By Sinead
On Saturday 1st November, Taiwan will celebrate the best of independent music on its shores and beyond in the 16th iteration of the Golden Indie Music Awards (金音創作獎). This year’s jury was chaired by Huiting Chen 陳惠婷, lead vocalist of Taiwanese rock band Tizzy Bac, with a specific focus on musical narratives.
Female rapper Hsien Ching 陳嫺靜 leads the nominees this year with seven nods for her twin albums “If we can be happy happy every day, who wants to be sad:))” and “If we can be happy happy every day, who wants to be sad:＊“, elevating her signature laid-back hip-hop style through collaborations with an eclectic range of producers and beatmakers.
She is followed by APW favourite Lilium 百合花, who are also up for Best Album, alongside Best Band and Best Singer/Songwriter for their genre-defying rock-pop-folk Taiwanese Hokkien album “Everything will go wonderfully 万事美妙“. Familiar faces from this summer’s Golden Melody Awards will also be back to vie for a(nother) win, as Enno Cheng 鄭宜農, Trout Fresh 呂士軒, Sauljaljui 戴曉君 and FunkyMo round out the hotly-contested Best Album nominees.
This year’s picks for Best Asian Creative Artist Award, which celebrates the best of independent music across the region includes Tokyo-born, Melbourne-based alt-pop artist ELLE SHIMADA, South Korean electro-punk duo Fat Hamster and KANG New and Indonesian indie group Lomba Sihir.
The cross-cultural theme will continue into this year’s live performances, as seven acts from across Asia take to the stage including South Korean indie-rock sensation Silica Gel, Taiwan’s folk-pop trio The Chairs 椅子樂團 and rising Thai rapper AUTTA. The grand ceremony will be held at held at Taipei Music Center on 1st November, as well as livestreamed in South Korea and Thailand. For more details, please check out the GIMA’s official website or follow on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Check out the full list of nominations below:
【Uncategorized Awards】
■ Best Album
《VAIVAIK》／Sauljaljui(Album Producer:Sauljaljui)
《Moon Phases》／Enno Cheng(Album Producer:Chunho)
《GOOD SOUND WITH ATTITUDES》／Trout Fresh(Album Producer:Trout Fresh、LuuX)
《People, Places, Things》／FunkyMo(Album Producer:Jerry Li)
《Everything Will Go Wonderfully》／Lilium(Album Producer:Cheng Ko-chun、Hsiao He-Shuo )
《If we can be happy happy every day, who wants to be sad:))》／Hsien Ching(Album Producer:Jerry Li)
■ Best Band
FUTURE AFTER A SECOND／《Xenobones》
88balaz／《Legend of the Romantic Baseball Warriors》
Cat’s Bile／《Juicy》
Lilium／《Everything Will Go Wonderfully》
Modern Cinema Master／《I See You》
Robot Swing／《IS IT ALIVE? (Live at Yuchen Cinema Studio)》
■ Best Singer-songwriter
LÜCY／《Dance on the Shoreline》
Sauljaljui／《VAIVAIK》
Enno Cheng／《Moon Phases》
FunkyMo／《People, Places, Things》
I-Shuo Lin／《Everything Will Go Wonderfully》
YILE LIN／《True Colors》
■ Best New Artist
BRBP／《BRBP》
FTK／《5ENOM》
Tickle Tickle／《Taste of Life》
Hsien Ching／《If we can be happy happy every day, who wants to be sad:＊》
SherryZ／《Time》
Dremedreman／《The chosen one of the village》
■ Best Instrumentalist
Minyen Hsieh ／《Punctum Visus》／Tenor&Soprano Saxophone
Kenny(CHUNG CHI,WANG)／《19%》／Drum
Sauljaljui／《VAIVAIK》／Yuequin(Moon Lute)、Percussion
Cheng Chun Wu／《Dual Legendary Rhythms – A New Worldview》／Percussion, World Hand Drums, Erhu, Synthesizer
Rich Huang／《Dual Legendary Rhythms – A New Worldview》／Drumset, Percussion
Tony Li／《Born to Lose》／Guitar
ZAOYUAN／《All On You》／Keyboard, Synth
Wei-nong Hung／《IS IT ALIVE? (Live at Yuchen Cinema Studio)》／Guitar
■ Best Live Performance
《【The End of the Second Tour】Tour Final Taipei THE WALL LIVEHOUSE》/88balaz
《《Leowangboat》－Southside53》/Leo Wang
《 punkhoo x 2024 FIREBALL Fest. 》/punkhoo
《The Dinosaur’s Skin I Dig You Movie Concert》/The Dinosaur’s Skin
《Modern Cinema Master Tour 2025》/Modern Cinema Master
■ Best Asian Creative Artist
《Brains in a Vat》／Fat Hamster and KANG New
《Dirty Mirror Selfie》／Jacqui
《3 AM Conversations》／Lomba Sihir
《Membangun & Menghancurkan》／.Feast
《LULLABY FOR THR RIVER IN MY BODY 》／ELLE SHIMADA
【Category Awards】
■ Best Rock Album
《19%》／BEYOND CURE
《Xenobones》／FUTURE AFTER A SECOND
《Legend of the Romantic Baseball Warriors》／88balaz
《Everything Will Go Wonderfully》／Lilium
《I See You》／Modern Cinema Master
■ Best Rock Song
〈Something New〉／《Something》／Destroyers
〈The Worship of Mammon〉／《Alright, alright, alright》／Reversing Into Garage
〈Dead Talents Society – Movie《Dead Talents Society》English Theme Song〉／《Dead Talents Society (Original Soundtrack)》／Joanna Wang
〈disappoint〉／《Juicy》／Cat’s Bile
〈Everything Will Go Wonderfully〉／《Everything Will Go Wonderfully》／Lilium
〈I Hope Your Eyes Experience〉／《I See You》／Modern Cinema Master
■ Best Folk Album
《Parod》／Sapud Kacaw
《VAIVAIK》／Sauljaljui
《phian-lâm》／Ming-Yo Hsieh
《The Wind that Found Me》／Giyu Tjuljaviya
《On the road》／Naa’u
■ Best Folk Song
〈This is My World〉／《My Nova》／Kowen
〈Dipin Kari Tang (feat. Taiwu Ballads Troupe)〉／《VAIVAIK》／Sauljaljui
〈phian-lâm-hong〉／《phian-lâm》／Ming-Yo Hsieh
〈Child of the South Link (Home to Home)〉／《The Wind that Found Me》／Giyu Tjuljaviya
〈Heaven’s Reunion 〉／《Bitter-Sweet Playground》／CHIANG,MENG-HSUN
■ Best Hip-hop Album
《hái-kháu》／SAVAGE.M
《A FOOL》／someshiit
《GOOD SOUND WITH ATTITUDES》／Trout Fresh
《If we can be happy happy every day, who wants to be sad:＊》／Hsien Ching
《Oreintal Beauty》／DJDIDILONG
■ Best Hip-hop Song
〈Rule men Freestyle〉／《Rule men Freestyle》／YANG SHUYA
〈Knock’em off〉／《KNOWT!S》／KNOWTIS feat. someshiit
〈VacuumB (beat by Flowstrong)〉／《If we can be happy happy every day, who wants to be sad:＊》／Hsien Ching
〈Monga Snake〉／《Oreintal Beauty》／DJDIDILONG
〈MY MESSAGE (feat. Shing02)〉／《MY MESSAGE (feat. Shing02)》／PUZZLEMAN
〈RLGL〉／《When It‘s All CED and Done》／CED
■ Best Electronica Album
《Elixir》／Wring Out Laura(Lin Yang Kuei)
《5ENOM》／FTK
《Nonlinear Random Vibration & Response》／KbN
《Regrow Protocol》／Oberka
■ Best Electronica Song
〈5ENOM〉／《5ENOM》／FTK
〈Hilarious〉／《Hypocrite》／B E N N
〈Moonlight Raving〉／《Moonlight》／Sonia Calico
〈BOUNCE〉／《Everything Sparks Joy》／AIKO TOMI
〈Wildbait〉／《Regrow Protocol》／Oberka
■ Best Jazz Album
《Punctum Visus》／Minyen Hsieh
《OR》／Tracy Yang
《Ctrl+Z》／Plutato
《The Sea, The Sky, The You and I》／Daniel Chen
■ Best Jazz Song
〈Tjelu kata Likuljaw〉／《Atavism》／Kuljelje Ljamcun feat. Sujong Park
〈Brda〉／《A Letter to Poland》／Yen-Ping Huang
〈Scene Taiwan Collection I. Sea of Clouds〉／《OR》／Tracy Yang
〈Palette〉／《Ctrl+Z》／Plutato
〈The Sea, The Sky, The You and I (feat. Li-Wei Cheng)〉／《The Sea, The Sky, The You and I》／Daniel Chen
■ Best R&B Album
《Heal Me Good》／Yufu
《Harvey Dent》／BRADD
《Time》／SherryZ
《can cancan cancancan》／Chen Yi Heng
■ Best R&B Song
〈Heal Me Good〉／《Heal Me Good》／Yufu
〈Wings and Dirt〉／《Wings and Dirt》／YELLOW
〈Praise〉／《Qrasun》／Kumu Basaw
〈Get a Little Higher〉／《Time》／SherryZ
〈New notes〉／《If we can be happy happy every day, who wants to be sad:))》／Hsien Ching
■ Best Alternative Pop Album
《BRBP》／BRBP
《Dance on the Shoreline》／LÜCY
《Everything Sparks Joy》／AIKO TOMI
《If we can be happy happy every day, who wants to be sad:))》／Hsien Ching
《True Colors》／YILE LIN
■ Best Alternative Pop Song
〈Nothing ever stops me〉／《Dance on the Shoreline》／LÜCY
〈Ghost Swing〉／《Ghost Swing》／YELLOW
〈Lover’s Manual〉／《Harvey Dent》／BRADD
〈A Strange Smell〉／《Everything Will Go Wonderfully》／Lilium
〈New notes (prod. by ZAOYUAN)〉／《If we can be happy happy every day, who wants to be sad:＊》／Hsien Ching
〈Pandemic〉／《shhh, it’s under my bed》／Andr
【Special Contribution Award】
■ Special Contribution Award
vacancy
