Predictions for Golden Melody Awards 2020 – Best Male Mandarin Singer

This year’s Golden Melody Awards, the Sinophone world’s most prestigious musical honors, are scheduled for 3 Oct—a delay of almost four months to Covid. In the run-up to the awards, I will be posting my predictions for the main categories, starting with the nominees for Best Male Mandarin Singer.

Compared to the Best Female Mandarin Singer award, the male category is usually less competitive and has lower visibility. This perhaps reflects the huge surge in talented female Mandopop singers in recent years, while male singers continue to be propped up by the few popular Mandopop J-bros (JJ Lin, Jay Chou, Jam Hsiao) and ex K-Pop boy band members (Luhan, Lay, Kris Wu), whose popularity far surpasses the quality of their music.Six artists have been nominated for the Best Male Mandarin Singer of 2020:

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周华健 Wakin Chau -《少年》“The Younger Me”

Wakin’s The Younger Me ©http://www.geci345.com/

After dominating Asia with his radio-friendly hits for over 20 years, Wakin’s works since 2011 have taken a less radio-friendly route, beginning with the Chinese-opera inspired album 《花旦》 “Diva”, followed by 《江湖》“Jiang Hu” in 2013, and《賽貂蟬》 “My Farewell Lady” in 2019.

《少年》“The Younger Me” follows in the same vein, but with less emphasis on inserting traditional Chinese music. Rather, this album explores the concept of time – an album that looks back at his youth and the lessons he has learned over the years.

Produced by Singaporean Eric Ng, who has also worked with the likes of Sandy Lam and Amei, this is definitely an album that was not made for the mass-market in mind.It’s a far cry from Chau’s early albums from the 80s and 90s, like 《讓我歡喜讓我憂》”You Make Me Happy and Sad” and《花心》 “Flowery Heart”, with solid hits that were easy to hum.

(Random trivia: Singapore’s ex-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong’s wife is a loyal fan of Wakin, and she attends every single concert he holds in Singapore.)

Apart from being a singer, Wakin also writes his own songs, as he does in this album.Some of my favourite songs from this album were written by him, including “我把人生唱成一首給你的歌” (A Song For You), “告訴你我的故事” (My Story), and “飛飛飛飛飛” (the English translation of this song is “Bangkok” … don’t ask). Most songs are the enjoyable and Karaoke-friendly tunes we’ve come to expect from Chau. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to note the most heartfelt song on the album, “少年” (The Younger Me) was written by Eric Ng (not to be mistaken for that online hit 少年 by 夢然, so far a one-hit-wonder). The music video for the song features Chau’s son, who takes after his mum and bears no resemblance to his father whatsoever.

Overall, this album revolves around the same themes that the (mature?) singers around his age sing about: life, time lost, nostalgia (refer to Jonathan Lee, Daniel Lo). It is a commendable but vanilla album; there are no big surprises, no huge 突破 or breakthroughs that the GMA adores and loves to reward.

Anyway, Chau has nothing to prove at this age: won the Best Male Mandarin Singer award at the 1992 GMA, at the peak of his career, and it would take a tremendous effort and evidence of transformation for the judges to give him another trophy.

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J.Sheon -《巷子內》“The Alley”

J.Sheon’s The Alley © KKBox

I listened to this album with no expectations whatsoever, and it’s now my absolute favourite. I am the first to admit that I have a hard time differentiating the various R&B/hip-hop/rap male artists that have flourished on the Mandopop scene in recent years. I can’t tell my J.Sheon from ØZI or OSN.I do listen to a lot of their songs, but still cannot put a face to the singer.

“The Alley” centers on life on the streets, which is arguably a romanticized version of what it is to be a struggling artist in Taipei. J.Sheon says a lot of the inspiration for the album came from his chats with friends (who I presume also hustle on the street) and other young people from, you guessed it, the streets.

This is New York-born J.Sheon’s sophomore effort, following his widely-acclaimed debut album《街巷》(translated as “The Streets”, yes again. Google Maps, pls sponsor him). In his latest album, J.Sheon presents greater variety in his musical repertoire, from reggae in 《比較浪漫》“Charm” to hip-hop in the absolutely lovely 《輸情歌》“Ballad”, which morosely points out that no matter how impressive hip-hop is, it will always lose to ballads. In all honesty, that’s basically Mandopop for you.

Other highlights in the album include the collaboration with GMA Best Female Singer Eve Ai & Morrison 馬仕釗 in 《慢走不送》“Off You Go”, 《囚》 “Soul Away”, 《看起來不錯其實也還好》“Ain’t What It Seems”, and 《畫面太美不敢直視》“Too Beautiful To See”.

It is an impressive piece of work from J.Sheon, who started out by releasing his own music on the Internet, and his well-written R&B music have been instrumental in bringing R&B to the forefront of Mandopop in recent years. The album is thematically strong, further solidifying J.Sheon’s position in the Taiwanese music scene, and will speak to many Taiwanese youth.

However, considering the Best Male Singer award was already given to rapper Leo Wang last year, I doubt the GMA will give the award to someone from a similar genre so soon.

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張震嶽 (Ayal Komod) – 《遠走高飛》(Gone Away)

Ayal Komod’s Gone Away @ KKBox

Ayal Komod is my favourite Mandopop male singer, but I don’t think he deserves to win this time round—nor do I think he will.

He is nominated not for an album, but for an EP. The GMA occasionally does weird things like nominate singers for live concert albums (see the Best Female Mandarin Singer category in 2009 in which not one, but two, live concert albums were nominated) or “Best Of” albums (Harlem Yu in 1999), but the common trend is that these outliers do not actually win the award. The same goes for EPs, and to a smaller extent, cover albums. Aboriginal singer Sammi Kao did win Best Female Singer for a cover album in the bygone year of 1992.

Ayal Komod’s album shows a move away from his latest folk style to incorporate more electronic influences—is that autotune I hear in 《遠走高飛》“Gone Away”?—but still keeps to the themes he always sings about—chasing girls, heartbreak, leading a simple life. Of course, compared to his earlier works, it is clear he has outgrown his young punk persona and settled into a more placid married life.

What has not changed is Ayal Komod’s ability to write songs that use the simplest of language to tug at the heartstrings. I like all 5 songs on the EP, though where he truly shines is when he strips down his music to just his vocals and a guitar, as in my favourite song on the EP 《貪心》“Greed”

In recent years, he has taken to driving alone into the mountains with his guitar, dog, and RV camper, and just recording himself playing music in the mountains. I enjoy those performances much more than the studio-recorded versions, though I do wonder about his wife’s opinion of him always taking solo trips into the mountains.

I recommend all five songs on the EP, and wonder if he would have a better shot if he had expanded this work into a full-length album. There hasn’t been much change to his singing that warrants an award, except better enunciation, which drew accusations that he’s now pandering to the China market.

It’s hard to beat his career-changing album 《OK》released in 2007 that marked the mellowing of a man, and the critically acclaimed 《我是海雅谷慕》(“I am Ayal Komod”), which saw him going back to his Aboriginal roots to sing about environmentalism. The latter also won the Best Mandarin Album at that year’s GMA as well as at the Golden Indie Music Awards—a very rare feat

Ayal Komod has not won a best singer award after 27 years in the industry, and one can argue he isn’t the best “singer,” in the commonly understood sense of the word. Yet it is difficult to argue that he is not a representative musician in the Mandopop world. He can try for another Best Album, but my view is that the best singer award will continue to elude him.

He probably doesn’t care—he just wants to drive into the mountains and sing.

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黃明志 Namewee -《亞洲通話》“Calling Asia”

Namewee’s Calling Asia © KKBox

First off, how on earth did this singer/album get nominated?I am genuinely curious to know which male singers were booted out of the nomination list so that Namewee could nab a spot in the top six.

I have never taken Namewee seriously as a singer. ll the news I see about him involves him courting controversy, getting arrested by the Malaysian government, or uploading a Youtube video of him doing some “charity” like giving out cash

Yes, this album, like many of his previous albums, is a potpourri of different musical styles and genres, from blues and jazz to house.

Let me quote the official media release for the album, including this line about a bluesy song 《舊傷口》“Old Wound”:

《舊傷口》不管在創作、和弦、編曲、唱法上皆有突破，讓許多聽眾不禁留言：“原來黄明志唱藍調這麼好聽”、“讚歎黄明志的創作能力”，也再度證明了黄明志能駕馭多種曲風的驚人音樂天份！

It’s basically a summary of his fans gushing over his songwriting and singing skills—you can listen to the song and make your own judgment.

My problem with Namewee is that while he boldly experiments with different musical styles, his songs often end up being caricatures of the musical style he is trying to emulate, like his Hainanese song 《不到海南島》“Lovely Hainan Island”, the borderline offensive《泰國情哥》“Thai Love Song”, and his recent homage to Wu Bai in 《五百》“Five Hundred”. His comedic music videos are a big reason why his songs always seem more like mindless parodies rather than sensitive tributes.

That said, Namewee does have a knack for songwriting and is fully capable of writing songs that become huge karaoke hits, like his most famous song 《漂向北方》 “Stranger In The North”. You just have to ignore the brainless lyrics and low-budget music videos that always seem to feature either pretty girls, busty girls, or both.

I cannot fathom how 《亞洲通話》got Namewee a nominee for Best Male Singer, when it is really him doing the same thing as all six of his past albums. He does best in light-hearted 對面的女孩看過來-style ditties that don’t take themselves too seriously (as in 《出去走走》(“Getaway to Kaohsiung”), whose music video features ex-Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu. Unfortunately, he comes across absolutely cringe-inducing in love songs like 《愛妳也愛她》“Polyamory”, a song that misrepresents polyamory and 《醉蝶》“Drunken Butterfly” seemingly about falling in love with a hostess/prostitute.

Namewee had better not win Best Male Mandopop Singer. If you need any more convincing why he shouldn’t win, here’s a song from this album entitled “Piggy Piggy.”

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吳青峰 Wu Tsing-fong -《太空人》“Spaceman”

Wu Tsing-fong’s Spaceman @ KKBox

It is befuddling to listen to Wu Tsing-fong’s 《太空人》(Spaceman) after Namewee’s 《亞洲通話》as these two singers and their albums are not remotely in the same league.

The band Sodagreen took a 3-year hiatus in 2017 to allow each member to pursue their personal interests, so their frontman Wu conveniently dropped an album containing songs he could not have sung as part of Sodagreen. And what a masterpiece it is.

《太空人》centres around the theme of space and exploration, and stays loyal to the theme throughout, resulting in a story-driven, thematically-strong album. It is undoubtedly a lot more experimental than Sodagreen’s usual offerings, with Wu making the bold move of starting the album off with a 7-minutes meditative piece 《譯夢機》“Dream Translator”. As the first song often determines if a listener goes on to listen to the rest of the album, it is almost as if Wu is eschewing marketability for his own artistic values.

But to write off the album as an experimental one will ignore how songs like 《太空人》“Spaceman” also performed well on the charts—perhaps less popular at karaoke parlors, as most men will have trouble singing in the same key as Wu. He is well-known for his prolific song-writing talent, and it has reached a point where almost every popular female Mandopop singer who does not write her own songs has sung a song written by him.

Wu’s insistence on sticking to a theme might also explain why many of his recent hit singles did not make it onto this album, as many other singers might be wont to do. Regardless, the album doesn’t show any lack of songs.

One cannot talk about this album without mentioning the music videos, with one filmed for each song in the album (including the 7-min first track and the 10-min last track “Outsider”). The music videos were released one by one over a period of almost a year, with each video helmed by a different director.

But after the release of the last music video, it was revealed that when played in the sequence of the track list, each music video actually links to the next one, with the last song looping back again to the first. Meanwhile, the music video of the last song, “Outsider”, references all the themes and motifs of the previous 11 music videos—a fitting conclusion to the album. One can only imagine the amount of coordination required to get 11 different directors with vastly different artistic vision and style to direct 12 music videos that are so unique on their own, but come together to form a coherent narrative.

It is little wonder that many think 《太空人》will also snag Album of the Year. This is an album worthy of listening to from the first song to the last, in order to fully appreciate its thematic value.

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裘德 Jude -《頒獎的時候我要缺席》“I Will Not Attend The Award Ceremony”

Jude’s I Will Not Attend The Award Ceremony @ KKBox

Why…what….who??!? Like many others, I had never heard of this singer in my life, and had to Google to find out how to read the first character of his name. Information about him is scant, though from what I gather, he is a 24-year old singer from Guiyang, China who releases songs on the Chinese online streaming website NetEase Cloud Music.

Since his music isn’t even on Spotify, there is no way I can listen to his album. Neither am I going to sign up for an account with NetEase Cloud Music, because I don’t want to reveal more personal information to the Chinese government beyond what my Xiaomi Roborock Vacuum Cleaner is already providing (which I believe must be quite a lot).

So the only way I could review his album was based on four songs illegally uploaded onto YouTube. The songs do seem to span several genres, but it remains difficult to critique a singer or album based only on four songs. If anything, this nomination is testament to the GMA’s tolerance for diversity—regardless whether the album is produced by a huge record label or just uploaded onto the Internet, they all get a chance to be heard and considered. It also shows the slight indie slant that the award juries are known (and get flak) for.

I doubt they will give the Best Male Singer prize to this relatively unknown newbie. A nomination is already a handsome reward for the singer, considering the attention that it draws. And if his album name is to be taken seriously, he will not be attending the award ceremony in any case.

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