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The 32nd Golden Melody Awards Ceremony has been officially delayed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Isaac Chen, awards ceremony consultant, has previously worked through the SARS pandemic in 2003 and collaborated with Leehom Wang and David Tao in “Hand in Hand”, a song paying tribute to SARS efforts. Chen has reached out to the two artists once again for a remaking of the song and both artists have expressed wishes to do so as well. Invited on board to serve as producer, GMA Best Singer JJ Lin commenced music production within 48 hours and has also reached out to 32 GMA-nominated singers close to him and Chen to participate in the song, hoping to uplift and encourage the people of Taiwan with their comforting vocals. JJ Lin shared that he was honored to take part, “remaking ‘Hand in Hand’ is incredibly meaningful and we hope to radiate positive energy with music”. Performing singers include Hebe Tien, Qing-feng Wu, James Li, JJ Lin, William Wei, Shi Shi Sun, Soft Lipa, One-Fang, E.SO, Tan Weiwei, and Tarcy Su.
In 2003, SARS ravaged Taiwan and forced the cancellation of the 14th Golden Melody Awards Ceremony. Singers Leehom Wang and David Tao proposed the production of a charity single, leading to the birth of “Hand in Hand” where 81 mandarin singers congregated in Taipei to sing and record. “Hand in Hand” has now become a collective memory for efforts against SARS of the Taiwanese people. Now, 18 years later, the 32nd GMA will again walk alongside the people of Taiwan, hand in hand, through the pandemic. Regarding the remake, JJ Lin expressed that it was a challenge, “‘Hand in Hand’ has left a deep impression on the public. The goal is to maintain the song’s original core while gifting it new rhythm and style. Especially with the addition of two rappers, the tone and soul has to be just right and we have to fuse it with pop elements of this generation”.
The new 2021 “Hand in Hand” merges the emotions towards the two pandemics of different times and its lyrics express the current voices of the public to create a deeply touching song and comforting force. As singers recorded their parts at home, JJ Lin believes it will be difficult to sync everyone’s voices but also stated that, “the whole world has been impacted by the pandemic and we hope that our collaboration can be a reminder for everyone to be inclusive, work together, and get through this together!”
