Penny Tai is up against Hung Pei-yu and Lala Hsu who lead with eight nominations each. Photo: Penny Tai/Instagram
Jay Chou is out, and “monster rookie“ Hung Pei-yu and singer Lala Hsu are in at the upcoming Golden Melody Awards.
Taiwan’s Chinese equivalent to the Grammy Awards unveiled its nominations on Tuesday (May 16).
The biggest shock was that Mandopop king Chou, who released his latest album Greatest Works Of Art in 2022, is not in the running for Best Male Singer (Mandarin).
The ceremony, which will be hosted by singer WeiBird – otherwise known as Wei Li-an – will be held on July 1 in Taipei.
Chou, 44, is nominated for only one award, Song of the Year, for his album’s title track.
Other nominees in this category include Like A Star by Hsu, Silver Lining by Hung, Daughters by Enno Cheng featuring Chunho, The Best Time by Anpu, and Semane Sepi by indigenous singer Kasiwa.
Surprisingly, the nominations for this edition of the awards are led by Hung, 32, who earned the moniker “monster rookie” with her first album Silver Lining.
She debuted in 2010 through the singing competition Super Idol and has a hit song in Tiptoe Love, part of the soundtrack for the hugely popular romance drama In Time With You (2011), which starred Ariel Lin and Chen Bo-lin.
But she took a step back from music and released her first album only in 2022.
Hung and her works are up for eight awards, including Best Female Singer (Mandarin), Best Newcomer, Best Mandarin Album and Song of the Year.
Her song Anything But also garnered Best Composer for Hsu and Best Lyricist for David Ke, while her album’s producer George Chen is nominated for Best Album Producer.
Hsu, 38, also has eight nominations. Aside from Best Composer, she is nominated for major awards such as Best Female Singer (Mandarin), Best Mandarin Album and Best Album Producer.
Hsu and Hung will fight for Best Female Singer (Mandarin), a category termed by Taiwanese media as a “death match“ due to its fierce competition.
The other women in the category are Chinese star Yu Kewei, who participated in hit variety show Sisters Who Make Waves (2020 to present) in 2020, and Taiwanese powerhouse balladeer A-Lin, Malaysian singer-songwriter Penny Tai and Chinese rapper Lexie Liu.
Trailing behind Hsu and Hung in the nomination count is Wu Ching-feng, frontman of pop-rock band Oaeen (previously known as Sodagreen), who has seven nods.
The 40-year-old, who released his solo album Mallarme’s Tuesdays in 2022, has been nominated for Best Male Singer (Mandarin), Best Composer, Best Album Producer and Best Mandarin Album.
In the Best Male Singer (Mandarin) category, Wu will face off against rappers MC Hotdog and Kumachan, singer-songwriter Hush, rookie R&B singer The Crane and Chinese folk singer Zhao Lei. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
