Ceremonies of the 19th Golden Melody Awards (Chinese:第19屆金曲獎; pinyin:Dì shíjiǔ jīn qū jiǎng) were held in Taipei, Taiwan in 2008. Nominees were announced on May 22, 2008, and the award winners in 12 traditional music categories (of 47 nominees) and 23 popular music categories (of 124 nominees) were selected by a panel of 33 judges after four rounds of jury meetings. Initially, there were 10,632 submissions from 185 companies in the music industry, making it the largest submission pool in the Awards' history.[1]
Winners for artistic and traditional music categories were announced on June 21, 2008, at Taipei County Hall in a ceremony separate from that for popular music categories. It was the second consecutive year that the ceremony for this category group was held separately, and it did not attract as much media attention as the ceremony for the popular music categories.[2] By contrast, artists from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, and Canada attended the awards ceremony for popular music categories, which was held at the Taipei Arena on July 5, 2008.[3] Actress sisters Barbie and Dee Shu, former news anchor Patty Hou, and actress Matilda Tao hosted this event, whose list of award presenters included Canadian recording artist Daniel Powter and Japanese drama stars Akito Kiriyama, Junta Nakama, and Yuya Takaki.[4][5][6] Both events were broadcast on the satellitecableAzio Television channel on June 28 and July 5, respectively.
Malaysian singer Gary Chaw and Singaporean singer-songwriter Tanya Chua were named Best Mandarin Male and Female Singers in the popular music category, respectively. Chua won the Best Mandarin Female Singer award for the second time; she last won the award in the 17th Golden Melody Awards.[7] Chua's record seven nominations for her album Goodbye & Hello are the most received by a female artist. Taiwanese musician and singer Jay Chou, who received a record-breaking eight nominations for his album On the Run and film Secret, was not able to attend the event due to his tour in China.[8] Chou's primary lyricist Vincent Fang was present to receive the award of Best Lyricist for the song "Blue and White Porcelain" (Chinese:青花瓷; pinyin:qīng huā cí). Pop rock band Sodagreen received its second consecutive award as Best Band for its album Incomparable Beauty.[3]
Winners are listed first and highlighted in boldface.[2][9]
Taiwan singer Rainie Yang, along with Japanese drama stars Akito Kiriyama, Junta Nakama, and Yuya Takaki, presented the awards for Best Composer and Best Singing Group.
Singers Jia-jia (紀家瑩) and Samingad (紀曉君), both members of the ethnic Puyuma people, presented the awards for Best Aboriginal Singer and Best Aboriginal Album.
Entertainer Kang Kang and singer Frankie Kao presented the awards for Best Arrangement and Best Song.
Television host Hsiao Chung (小鐘), along with Hakka singers and past winners Liu Shao-hsi (劉劭希) and Hsieh Yü-wei (謝宇威), presented the awards for Best Hakka Singer and Best Hakka Album.
One Million Star top 10 finalist Aska Yang and musician Kay Huang (黃韻玲) presented the awards for Best Music Video Director and Best Newcomer.
P'eng Ch'ia-ch'ia (澎恰恰), entertainer Pai Bing-bing, and Hsü Hsiao-shun (許效舜) presented the awards for Best Taiwanese Male Singer and Best Taiwanese Female Singer.
"Queen of Taiwanese music" Jody Chiang and lyricist Vincent Fang presented the award for Best Taiwanese Album.
Musicians Ni Fang-lai (倪方來) and Ma Yü-fen (馬毓芬) presented awards for the instrumental music categories of Best Album Producer, Best Composer, and Best Album.
Record producer Huang Kuo-lun (黃國倫) and Taiwan's "Queen of Pub" Tiger Huang presented the awards for Best Single Producer and Best Album Producer.
Taiwan musicians Lo Ta-yu and Chang Chen-yue presented the awards for Best Lyricist and Best Band.
Aboriginal Taiwanese pop singer A-mei and Cantopop singer Eason Chan presented the award for Best Mandarin Male Singer.
Taiwan pop singer Jolin Tsai and Canadian recording artist Daniel Powter presented the award for Best Mandarin Female Singer.
Hong Kong singer and actor Wakin Chau and Taiwan record producer Jonathan Lee presented the award for Best Mandarin Album.