By the time the Golden Melody Awards had finished late Saturday night, the event that had developed a reputation in recent years for monotony and predictability ended up stunning audiences by handing the three top awards to some of the darkest horses on the nominee list.
Perhaps the greatest shock of them all was the Best Album award going to Sandee Chen (
Also surprising was the conspicuous absence of Jay Chou taking the stage on the receiving end of an award. He won the top album awards in 2002 and last year and this year released the best-selling album in Mando-pop titled Common Jasmine Orange (
PHOTO: TAIPEI TIMES
Before Saturday, the safe money would have been on Chou taking at least two awards, but this year's Golden Melody was different in more ways than just this one.
Beating the heavyweights Chou and Wang Lee-hom in the Best Mandarin Male Singer category was Stanley Huang (
The crowded list in the Best Mandarin Female Singer category included Chang Hui-mei (
Chang Hui-mei, also known as A-Mei, was sent packing once again without a trophy as she has every year since she's been nominated.
The biggest winners of the night ended up being Sheng Xiang and Water 3 (
One of the most memorable moments of the night was the announcement for the Best Male Mandarin Singer award, which was read by Karen Mok. Speaking in Mandarin with her Hong Kong accent, Mok's pronunciation of the first two characters of Stanley Huang's name sounded indistinguishable from the first two characters of Wang Lee-hom's name, creating a painfully awkward scene in which both singers stood and began congratulating each other and thanking everyone around them. Wang even leaned in close to the TV camera winking and saluting and then rushed onto the stage, where he was told that it was, in fact, Stanley, walking a few steps behind him, who was the actual recipient. Visibly embarrassed, he skipped off stage, but received a conciliation hug from super-model Lin Chih-ling (
From the perspective of the press pit, the ceremony in years past had taken on the qualities of a comedy, as bloopers like the one Mok provided Saturday night abounded. But this year's ceremony was also remarkable for its mercifully short and entertaining performances -- a major break from the past. The addition of Patty Hou (
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