Jay Chou loses out on Best Male Singer nomination at 2023 Golden Melody Awards
Jay Chou is out, “monster rookie“ Hung Pei-yu and singer Lala Hsu are in at the upcoming Golden Melody Awards.
The Taiwan equivalent of Chinese-language music’s Grammy Awards unveiled its nominations on Tuesday, and the big shocker was that Mandopop king Chou - who released his 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 only nominated for 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.
The nominations this year are instead surprisingly led by Hung, 32, who has earned the moniker “monster rookie” with her debut album Silver Lining.
She actually made her debut 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) starring Ariel Lin and Chen Bo-lin. But she took a step back from music and only released her first album 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, Best Album Producer and Song Of The Year.
Hsu and Hung will fight it out for Best Female Singer (Mandarin) - a category termed by the 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 in 2020, as well as 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, the 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 awards such as Best Male Singer (Mandarin), Best Composer, Best Album Producer and Best Mandarin Album.
For the big win of Best Male Singer (Mandarin), Wu will be facing off against rappers MC Hotdog and Kumachan, singer-songwriter Hush, rookie R&B singer The Crane as well as Chinese folk singer Zhao Lei.
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