Taipei: Singer-songwriter Siri Lee achieved a significant milestone by winning the album of the year award with her Hokkien album “Sui,” an accomplishment not seen since 1999. Lee described the album as a journey of self-exploration, focusing on the physical, psychological, and spiritual aspects of women’s lives. Despite its central theme, she emphasized that the album is dedicated to everyone, encouraging listeners to break free from societal and self-imposed stereotypes.
According to Focus Taiwan, the album’s title, “Sui,” translates to “beautiful” or “nicely done” in Hokkien and features clever wordplays that include Hokkien lyrics homophonous with French and Italian phrases. Lee’s versatility shines through in the album as she explores diverse music styles, such as Japanese enka and French chanson. This marks the first time since 1999 that a Hokkien album has won the award, following “Lonely Tree, Lonely Bird” by Wu Chun-lin, known as “Wubai,” and his band China Blue.
“Sui” also garnered the best Taiwan
ese album award, with Lee receiving the best female Taiwanese singer accolade. Meanwhile, the collaborative album “AAA” by Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and South Korean band Hyukoh earned three awards: best vocal album recording, best album design, and best music video for “Antenna.”
The jury prize was posthumously awarded to Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong for his 2024 album, “The Dreamer.” His friend and mixing engineer Eric Lau accepted the award on his behalf. Fong’s album, created during a period of poor health, reflects his contemplations on life. In a social media post, Fong shared that creating the album was both a challenge and an escape from the vapidity he experienced.
In other categories, singer-songwriter Waa Wei won the best female Mandarin singer award, while Lu Shih-hsuan, also known as Trout Fresh, claimed the best male Mandarin singer and best Mandarin album for his 2024 release “Good Sound with Attitudes.” The best new artist title was awarded to rapper “someshiit,” rea
l name Hsueh Jung-hsuan, for his album “A Fool.” Hsueh expressed gratitude for being discovered during a challenging time in his life.
Power Station, the enduring vocal duo, won their second GMA as the best vocal group for their 2024 release “Always With You (Deluxe Edition).” The duo last won a GMA in 2005. Celebrating its 36th year, the Golden Melody Awards hold a prestigious position in the Mandarin-speaking music world, having been dubbed the “Grammys of the Mandarin pop world” by Billboard in 2014.