What's New
The 30th Golden Melody Awards Ceremony was held grandly on June 29th, 2019 at the Taipei Arena. The ceremony was unveiled with a micro documentary, followed by Eason Chen appearing on the center of the stage in a black suit with a guitar slung around his shoulder singing Special Thanks to. The incredible performance, named The “Golden Record”, was brought about with a 17-person band and covered selected works from awards alumni, including Endless Harbor, Amphibian, Silence, Double Cross, and in Taiwanese Hold You Tightly. The new arrangements perfectly mesh the rock styles with the lyrical ones. Toward the end of the performance, Eason introduced four top producers Eric Chen, Bing Wang, Dong Yun-chang, and Howe Chen, who then proceeded to file out along both sides of the stage, and joined the band with guitars, completing the performance alongside Eason's stunning renditions, and dedicated it to all the music people present.
The performance was followed by host of the ceremony Lulu rapping her way through the opening monologue in a dreadlock and hip hop-style clothing; sharing everything from been an alumnus on the red carpet, to hosting the ceremony, and she also did not forget to remind the winners to keep track of the time while giving acceptance speech. Her subversive rapid-fire opening monologue earned her a round of applause from the audience. Catching her breath, she also remarked rather humorously “Jolin must have found this funny, how is possible for me to be so out of breath after a mere 2.5 minutes?”
The first award of the evening was presented by the Jerry Yan, who is rarely seen these days in Taiwan. Coincidentally, Yan was also a presenting ambassador at the 10th GMA. Confronted with footage of his young-tender-self presenting on the stage 20 years ago, Yan, a superstar in his own right these days, humorously remarked “10 years ago I was in charge of delivering the Award to the presenter, and now to the winner, here's hoping one day I'll actually be sitting down there”. Yan presented the Best Recording Package and Best Music Video categories on the night of the ceremony.
This year's Best Recording Package category was awarded to Hold That Tiger, jointly designed by Andrew Wong and Fongming Yang. The two recipients also expressed their joy, thanked the continued support of their families, and commented that record packaging design is a really hard line of work, for which they've never thought they'd be recognized for.
Best Music Video was awarded to Slow/Oriental by Sunset Rollercoaster, vocal Tseng Kuo-hung's father gave the acceptance speech on their behalf, and thanked all the production crew for their efforts.
Before Yuying Hsu presented the Best Album and Best Album Producer Awards in the instrumental category, she remarked, rather emotionally, that producing and publishing albums are really back breaking work, “but we are here because we love music”. The speech garnered a full round of applause. Best Producer in the instrumental category was awarded to Paudull (Chen chien nien). “Producing a music album is really hard, I wanna thank my families and parents. Here's hoping everyone could persevere on the path of music”. Tokyo Chuo-Line, who grabbed the Best Album in the instrumental category with Lines & Stains in collaboration with Hsieh Minyen, also happily stated on the stage ”Thank you to all, Taiwan [Taiepi] is a great city, please remember to come and see our show.”
The Best New Artist category was presented by Shin (Su Jianxin), and won by the ‘atomic-level novice' ØZI. Nominated for multiple awards for his first ever album, ØZI did not disappoint, and received recognition as the best new artist this year. Shin told ØZI during the presentation “I feel this is your first of many awards!” For his acceptance speech, ØZI remarked “I'd like to first thank the jury for such an enormous encouragement. And to my mom and dad, who cultivated my talent, and afford me such a complete space to explore my own music.” ØZI also linked with his mother via cellphone on the stage, where Irene Yeh was moved to tears “Thank you jury, and thank you GMA, thanks to everyone who appreciates ØZI's music. ØZI you're awesome!” The series of emotional outbursts were teased by the host Lulu Huang as “longer then ØZI's actual acceptance speech.” ØZI also followed his speech up by a rendition of B.O., serenading the many fans in the audience.
Hakka-language GMA alumnus Wing Lo presented the Best Hakka Vocalist award to Gina Yang. While Best Hakka Album was awarded to We Settled Here. Receiving the award on the stage, vocalist Lo Sirong remarked that the beauty of Taiwan comes from its richness and diversity, “the land is our belly button, the people and land is connected in blood”.
The ‘Steel Lung' diva from Hong Kong Gloria Tang Tsz-kei (G.E.M) then brought use the performance STREAMING, reinterpreting 10 classic songs on Youtube, each with more than 100 million clicks, the stage was bathed in beautiful laser beams while Tang confidently strolled toward the stage, her stirring voice reaching the ears of the audience. Her first song was J.J. Lin's Twilight, followed by Qu Wanting's You Exist in My Song. Hebe Tien's A Little Happiness was then followed by Hu Xia's Those Bygone Years, and Joker Xue's Actor was followed by Erich Chou's “The Distance of Love” and Jay Chou's Love Confession. Tang further challenged herself by performing Taiwanese song Under Lover, as well as the Rap offering by Namewee and Wang Leehom Stranger in the North, giving both songs a different rendition based on her unique voice. The final song of the evening was of her own arrangement and lyrics Light Years Away. The performance was a testament to her moniker the ‘steel lung' diva, and immersed the audience in its beautiful melody.
Best Composer was awarded to Eva Ai, she revealed in her acceptance speech that “I thought I couldn't sing anymore, because I didn't know whether you're listening or not, the things I wanna convey is too small, and the pain I suffered was not a sever as some of the others, consequently [I always felt] what I did was just idle complaining.” But she turned positive toward the end and remarked that now she knows people are listening, she will continue to create new works.
Before unveiling the Jury Award, host Lulu transformed herself into the fake ‘Sandee Chan', the remarkable impersonation that followed sparked much discussion online, ‘almost got me' as one netizen put it. Lulu even joked about her own album, the almost-too-real filler performance evoked much laughter from the audience. The screen then switched back to the stage, where the real Sandee Chan, Chair of the GMA Jury made her appearance. She stated that this is one of the most important awards of the evening, and that this particular winner can claim to belong to any of the categories, that the winner's persistence on the path of creative endeavor, her unconventional approach in defiance of the mainstream brought about new possibilities for female music artists. Chan then announced Joanna Wang as the winner of the Jury Award. Bing Wang, seeing that his daughter was delayed in getting up to the stage, stepped up and received the award on her behalf, stating that “I'm just too damn proud!” Joanna followed soon after, and stated while laughing that “receiving the award from my father's hands is pretty special”, the two shared in the joy of her accomplishment.
The next item was originally a program on Hakka TV, Making Friends. The show was jointly hosted by ZiXuan & Slow Train, EggPlantEgg,, and Abao. The three groups performed Home Town Is No Where Else, Waves Wandering, Ms. Doremi, Kanu i Pasainuanga sun, Izuwa, Slow Train, and the song jointly created by all three groups Making Friends. The arrangement cleverly interposed Hakka, Taiwanese and aboriginal languages together, a perfect fusion demonstrating to the audience that “it doesn't matter what language you speak, music can help you make friends”. ABAO even go as far as demonstrating a series of dance moves on the stage, igniting an atmosphere that persisted through the entire duration of the show, with the netizens complementing the preformances as “unique” and reaching “the highest of standards for stage production, arrangements and performances”.
Samingad and Matzka then presented the aboriginal language categories, the two talented singers performed a duet on the stage in their native tongue, before unveiling the winner of Best Aboriginal Language Vocalist - Yawai･Mawlin. Mawlin expressed her excitement on been recognized for the accomplishment with her mother's language. The Best Aboriginal Language Album also went to Yawai's Swasieq.
Lotus Wang, nicknamed ‘the Hamasaki Ayumi of Taiwan', showed up on the stage in a provocative silver dress along with singer Crowd Lu to present the Best Male Taiwanese Vocalist category. Upon seeing Kang Kang in his seat, the two slid back into their respective character in A Boy Name Flora A, “Your third uncle has been singing for 30 years and this is his first nomination, congratulations, Kang Kang!” Eventually though, the category was awarded to Ardor Huang, he remarked emotionally in Taiwanese “Taking care of my mother for the past decade or so has prevented me from coming back to Taiwan, I can't believe I can still come back and sing. I would like to thank my mom up there in the heavens for this comeback”. Best Female Taiwanese Vocalist was awarded to Joey Chiang, who thanked Ric Jan in her acceptance speech for bringing her into the business of Taiwanese-language music, and set up a goal for herself to “keep witnessing this era with the Taiwanese songs and Taiwanese music that she loves”. The Best Taiwanese-Language Album went to Forgotten West by Sam Liao, who also thanked Ric Jan in his acceptance speech, explaining that “if it weren't for him kicking me out of the workshop five years ago, I'll probably still be practicing”.
The next performance was Us by S.H.E., Ella dressed in a peach-colored pantsuit, Hebe in an open back dress with silk long skirt, while Selina showed up in a puff sleeve dress with a leopard dot long skirt. The trio stood in front of a giant transparent flower-device, singing the song from their initial debut as a group Genesis, along with their latest Seventeen, a very meaningful combination dedicated to all the musicians and all the people who listen to Mandarin-language music.
Special Contribution Award was presented by the founder of Crystal Records Jiang-da Jen to Blacklist Studio. Jen praised in his presentation the work Blacklist Studio has done in a different time and space, under the threat of an authoritarian government. That their defiance of authority was the ‘spiritual guide of the era'. Blacklist Studio representative did not address the crowd when receiving the award, but expressed their thanks in a card, and brandished a banner expressing their views “I'm in Asia, I'm against American Imperialism”.
The program SUPER WOMAN was performed with a lineup consisting of Stefanie Sun , four backing vocalists, and a live band. The all-female composition energized the crowd from the very beginning, Sun was dressed in a punk-style long skirt and long boots, performing four songs One Hundred Years of Solitude, Running, One and Only, Sisters. The last song Sisters was also accompanied with the stunning visual of all LEDs on site showing mandarin female singers past and present, showcasing the women in mandarin music.
This year's Best Lyricist category was awarded to Jonathan Lee, vocalist for Mayday Ashin received the award on behalf of his mentor and expressed his appreciation. Song of the Year was presented by Mayday to Jolin Tsai, who shared a hug with Ashin during the presentation, and jokingly said “Thank my rumored online paramour Ashin for this”. Tsai especially thanked Director Hou Chi-jan for sharing the story of Ye Yong-zhi with her, “his story reminded me that I could become the minority under any number of circumstances, that I should use empathy to love the people around me, and remember to choose and support myself”.
The program Bridge of Glory was a joint performance by the popular Japanese Band Yuzu and Evan Yo of the classic song Bridge of Glory. Yujin Kitagawa and Koji Iwasawa played guitars and performed the vocal, while Evan accompanied with the piano, the trio were in perfect sync through the entire performance. The wonderful duet performed by Yuzu members mesmerized the audience. Bridge of Glory was the official broadcast soundtrack for the 2004 Summer Olympics, and is still extremely popular with the Japanese audience today. The perfect performance also demonstrated to the audience present the level of musical standards maintained by Yuzu.
Best Musical Group was awarded to CHTHONIC, vocalist Freddy Lin shared on the stage that he was never a traditional musician, or a traditional politician. He thanked his mother for her support, and thanked the friends from Zhongzheng and Wanhua districts, shouting “you guys are the coolest” on the stage.
Before Jolin Tsai's performance, GMA invited Pauline Lan to voice the opening monologue for her performance. As a fashion icon herself, Lan stated, she was here to on a pilgrimage as well, “it's the same all over the world, [we] can't do without someone who can sing, can talk, can dance, but also understands fashion and is also a trend setter”. Jolin entered the stage in a dress covered in pink sequences and a red beret, performing the song Ugly Beauty, while dancing amidst 26 male dancers. The perfect performance ignited the audience's passion, and brought the atmosphere within the arena to its highest point yet, with the scream of excited audiences that seemed to go on forever.
During the half-time show, host of the awards Lulu did not squander the chance to make fun of last year's host Jam Hsiao's drawing shenanigans, and mercilessly teased Hsiao when introducing him as the presenter, the effort was answered by the audience's laughers. Hsiao for his part offered Lulu his encouragement from a remote link , asking everyone to encourage and support her, laughed and remarked “I can empathize with her feelings best right now”.
The ceremony reached its climax toward the end. Host Lulu changed into a colorful off shoulder dress, and interviewed all the nominees for the Best Mandarin Vocalist category one by one; ØZI admitted that he didn't place too much thought on it, Kowen Ko on the other hand remarked that everyone's got a chance, Eli Hsieh said he's keeping a normal outlook, while Leo Wang answered “confidence? none, but with much joy!” Leo's humorous remark evoked a round of laughter from the crowd. GMA alumnus Karen Mok presented the Best Male Mandarin Vocalist cateogry. Before presenting the award, she humorously remarked that “presenting this award is quite stressful, since all nominees' names are hard to pronounce”, and then proceeded to ‘practice' pronouncing all the nominees' name on the stage, and followed up by praising them as the new generation of musical prodigies, “since it doesn't matter which one of you brought the award home, it would be his/her first time”. The award was won by Leo Wang. Unable to mask his excitement on the stage, Leo gave his acceptance speech, stating that he was originally enrolled in the National Taiwan University Department of Sociology, but dropped out because he wanted to focus on his music, disappointing his mother greatly, and made him felt a failure in filial piety. Leo next directed his speech toward his mom, “Please no more emotional extortions! I love you but I don't necessarily have to listen to you, don't conflate the two”.
Best Female Mandarin Vocalist was presented by the alumnus from last year, Lala Hsu. Upon taking the stage, Hsu made it clear that she was here to ‘express her love'. She thanked all five nominated female singers for bringing such wonderful works to the public, and reminded the nominees that everyone is irreplaceable and unique. The category was eventually awarded to Sandy Lam. Sandy however was not in attendance, and Isaac Chen received the award on her behalf, thanking the jury of 30th GMA for making such a wise decision.
For the Best Mandarin Album and Album of the Year awards, Eason Chen was invited as the presenter. Sun Sheng-xi successfully grabbed the Best Mandarin Album with Shi's Journey. Receiving the award on the stages, she excitedly exclaimed “feels like I'm sleep-walking!” She thanked all the production staff, and jokingly pretend that she was going to start rapping, before announcing the list of appreciation, and exclaimed on stage “this experimental album is a huge success!” Album of the Year went to the highly acclaimed Ugly Beauty. Jolin could barely contain her emotions “Thanks to all the fans for encouraging me to go on, this album is the one I spent the most amount of effort in expressing myself over the years”. She also called on all the women, stating that when they wanted to express their inner voice, they must bravely do so. Finally, Tsai expressed her disbelief that she's been in the entertainment circle for over 20 years, and thanked all the people that continued to believe in her, exclaimed “I love you all”.
The performance was followed by host of the ceremony Lulu rapping her way through the opening monologue in a dreadlock and hip hop-style clothing; sharing everything from been an alumnus on the red carpet, to hosting the ceremony, and she also did not forget to remind the winners to keep track of the time while giving acceptance speech. Her subversive rapid-fire opening monologue earned her a round of applause from the audience. Catching her breath, she also remarked rather humorously “Jolin must have found this funny, how is possible for me to be so out of breath after a mere 2.5 minutes?”
The first award of the evening was presented by the Jerry Yan, who is rarely seen these days in Taiwan. Coincidentally, Yan was also a presenting ambassador at the 10th GMA. Confronted with footage of his young-tender-self presenting on the stage 20 years ago, Yan, a superstar in his own right these days, humorously remarked “10 years ago I was in charge of delivering the Award to the presenter, and now to the winner, here's hoping one day I'll actually be sitting down there”. Yan presented the Best Recording Package and Best Music Video categories on the night of the ceremony.
This year's Best Recording Package category was awarded to Hold That Tiger, jointly designed by Andrew Wong and Fongming Yang. The two recipients also expressed their joy, thanked the continued support of their families, and commented that record packaging design is a really hard line of work, for which they've never thought they'd be recognized for.
Best Music Video was awarded to Slow/Oriental by Sunset Rollercoaster, vocal Tseng Kuo-hung's father gave the acceptance speech on their behalf, and thanked all the production crew for their efforts.
Before Yuying Hsu presented the Best Album and Best Album Producer Awards in the instrumental category, she remarked, rather emotionally, that producing and publishing albums are really back breaking work, “but we are here because we love music”. The speech garnered a full round of applause. Best Producer in the instrumental category was awarded to Paudull (Chen chien nien). “Producing a music album is really hard, I wanna thank my families and parents. Here's hoping everyone could persevere on the path of music”. Tokyo Chuo-Line, who grabbed the Best Album in the instrumental category with Lines & Stains in collaboration with Hsieh Minyen, also happily stated on the stage ”Thank you to all, Taiwan [Taiepi] is a great city, please remember to come and see our show.”
The Best New Artist category was presented by Shin (Su Jianxin), and won by the ‘atomic-level novice' ØZI. Nominated for multiple awards for his first ever album, ØZI did not disappoint, and received recognition as the best new artist this year. Shin told ØZI during the presentation “I feel this is your first of many awards!” For his acceptance speech, ØZI remarked “I'd like to first thank the jury for such an enormous encouragement. And to my mom and dad, who cultivated my talent, and afford me such a complete space to explore my own music.” ØZI also linked with his mother via cellphone on the stage, where Irene Yeh was moved to tears “Thank you jury, and thank you GMA, thanks to everyone who appreciates ØZI's music. ØZI you're awesome!” The series of emotional outbursts were teased by the host Lulu Huang as “longer then ØZI's actual acceptance speech.” ØZI also followed his speech up by a rendition of B.O., serenading the many fans in the audience.
Hakka-language GMA alumnus Wing Lo presented the Best Hakka Vocalist award to Gina Yang. While Best Hakka Album was awarded to We Settled Here. Receiving the award on the stage, vocalist Lo Sirong remarked that the beauty of Taiwan comes from its richness and diversity, “the land is our belly button, the people and land is connected in blood”.
The ‘Steel Lung' diva from Hong Kong Gloria Tang Tsz-kei (G.E.M) then brought use the performance STREAMING, reinterpreting 10 classic songs on Youtube, each with more than 100 million clicks, the stage was bathed in beautiful laser beams while Tang confidently strolled toward the stage, her stirring voice reaching the ears of the audience. Her first song was J.J. Lin's Twilight, followed by Qu Wanting's You Exist in My Song. Hebe Tien's A Little Happiness was then followed by Hu Xia's Those Bygone Years, and Joker Xue's Actor was followed by Erich Chou's “The Distance of Love” and Jay Chou's Love Confession. Tang further challenged herself by performing Taiwanese song Under Lover, as well as the Rap offering by Namewee and Wang Leehom Stranger in the North, giving both songs a different rendition based on her unique voice. The final song of the evening was of her own arrangement and lyrics Light Years Away. The performance was a testament to her moniker the ‘steel lung' diva, and immersed the audience in its beautiful melody.
Best Composer was awarded to Eva Ai, she revealed in her acceptance speech that “I thought I couldn't sing anymore, because I didn't know whether you're listening or not, the things I wanna convey is too small, and the pain I suffered was not a sever as some of the others, consequently [I always felt] what I did was just idle complaining.” But she turned positive toward the end and remarked that now she knows people are listening, she will continue to create new works.
Before unveiling the Jury Award, host Lulu transformed herself into the fake ‘Sandee Chan', the remarkable impersonation that followed sparked much discussion online, ‘almost got me' as one netizen put it. Lulu even joked about her own album, the almost-too-real filler performance evoked much laughter from the audience. The screen then switched back to the stage, where the real Sandee Chan, Chair of the GMA Jury made her appearance. She stated that this is one of the most important awards of the evening, and that this particular winner can claim to belong to any of the categories, that the winner's persistence on the path of creative endeavor, her unconventional approach in defiance of the mainstream brought about new possibilities for female music artists. Chan then announced Joanna Wang as the winner of the Jury Award. Bing Wang, seeing that his daughter was delayed in getting up to the stage, stepped up and received the award on her behalf, stating that “I'm just too damn proud!” Joanna followed soon after, and stated while laughing that “receiving the award from my father's hands is pretty special”, the two shared in the joy of her accomplishment.
The next item was originally a program on Hakka TV, Making Friends. The show was jointly hosted by ZiXuan & Slow Train, EggPlantEgg,, and Abao. The three groups performed Home Town Is No Where Else, Waves Wandering, Ms. Doremi, Kanu i Pasainuanga sun, Izuwa, Slow Train, and the song jointly created by all three groups Making Friends. The arrangement cleverly interposed Hakka, Taiwanese and aboriginal languages together, a perfect fusion demonstrating to the audience that “it doesn't matter what language you speak, music can help you make friends”. ABAO even go as far as demonstrating a series of dance moves on the stage, igniting an atmosphere that persisted through the entire duration of the show, with the netizens complementing the preformances as “unique” and reaching “the highest of standards for stage production, arrangements and performances”.
Samingad and Matzka then presented the aboriginal language categories, the two talented singers performed a duet on the stage in their native tongue, before unveiling the winner of Best Aboriginal Language Vocalist - Yawai･Mawlin. Mawlin expressed her excitement on been recognized for the accomplishment with her mother's language. The Best Aboriginal Language Album also went to Yawai's Swasieq.
Lotus Wang, nicknamed ‘the Hamasaki Ayumi of Taiwan', showed up on the stage in a provocative silver dress along with singer Crowd Lu to present the Best Male Taiwanese Vocalist category. Upon seeing Kang Kang in his seat, the two slid back into their respective character in A Boy Name Flora A, “Your third uncle has been singing for 30 years and this is his first nomination, congratulations, Kang Kang!” Eventually though, the category was awarded to Ardor Huang, he remarked emotionally in Taiwanese “Taking care of my mother for the past decade or so has prevented me from coming back to Taiwan, I can't believe I can still come back and sing. I would like to thank my mom up there in the heavens for this comeback”. Best Female Taiwanese Vocalist was awarded to Joey Chiang, who thanked Ric Jan in her acceptance speech for bringing her into the business of Taiwanese-language music, and set up a goal for herself to “keep witnessing this era with the Taiwanese songs and Taiwanese music that she loves”. The Best Taiwanese-Language Album went to Forgotten West by Sam Liao, who also thanked Ric Jan in his acceptance speech, explaining that “if it weren't for him kicking me out of the workshop five years ago, I'll probably still be practicing”.
The next performance was Us by S.H.E., Ella dressed in a peach-colored pantsuit, Hebe in an open back dress with silk long skirt, while Selina showed up in a puff sleeve dress with a leopard dot long skirt. The trio stood in front of a giant transparent flower-device, singing the song from their initial debut as a group Genesis, along with their latest Seventeen, a very meaningful combination dedicated to all the musicians and all the people who listen to Mandarin-language music.
Special Contribution Award was presented by the founder of Crystal Records Jiang-da Jen to Blacklist Studio. Jen praised in his presentation the work Blacklist Studio has done in a different time and space, under the threat of an authoritarian government. That their defiance of authority was the ‘spiritual guide of the era'. Blacklist Studio representative did not address the crowd when receiving the award, but expressed their thanks in a card, and brandished a banner expressing their views “I'm in Asia, I'm against American Imperialism”.
The program SUPER WOMAN was performed with a lineup consisting of Stefanie Sun , four backing vocalists, and a live band. The all-female composition energized the crowd from the very beginning, Sun was dressed in a punk-style long skirt and long boots, performing four songs One Hundred Years of Solitude, Running, One and Only, Sisters. The last song Sisters was also accompanied with the stunning visual of all LEDs on site showing mandarin female singers past and present, showcasing the women in mandarin music.
This year's Best Lyricist category was awarded to Jonathan Lee, vocalist for Mayday Ashin received the award on behalf of his mentor and expressed his appreciation. Song of the Year was presented by Mayday to Jolin Tsai, who shared a hug with Ashin during the presentation, and jokingly said “Thank my rumored online paramour Ashin for this”. Tsai especially thanked Director Hou Chi-jan for sharing the story of Ye Yong-zhi with her, “his story reminded me that I could become the minority under any number of circumstances, that I should use empathy to love the people around me, and remember to choose and support myself”.
The program Bridge of Glory was a joint performance by the popular Japanese Band Yuzu and Evan Yo of the classic song Bridge of Glory. Yujin Kitagawa and Koji Iwasawa played guitars and performed the vocal, while Evan accompanied with the piano, the trio were in perfect sync through the entire performance. The wonderful duet performed by Yuzu members mesmerized the audience. Bridge of Glory was the official broadcast soundtrack for the 2004 Summer Olympics, and is still extremely popular with the Japanese audience today. The perfect performance also demonstrated to the audience present the level of musical standards maintained by Yuzu.
Best Musical Group was awarded to CHTHONIC, vocalist Freddy Lin shared on the stage that he was never a traditional musician, or a traditional politician. He thanked his mother for her support, and thanked the friends from Zhongzheng and Wanhua districts, shouting “you guys are the coolest” on the stage.
Before Jolin Tsai's performance, GMA invited Pauline Lan to voice the opening monologue for her performance. As a fashion icon herself, Lan stated, she was here to on a pilgrimage as well, “it's the same all over the world, [we] can't do without someone who can sing, can talk, can dance, but also understands fashion and is also a trend setter”. Jolin entered the stage in a dress covered in pink sequences and a red beret, performing the song Ugly Beauty, while dancing amidst 26 male dancers. The perfect performance ignited the audience's passion, and brought the atmosphere within the arena to its highest point yet, with the scream of excited audiences that seemed to go on forever.
During the half-time show, host of the awards Lulu did not squander the chance to make fun of last year's host Jam Hsiao's drawing shenanigans, and mercilessly teased Hsiao when introducing him as the presenter, the effort was answered by the audience's laughers. Hsiao for his part offered Lulu his encouragement from a remote link , asking everyone to encourage and support her, laughed and remarked “I can empathize with her feelings best right now”.
The ceremony reached its climax toward the end. Host Lulu changed into a colorful off shoulder dress, and interviewed all the nominees for the Best Mandarin Vocalist category one by one; ØZI admitted that he didn't place too much thought on it, Kowen Ko on the other hand remarked that everyone's got a chance, Eli Hsieh said he's keeping a normal outlook, while Leo Wang answered “confidence? none, but with much joy!” Leo's humorous remark evoked a round of laughter from the crowd. GMA alumnus Karen Mok presented the Best Male Mandarin Vocalist cateogry. Before presenting the award, she humorously remarked that “presenting this award is quite stressful, since all nominees' names are hard to pronounce”, and then proceeded to ‘practice' pronouncing all the nominees' name on the stage, and followed up by praising them as the new generation of musical prodigies, “since it doesn't matter which one of you brought the award home, it would be his/her first time”. The award was won by Leo Wang. Unable to mask his excitement on the stage, Leo gave his acceptance speech, stating that he was originally enrolled in the National Taiwan University Department of Sociology, but dropped out because he wanted to focus on his music, disappointing his mother greatly, and made him felt a failure in filial piety. Leo next directed his speech toward his mom, “Please no more emotional extortions! I love you but I don't necessarily have to listen to you, don't conflate the two”.
Best Female Mandarin Vocalist was presented by the alumnus from last year, Lala Hsu. Upon taking the stage, Hsu made it clear that she was here to ‘express her love'. She thanked all five nominated female singers for bringing such wonderful works to the public, and reminded the nominees that everyone is irreplaceable and unique. The category was eventually awarded to Sandy Lam. Sandy however was not in attendance, and Isaac Chen received the award on her behalf, thanking the jury of 30th GMA for making such a wise decision.
For the Best Mandarin Album and Album of the Year awards, Eason Chen was invited as the presenter. Sun Sheng-xi successfully grabbed the Best Mandarin Album with Shi's Journey. Receiving the award on the stages, she excitedly exclaimed “feels like I'm sleep-walking!” She thanked all the production staff, and jokingly pretend that she was going to start rapping, before announcing the list of appreciation, and exclaimed on stage “this experimental album is a huge success!” Album of the Year went to the highly acclaimed Ugly Beauty. Jolin could barely contain her emotions “Thanks to all the fans for encouraging me to go on, this album is the one I spent the most amount of effort in expressing myself over the years”. She also called on all the women, stating that when they wanted to express their inner voice, they must bravely do so. Finally, Tsai expressed her disbelief that she's been in the entertainment circle for over 20 years, and thanked all the people that continued to believe in her, exclaimed “I love you all”.
