Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai's latest album may be called Ugly Beauty, but she won beautifully with two major awards at the Golden Melody Awards held at the Taipei Arena last Saturday.
The event is the Chinese equivalent of the Grammy Awards.
Ugly Beauty, which was nominated in seven categories, won Album of the Year. Tsai said while accepting this award that there were many things she wanted to express in Ugly Beauty and she had spent the most effort on this album in the past years.
"I found my truest self in this album," she said.
Womxnly, a track from Ugly Beauty, won Song of the Year. This is the third time Tsai has won Song of the Year, after Marry Me Today in 2007 and The Great Artist in 2013.
The 38-year-old received the award from Taiwanese band Mayday and gave one of the members, Ashin, a big hug. Ashin, one of the songwriters for Womxnly, is rumoured to be dating Tsai.
"Thanks to my rumoured boyfriend Ashin for allowing this song to be full of vitality," she joked on stage.
Taiwanese rapper Leo Wang won the Best Male Mandarin Vocalist for his album, Wu Bing Singing, Yo Chin Soothing, beating other nominees such as Chinese singer Li Ronghao and Taiwanese-American singer Ozi. The 25-year-old won the award for the first time.
Hong Kong singer Sandy Lam, 53, won the Best Female Mandarin Vocalist award for her album, 0. She first won it in 2013 for her album Gaia. She was not at the event and producer Isaac Chen received the award on her behalf.
The Best New Artist went to R&B singer Ozi, 22, for his album Ozi: The Album. He is the son of veteran Taiwanese singer Irene Yeh.
Singapore musicians went away empty-handed at the awards.
Xiao Han was nominated for Best Lyricist for the song Angels in Lam's album, 0. The award went to veteran music producer Jonathan Lee for the tune Newly Written Old Song in the album Newly Written Old Song. Lee is Lam's ex-husband.
Singapore singer-songwriter Tan-ya Chua was nominated for Best Composer for the song The Will, from her album Kisses For The World. The award went to Taiwan singer Eve Ai for Forever Young, from the album Fade To Exist.
