SINGAPORE dominates the Best Mandarin Female Singer contest at Taiwan's Golden Melody Awards this year, with three vocalists, Stefanie Sun, Tanya Chua and first-time nominee Joi Chua, flying the flag.
They will vie in the category with A*mei, Karen Mok and Fish Leong.
In nominations announced on Thursday for the top honours in the Chinese-language music industry, pop king Jay Chou and songsmith Tanya Chua also led the race with eight and seven nods respectively.
Taiwanese indie band sodagreen was next with six nominations.
For Joi Chua, who seemed to have come from nowhere to garner a nod alongside bigger names such as A*mei, the nomination was unexpected.
'I'm very happy. I never expected that I would be nominated. I don't know why I have been nominated,' she told Life! by phone yesterday.
She said she was 'very likely' to attend the awards ceremony in Taipei on July 5, if she did not have to work then.
Another first-time nominee from Singapore was lyricist Xiao Han, who got a nod for the Tanya Chua song Darwin I.
The writer said: 'I'm much happier for my good friend Tanya than for myself actually. She produced the album all by herself and wrote all the melodies for the tracks. It's based on the real her instead of the Tanya that people want to see.'
Tanya Chua was nominated in categories including Best Mandarin Album, Best Composer and Best Album Producer for Goodbye & Hello.
As for multi-hyphenate Chou, his nods were for his record, On The Run, and the soundtrack for his directorial debut Secret. This was the first time a nominee was up for Best Album in both the vocal and non-vocal categories, reported United Daily News.
The star said: 'I haven't disappointed my fans, the jury's judgment is not bad.'
Top nominees
Best Mandarin Album: On The Run (Jay Chou), Star (A*mei), Against The Light (Stefanie Sun), Goodbye & Hello (Tanya Chua), Live Is... (Karen Mok), Incomparable Beauty (sodagreen)
Best Mandarin Male Singer: Eason Chan (Admit It), Tank (Keep Fighting), Shin (It's Me), Yang Pei-an (Yang Pei-an's Album No.2), Gary Chaw (Super Sunshine), Khalil Fong (Wonderland)
Best Mandarin Female Singer: A*mei (Star), Stefanie Sun (Against The Light), Fish Leong (J'adore), Tanya Chua (Goodbye & Hello), Karen Mok (Live Is...), Joi Chua (Blessed)
Best Song: Incomparable Beauty (sodagreen), Darwin I (Tanya Chua), Blue And White Porcelain (Jay Chou), Love Song (Khalil Fong), Against The Light (Stefanie Sun), A Moment (A*mei)
