The 28th Golden Melody Award ceremony was opened yesterday (June 24th) at Taipei Arena by Chen-yue Chang and his resonant voice. The 100-meter-long LED immersed the audience in pristine jungle. He presented himself with his aboriginal name “Ayal Komod”, and sang with four aboriginal musicians around campfire to reinterpret two of his songs “Don’t cry, little girls” and “Longing sickness”. The aboriginal music styles corresponded well with their concerns on land issues. Afterwards, he sang with E-SO from MJ116 to seamlessly integrate aboriginal music and hip-hop rock. Chang finished the performance with MC HotDog and MJ116 with his classic FLY OUT to bring up the energy in the ceremony.
The event this year experimented on augmented reality for the first time. The technology and facility is sponsored and imported by Ross Video from Canada. Sophisticated art design and precise movements demonstrated themes and recreated scenarios before all seven performances. Images like flying hills and zeppelin appeared above the audience. The set installed 800 lights, much more than typical concerts to transform the ceremony into a major show, and reaffirm Golden Melody Awards as the pop music hub in the Mandarin-speaking world.
The host Mickey Huang prepared five costumes this year. The first one was suggested by himself, and signed by all nominees on the red carpet. When he found out Yoga Lin didn’t sign on the costume, he went downstage to make it up. “Among all nominees, I care about how he feels the most,” said Huang. “If he wins, it would be easy for me to host his wedding two days later.” The other four costumes were creative works by emerging designers in Taiwan, including Daniel Wong, AUSTIN. W , WANGLILING , CHENG PAI CHENG , Vanger (handmade leather shoes), and Stacey Wang Leather Goods (bow ties).
Crowd Lu, Best New Artist winner in the 20th GMA ceremony, delivered the same category this year. The band “No Party For Cao Dong” received this recognition and said, “we would like to thank everyone who supports us along the way. It’s our honor to receive this award.” William Wei also congratulated the band before he announced the winner of Best Composer (Instrumental), and sang a segment of its song. Europa Huang won Best Composer (Vocal) with the song Centrifugal Force. After receiving the award from Wei, he was grateful to all the requests and demands from Wei in the past. “I would be here without Wei,” he said.
Before honoring the first recipient of Special Contribution Award, Lu-shyia Chi, all five nominees to Best Female Vocalist – Taiwanese, Elly Chang, Maya, Olivia Tsao, Huang Fei and Sasha Li, performed her classic song together on stage. The audience was fascinated by their beautiful voices. Chi has performed countless Mandarin and Taiwanese songs for over 60 years, and witnessed changes in pop music in Taiwan. After receiving the award from Huang Fei, Chi got emotional. “I would like to thank the recognition from the 28th GMA. It’s my honor to perform great masterpieces from San-lang Yang, Lim-chhiu Lee, and Yu-hsien Teng, so I can be remembered.” Afterwards, Chi revealed the Best Female Vocalist – Taiwanese this year was Olivia Tsao. It’s especially meaningful to see heritages passed on. In her remark, Tso said emotionally that “today is my mom’s birthday, and your wish comes true. I would like to thank my boss Huang. I’ll continue the legacy of Taiwanese, and I won’t let you down”.
Ming-yu Hsieh received Best Male Vocalist, and delivered his acceptance speech in Taiwanese to thank family supports. “It’s unfortunate that many young people have difficulties understanding Taiwanese, let alone speaking in Taiwanese,” he said. “It would be if people can start to communicate in Taiwanese at home more.” Presenters Chia-chia Peng and Hsiao-shun Hsu made fun of the organizer and Hsieh’s outfit in their typical stand-up comedy performance.
Before previous Taiwanese and Hakka GMA winners Jacky Chen and Wing Luo performed, the host Huang came on stage with two strollers and said, “The host has so many tasks, including childcare”. He also invited Rainie Yang to share the task and said, “we really look like a family”. Besides winning GMA recognitions in recent years, Chen and Luo both became fathers this year. Their performance was accompanied by six-meter-tall infant props, and included creative styles and nursery rhymes in Taiwanese and Hakka to give a refreshing expression to traditional music. In their last song, the late singer Chin-fa Kuo’s image was projected on the screen, triggering lots of memories among people.
The legendary Japanese rock band GLAY performed at GMA for the first time. The four members all appeared in black outfits to bring a powerful experience with 24 years of experiences. The first song, THE OTHER END OF THE GLOBE, made everyone excited with special lighting effects. After thanking the audience in Mandarin, lead vocal TERU introduced Monster from Mayday to perform its classic song Yuuwaku. They passionately hugged each other on stage, and delivered charismatic guitar performances in front of chanting audience.
Best Female Vocalist – Mandarin nominee this year, Waa Wei, presented Best Lyrist and Best Arrangement awards. Mayday A-Shin received the former award with Almost Famous. In his acceptance remark, he said, “if I didn’t receive this award, I was planning to write in my epitaph that ‘even though everyone thinks he should win this, this guy has never got Best Lyricist in GMA’. Now I have to think of something else.” Best Arrangement award was given to musician Ellen Joyce Loo from Hong Kong. She said joyfully on stage that “I would like to thank my wife. I wouldn’t write my first Mandarin song seven years ago without her, and I wouldn’t even come to Taiwan”.
Infinity, a performance by Yoga Lin, collaborated with theater and image director Tung-yen Chou. It’s the first time in GMA to utilize 3D scanning and holographic projection in the performance. Lin and actors walked in and out of virtual and reality as if in dream. Yoga Lin chose Sandee Chan’s song Useless Umbrella to resonate with this poetic scenario. The audience was amazed and impressed by this perfect and precise performance.
Black Wave, was performed by Ronghao Li. He started with amazing electronic guitar skills, and sang three classic rock songs from China, Hong Kong and Taiwang by Cui Jian, Beyong and Wubai respectively. He paid tribute to rock music in his own style.
The album Village Besieged by Sheng-xiang band combined traditional beiguan music with punk, folk and rock music to receive Jury Award this year. When presenting the award, jury chairperson Kay Huang praised that “Sheng-xiang band brings real life to our ears. In this album, you can hear how meticulously they use instruments, literary essence in lyrics, and broad tolerance to sounds”. Lead vocal Sheng-xiang Lee said on stage that “This album is made possible via crowdfunding, so we share this honor to all supporters in the process”.
Lead vocals Jack Yao from Oriental Express, Nien-Hsien Ma from Sticky Rice, and Spark Chen together presented Best Musical Group and Bes Vocal Collaboration awards to No Party For Cao Dong and Mr. Miss respectively.
Before delivering the second Special Contribution Award to the late singer Yu-sheng Chang, Matilda Tao got emotional when she reviewed the memory when she met Chang in a singing contest 30 years. He later got overnight popularity with an advertisement song, and he sold 350,000 copies of debut album. “Chang was an intellectual with social awareness,” said Tao. “He put a lot of criticism and passion into songs. Even if he’s gone, his works stay and inspire the next generation. He still has special contributions to music even he’s gone for 20 years.” The audience was shown a short recording of Chang before A-mei performed five of his renowned works. Images and videos of Chang were projected in the background. A-mei burst into tears in the last lines, and completed to performance with great self-constraints. She was welcomed with a standing ovation.
Chang’s mother and brother attended the event. She read out her marks to thank everyone who helped him in his career. “Yu-sheng was the oldest son. He’s a great soon and great brother. It’s difficult to us over the years. His father received Best Album Award for him 19 years ago. I’ve never thought I would be here to receive Special Contribution Award for him today. I really wish he could be here himself.” It’s a very touching moment when the audience cheered up for Chang’s mother while she spoke out.
Famous band Mayday, nominated for eight awards this year, always delivered moving performances. When they appeared on stage to sing the popular song Stubborn, their fans went crazy. This music video has accumulated over 10 million views. During their performance, music video and firework special effects were broadcasted in the background to review their 20 years of music history. The lead vocal A-shin sang on a projected moon with a little astronaut. The “stubborn” phrase in the background showed how they persisted in their music dreams.
Before presenting Best Male Vocalist – Mandarin, Mickey Huang was applauded for integrating all nominee names into his segment. Khalil Fong brought back the honor. “I am surprised to receive this award,” Fong said. “Music has given me a lot, so I’ll continue to work hard and pay back.” During commercial breaks, supporting host LULU went off stage to interview other nominees. Yoga Lin expressed gratitude to fans, hugged them over the air, and congratulated Fong that he deserved the recognition.
Before presenting Best Female Vocalist – Mandarin, Julia Peng sang the song “Shiniest Star in Night Sky”, with GMA highlights over 27 years in the background. After performance, she said, “I waited for 20 years from Best New Artist to Best Female Vocalist – Mandarin, and I waited for 21 years to sing for you at GMA ceremony. I hope my story will be encouraging to you all.” The winner, Eve Ai described herself like water, and expressed gratitude to her producer Chien-chi Chen. “Thank you for trusting me, and believing that I’ll find my way back,” she said.
Best Album in Mandarin was awarded to History of Tomorrow by Mayday. Masa mentioned on stage that “I’ll thank all members for working together for 20 years. That’s how we can produce this album”. Many people in the audience were touched when they hugged one another on stage.
Album of the Year was open for competitions among all languages for the first time. The presenter Ta-yu Lo announced the winner as Yaangad.
