Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and South Korean outfit Hyukoh collectively received the most nominations at this year’s Golden Melody Awards, earning a total of seven nods from the jury on Wednesday.
The bands collaborated on their 2024 album AAA, which received nominations for best band, best album producer, best album design and best vocal album recording.
“Young Man,” a single from the album, earned nominations for song of the year and best music video, while another track, “Antenna,” also received a best music video nomination.
Photo grab from facebook.com/sunsetrollercoaster
Late Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong (方大同) was named the jury award winner for his 2024 album The Dreamer (夢想家), which has also received a nomination for best Mandarin album.
He was also nominated for song of the year, best composer, and best lyricist for the track “Twenty Three” (才 二十三).
On March 1, Fong’s talent agency announced that the singer had died on Feb. 21 after years of poor health.
Photo: CNA
The nominees in the Mandarin male singer category are PoLin (柏霖), Ricky Hsiao (蕭煌奇), Terence Lam (林家謙), Trout Fresh (real name Lu Shih-hsuan 呂士軒) and Li Ronghao (李榮浩).
Tanya Chua (蔡健雅), Penny Tai (戴佩妮), Vicky Chen (陳忻玥), Karencici (林愷倫) and Waa Wei (魏如萱) are nominated for best Mandarin female singer.
Meanwhile, 23 albums across the Mandarin, Hakka, Taiwanese and Indigenous-language categories have been shortlisted for the coveted album of the year award.
Photo:Taipei Times
The jury also named Taiwanese composer-producer Weng Xiao-liang (翁孝良) and the late Taiwanese singer Ma Chao-chun (馬兆駿) as winners of the special contribution award.
Weng made his debut on Taiwan’s music scene in the 1960s, quickly establishing himself as one of the country’s finest guitar players. He wrote several well-known classics, including “My Future is Not a Dream” (我的未來不是夢), “Dreamland” (夢田) and “Devotion” (奉獻).
He is also credited with discovering young talent who would later become household names in Taiwan, including Tom Chang (張雨生), Yuki Hsu (徐懷鈺) and Matilda Tao (陶晶瑩).
Ma was a mainstay of Taiwan’s “campus folk songs” movement from the 1970s to the early 1980s, during which he notably composed folk classics such as “Kapok Road” (木棉道) and “July, At the Liang Mountain” (七月涼山) with songwriting partner Hung Kuang-ta (洪光達).
Ma also produced albums for several superstars, including Liu Wen-zheng (劉文正), Fong Fei-fei (鳳飛飛), and Tracy Huang (黃鶯鶯). His legacy continued into the 21st century, when he frequently served as a judge at singing contests to discover up-and-coming musical talent. He died in 2007.
Organizers announced this year’s nominees at a press event in Taipei on Wednesday. Vice Culture Minister Hsu Yi-chun (徐宜君) said the jury had a tough job reviewing 846 submissions across 27 categories.
Ting Hsiao-wen (丁曉雯), who heads the jury, said the submissions are marked by their diversity and ingenuity, representing a clear departure from traditional notions of songs.
Ting noted that many of the submissions are from overseas, highlighting Taiwan’s diverse pop music scene.
Ting added that the jury took into account the works’ artistic achievement, potential impact on the music industry and public reception when compiling a “balanced” list of nominees.
Now in its 36th year, the Golden Melody Awards, hosted by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture, remain the most prestigious music awards in the Mandarin-speaking world. In 2014, Billboard described the awards as the “Grammys of the Mandarin pop world.”
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS