Now in its 11th year, Golden Indie Music Awards (GIMA) has been the testament to the fertility of homegrown scene stalwarts and young creatives. This year’s ceremony was held on 31st October 2020 at Taipei Music Center and the results are in.
Carving out a Mando R&B/hip hop niche with his silky vocals and searing talent, one-man army J.Sheon led the pack by bagging Best Hip Hop Song, Best R&B Album, and Best R&B song whilst IMA-winning metalcore band FUTURE AFTER A SECOND also received 3 nods in rock categories. Fast forward from her all-Paiwan kinakaian breakout, Best Album winner ABAO has genuinely built the ABAO-phenom on the surging popularity of this boundary-breaking album. Teaming up with several out-of-the-box independent musicians restlessly, Best New Artist 9m88 has racked up millions of streams with her jazz background over omnivorous musical tastes. Emerging from the viral track "Dat $tick", Indonesia-born US-based rapper Rich Brian picked up the first Asian Original Music trophy by his personal stories-tied album The Sailor. The elusive duo Alex Zhang Hungtai (the man behind Dirty Beaches) & Tseng Kuo Hung (best known as the leader of Sunset Rollercoaster)'s album LONGONE scored Jury Award with raw, conceptual and experimental approaches.
GENERAL FIELD
Best Album
kinakaian - ABAO
Best Band
FUTURE AFTER A SECOND
Best Singer-Songwriter
Peggy Hsu
Best New Artist
9m88
Best Musician
Nicky Li
Min Yen Hsieh
Ohtake Ken
Best Live Performance
Leo Wang 2019 Simple Urban - Leo Wang
Asian Original Music
The Sailor - Rich Brian (Republic of Indonesia)
GENRE FIELD
Best Rock Album
The Art of Embarrassment - Wayne's So Sad
Best Rock Song
"INVERT" - FUTURE AFTER A SECOND
Best Alternative Pop Album
Portal - Zani
Best Alternative Pop Song
"24 Years Old of You" - I Mean Us
Best Hip Hop Album
Liars Like Us - Chang Wu
Best Hip Hop Song
"RAZOR" - J.Sheon
Best R&B Album
The Alley - J.Sheon
Best R&B Song
"Ballad" - J.Sheon
Best Folk Album
The Ship of Fools - Misa
Best Folk Song
"Alian" - BOXING & Matzka
Best Electronic Album
Panorama - Ń7ä
Best Electronic Song
"Iridescent Vision Feat. Taj Raiden" - Sonia Calico
Best Jazz Album
Epiphyllum - Yen Ting Lo
Best Jazz Song
"The 5 Mins in Between" - Yen Ting Lo
JURY AWARD
Jury Award
LONGONE - Alex Zhang Hungtai & Tseng Kuo Hung
Outstanding Contribution Award
Yu Jing Peng & Witch House