HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 92 [092] The Youngest Golden Melody Award Winner in History

"This year's Golden Melody Awards were much more lively than in previous years, after all, the geographical restrictions were broken, and Hong Kong singers, mainland singers and Taiwanese singers could compete together."

Your chances of winning are quite high. The organizers will definitely give some awards to singers from outside Taiwan; otherwise, the slogan of breaking down geographical barriers would be meaningless.

Zhang Hao lowered his voice.

"Let's see how things go in a bit." Qi Yuan also felt that she had a pretty good chance of winning the prize.

The Golden Melody Awards are not as exclusive as the Hong Kong Music Awards.

The Hong Kong Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards have featured the Four Heavenly Kings every year, with most of the spots occupied by veteran artists, leaving very few places for newcomers.

The Golden Melody Awards are different; the judges change every year, and different judging panels have different judging criteria.

It can also be understood this way: if someone doesn't fit the aesthetic of this year's judges, even a superstar might just be a runner-up throughout the entire competition.

In his past life, Jay Chou was like this. One year, he was full of confidence and brought his grandmother and mother to the awards ceremony, thinking he could win many awards, but he ended up with nothing.

This made him lose face, and when he got back, he wrote a song called "Grandma" to question the Golden Melody Awards.

Then one year he didn't want to attend the awards ceremony anymore, thinking his chances of winning were slim. And then... he won the award, the Golden Melody Award for Best Male Vocalist. It was such a surprise, so exciting.

The judges of the 1998 Golden Melody Awards held a positive attitude towards R&B, a trendy form of music.

In his previous life, Tao Ze won the MVP award at this year's Golden Melody Awards and stole the show.

Therefore, as long as there is no inside story, Qi Yuan believes he can win awards, but it's hard to say how many awards he can win.

The hosts for this year's event are Zhang Xiaoyan and Tao Jingying.

The first award presented was the Best Mandarin Male Singer Award, also known as the Golden Melody Award for Best Male Singer.

The music videos of the shortlisted songs appeared on the big screen.

Zhang Xueyou's "I Want to Go for a Breeze with You", Tao Ze's "10:30 at the Airport", Wu Bai's "Let It Go", Qi Qin's "This Time I Will Never Let Go", and Qi Yuan's "Small Town Girl".

When Qi Yuan and Tao Ze's music video appeared on the big screen, it felt like a sudden change in style.

Compared to the music of the other three, their music was too trendy.

This marks the first collision between new and old music in the Chinese music scene.

The guests responsible for presenting the awards were Takeshi Kim and Wang Zuxian.

The organizers were malicious. To create a dramatic effect for the show, they deliberately focused the camera on Qi Qin while Wang Zuxian was delivering her lines, causing Wang Zuxian to forget her lines and burst into laughter.

It's an open secret that Wang Zuxian and Qi Qin are dating.

Jin Chengwu, who was standing next to Wang Zuxian, could only finish Wang Zuxian's lines: "The winner is Qi Yuan."

Congratulations, Qi Yuan!

Applause and cheers erupted from the audience.

The music of "Small Town Girl" then began to play.

"Ah Yuan, you won the Golden Melody Award! You've won the Golden Melody Award! A 19-year-old Golden Melody Award winner—unprecedented and unlikely to be repeated!" Zhang Hao's face was filled with barely suppressed excitement and joy.

He won the title of King of Singers right after his debut. That's amazing! That's what a musical genius looks like!

Of course, Qi Yuan's ability to win the Golden Melody Award for Best Male Vocalist is largely due to the opponents he faced.

Tao Ze's first album wasn't well localized. Apart from "Love Is Simple" and "Quicksand," the other songs weren't exactly hits, giving it a niche, high-quality feel.

The one who is truly qualified to compete with Qi Yuan is Zhang Xueyou.

However, Zhang Xueyou's "I Want to Go for a Breeze with You" is a bit too conventional, following the same old path, and its quality doesn't match his hit songs from previous years.

With the judges encouraging innovation and recognizing the new style of R&B music, Qi Yuan successfully won the Best Singer award.

Brother Fly was born at the wrong time.

He missed the Golden Melody Awards at the peak of his career.

If he had been able to participate in the Golden Melody Awards in 93, his song "Goodbye Kiss" would have absolutely dominated the entire audience, and no one could have stopped him from winning the Golden Melody Award for Best Male Vocalist.

"Congratulations to Qi Yuan for winning the Best Mandarin Male Vocalist award at the 9th Golden Melody Awards... Congratulations to Qi Yuan..."

Hosts Zhang Xiaoyan and Tao Jingying spoke on stage.

Qi Yuan was thrilled the moment she heard her name called.

He stood up with a smile, and Mo Wenwei, Zhang Huimei, Tao Ze, and Wang Lihong, who were sitting around him, all reached out their hands.

After shaking hands with them, Qi Yuan jogged up to the stage.

His steps were brisk, and a slight upturn at the corners of his mouth carried a confident and composed smile.

At that moment, he embodied the words "spirited and radiant."

All the male singers present looked at Qi Yuan with longing eyes. The Golden Melody Award for Best Male Singer, which is awarded only once a year and is coveted by all Mandarin male singers, was won by Qi Yuan, who had been in the industry for less than a year.

Female singers and celebrities' gazes now hold not only longing but also admiration.

Perhaps some female celebrities don't like Qi Yuan's type, but there's no female celebrity who would dislike a talented young man like Qi Yuan.

Qi Yuan went up the steps to the stage, and Wang Zuxian smiled and handed the Best Mandarin Male Singer trophy to Qi Yuan, giving him a small hug.

As Jin Chengwu passed by Wang Zuxian, he extended his hand and said, "Qi Yuan, congratulations."

Another staff member handed a microphone to Qi Yuan.

Looking at the trophy in her hand, Qi Yuan picked up the microphone and said, "Before coming here, I kept telling myself not to be nervous, but when I actually got on stage, I found that I was still nervous... I want to thank my record company, thank the judges of the Golden Melody Awards, thank my fans and the media who have always supported me, and thank the radio stations and TV request channels that have always played my music... And thank you to my parents... Without you, there would be no me today, thank you!"

As is customary, Qi Yuan stayed on stage and sang "Small Town Girl".

Halfway through the song, a little girl of about seven or eight years old came on stage and presented him with a large bouquet of flowers.

He bowed to the little girl who was giving him the flowers.

That night, many people remembered the young man who sang "oh yeah" so confidently on stage, a 19-year-old who won the Best Mandarin Male Singer award right after his debut.

Wang Lihong looked at Qi Yuan with fervent eyes, hoping that he, having switched to Sony, could stand on the Golden Melody Awards stage next year and sing to his heart's content, just like Qi Yuan.

Looking at Qi Yuan on stage, Zhou Jielun, who was next to Wu Zhongxian, felt an even stronger urge to step forward.

After Qi Yuan stepped down from the stage, the award for Best Mandarin Female Singer was presented.

The winner was Qi Yu's "Birds and Fish" from Rock Records, while Zhang Huimei, Shun Zi, Li Wen, and others were runners-up.

These are all familiar names; they are people who achieved dazzling success during the golden age of Chinese pop music.

This also shows how fierce the competition was in the music scene in the late 90s.

After the Best Vocal Group award was presented, Qi Yuan's music video appeared on the big screen again, because the next award to be presented was the Best Newcomer Award, which was also one of the major awards Qi Yuan was nominated for.

This is an award that you might never have the chance to win again in your life if you don't win it once; it's very special.

The nominees include Qi Yuan, Tao Ze, Chen Xiaodong from PolyGram, Power Truck from Shanghua Records, and Shun Zi from Magic Stone Records.

"The winner of the 9th Golden Melody Awards for Best New Artist..."

(End of this chapter)