remained high even at the time of its short break.”

According to the MMA’s official website 3 special awards will be handed this year, which are Lifetime Achiever Award, One Africa Award and Most Streamed Artist award. Other categories include Best Amapiano, Best R&B, Best Hip Hop, Best Viral Video, Best Styled Artist/Group, Best Kwaito/GQOM and more.

We are definitely looking forward to 17th Annual Metro FM Music Awards. The live show will be hosted on April, 29th 2023 in Mbombela, Mpumalanga and broadcast on SABC 1 and streamed on SABC+ and Metro FM’s YouTube channel globally.