34th Golden Melody Awards Recap.
The 34th Golden Melody Awards ceremony was held at Taipei Arena on July 1, 2023.
At this moment where Mandopop and Taiwanese music continue to advance, the Golden Melody Awards are also exploring new directions. The list of nominees has become more diverse, and they have invited overseas musicians to join the ceremony. However, at the same time, there are also loyal fans of 90s Mandopop and those who commemorate the past. Nevertheless, overall, it remains one long-awaited music extravaganza in the Mandarin-speaking region.
Looking at the previously announced list of nominees, the first highlight of the night is the fiercely competitive Best New Artist award, which was won by Pei-Yu Hong. Just a few weeks before the Golden Melody Awards, she also received the Best New Artist award from Singapore's Freshmusic Awards. In her acceptance speech, she cleverly addressed the criticisms raised against her, such as her rise to fame through a talent show over a decade ago and whether she can still be considered a newcomer. She also acknowledged that, unlike other competitors, she is not a singer-songwriter. Still, she expressed her gratitude to those who guided her when she returned to the music scene and became a singer again.
In the Taiwanese music awards, the judges made very contrasting choices. The Best Taiwanese Male Singer award was given to A Ge La, a veteran musician who has been in the industry for over 30 years and is now 66 years old. On the other hand, the Best Taiwanese Female Singer and Best Taiwanese Album awards were both presented to Enno Cheng and her album Mercury Retrograde. This was Enno Cheng’s first attempt at composing a full-length Taiwanese album, but her pronunciation, vocabulary, and music perfectly aligned, creating a very unique Taiwanese song style.
This year, the Golden Melody Awards made an effort to involve more international participation by inviting King Gnu from Japan and Phum Viphurit from Thailand to perform. Phum brought his collaboration song "Little Balcony," which he co-wrote with Sunset Rollercoaster. Interestingly, the music video director of this song, Pennacky, who is from Japan, received the Best Music Video award. On stage, he expressed his gratitude to the GMA and the musicians he worked with, and he was happy to achieve cross-border communication through his creative work.
Last year's big winner at the Golden Melody Awards, Tanya Chua, also performed as a guest this year. During her performance, she used five original songs to depict a love story. During the commercial break when the TV broadcast was paused, she specially presented a song she had composed for charity, "WE ARE ONE," to soothe the hearts of those who have been affected by recent #MeToo incidents in Taiwan.
During the presentation of the Song of the Year award, presenter Cheer Chen awarded the prize to Anpu for "A Flash and How It Lasts". Both artists are iconic folk singers in Taiwan, and as they embraced each other during the award moment, created a beautiful moment.
Anpu released the album "9522" at the end of last year, which marked a comeback after a 10-year hiatus. The album includes many reinterpretations of her early works, and "A Flash and How It Lasts" is a song she wrote at the age of fourteen. Although we are currently in a post-pandemic period and there is much global instability in terms of international affairs and socio-economic issues, some may consider it the worst of times. However, it is essential to remember that, as the song of the year implies, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
(written by. Infong Chen)