The 32nd Golden Melody Awards took place yesterday (August 21) at the Taipei Arena, celebrating the best of the Taiwanese industry.
Among the winners, Hokkien singer Olivia Tsao and indigenous singer SANGPUY, who both can boast 8 nominations at the awards as the most nominated artists, both came out victorious.
Olivia Tsao took home the Best Hokkien Album and Best Hokkien Female Singer awards for her album tsu-pun, while her track “Flavor” also took home the Best Arranger award, with arranger BabyC emerging victorious.
SANGPUY was honoured with the Album of the Year award for his album Gain Strength, and he was named Best Indigenous Singer.
This year’s Golden Melody Awards proved to be an even one, as many artists got their chances to be honored for their outstanding work.
Across the ceremony, the biggest winners of the night include Soft Lipa, whose work on the album Home Cookin won him the Best Mandarin Album, Music Video of the Year, and Best Mandarin Male Singer awards.
The Mandopop rapper emerged victorious over several industry A-listers such as JJ Lin, E.SO and Wu Qingfeng to clinch the title for the first time. Second-time nominee Hebe Tien also fended off competition from industry seniors such as Wan Fang, Tarcy Su, Sitar Tan and Panai to win the Best Mandarin Female Singer award.
Also taking home three awards was Terry Hsieh and Derrick Sepnio for their work on The Adventures of Pie Boy as The Spice Cabinet, winning the awards for Best Instrumental Album, Best Instrumental Composer, and Best Instrumental Recording Album.
On the Hokkien music front, FuKai Hsu finally won the Best Hokkien Male Singer award after being nominated for the seventh time, while Olivia Tsao clinched the second Best Hokkien Female Singer award of her career.
Mandopop veteran Wan Fang and her production team was honored with the Jury Award for her album Dear All, an exclusive award that is only given out each year if at least two-thirds of the jury agree on a winner for the award. Past years where the jury did not come to a two-third majority decision saw the award being forfeited 8 times out of the 15 award seasons since its introduction in 2007.
Industry senior Lo Ta-You was conferred the Outstanding Contribution Award in recognition of his efforts towards shaping the Taiwanese music industry across his illustrious 44-year career.
Full list of award winners:
Album of the Year
Gain Strength - SANGPUY
Song of the Year
"Your Name Engraved Herein" - Crowd Lu
Best Mandarin Album
Home Cookin - Soft Lipa
Best Hokkien Album
tsu-pun - Olivia Tsao
Best Hakka Album
Till - ChuNoodle
Best Indigenous Language Album
Lady of the Ocean - Outlet Drift
Music Video of the Year
“Hone Cookin” - Soft Lipa (Director: Cowper Wang)
Best Composer
HUSH - “AnHe” (Performed by Tarcy Su)
Best Lyricist
David Ke - “Untold” (Performed by Hebe Tien)
Best Arranger
BabyC - “Flavor” (Performed by Olivia Tsao)
Best Album Producer
George Chen - Time Will Tell (Performed by Hebe Tien)
Best Song Producer
Khalil Fong - “Noodles” (Performed by Khalil Fong)
Best Mandarin Male Singer
Soft Lipa - Home Cookin
Best Mandarin Female Singer
Hebe Tien - Time Will Tell
Best Hokkien Male Singer
FuKai Hsu - Ten
Best Hokkien Female Singer
Olivia Tsao - tsu-pun
Best Hakka Singer
Wing Lo - When the Sun Rises
Best Indigenous Singer
SANGPUY - Gain Strength
Band of the Year
Sunset Rollercoaster - SOFT STORM
Best Duo or Group
The Wanted - Dear Adult
Best New Artist
?te - A Bedroom of One's Own
Best Instrumental Album
The Adventures of Pie Boy - The Spice Cabinet
Best Instrumental Album Producer
hirsk - noista/gia (Performed by hirsk)
Best Instrumental Composer
Terry Hsieh; Derrick Sepnio - "Bitter Sweet" (Performed by The Spice Cabinet)
Best Album Package Designer
Qing-yang Xiao - ZETA
Best Vocal Recording Album
Where is SHI? (AJ Chen, Jansen Chen, Chou Han Tsay, Jonathan Liu, Fentse Hsieh, Yu, Chris Chen, Micky Yang, Recording Engineer; AJ Chen, Chou Han Tsay, Link Shan, Double, Itou Chou, Kenny, Mixing Engineer; Dave Kutch, Mastering Engineer)
Best Instrumental Recording Album
The Adventures of Pie Boy (Liu Mang, Recording Engineer; Link Shan, Mixing Engineer; Randy Merrill, Mastering Engineer)
Outstanding Contribution Award
Lo Ta-You
Jury Award
Wan Fang & Production Team - Dear All
