http://www.eastciti.com/entertainment/feature/2000091800.htm Many hits and a few near misses at Hit Awards (Click on pictures for larger image) The Hit Awards last Saturday ended on a fairly predictable note. There were hardly any surprises as all nominees (almost all, except for Two Girls) who attended the prestigious event managed to bring at least an award or 2 home. You may have caught the heavily-edited version yesterday on TV, but you may not have not seen the rest of the unedited parts yet! <eastciti.com, September 18> It was a star-studded Saturday evening of glamour and mirth at the Harbour Pavilion. Although the much-awaited event only started at about 8.45 pm, it did not seem to bother the ardent supporters one bit. The parade of stars along the Xing Guang Da Dao (Celebrities' Path), hosted by popular DJs Dennis Chew and Bukoh Mary backstage finally began at about 8.10 pm, much to the delight of the screaming fans. The first to make their appearance on the red carpet included MediaCorp Studios artistes Samantha Toh, Vivian Lai, Nick Shen, Vincent Ng, Cynthia Koh, Carol Lin, Ix Shen, Jeff Wang and Huang Biren. They were followed by Evelyn Tan, twins Li Weisong and Li Sisong, Li Feihui, Xu Huanliang, Liang Wenfu, Lin Qiuli and Xiong Meiling. The Two Girls strode in hand in hand next after Stefanie Sun made her entrance. Kit Chan and Tanya Chua received tremendous cheers from their ecstatic listeners as they, too walked in casually, holding hands. The foreign stars seemed to be a little more well-received, as seen from the eccentric responses of the fans. When Taiwanese teenybopper Jolin Tsai, King of rhythm and blues David Tao, Mandarin rock group Power Station and Hong Kong Sensation Sammi Cheng stepped into the hall, they received a standing ovation from the thrilled crowd. Who Won What The grand show kicked-off on a high note when the 4 RCS y.e.s. 93.3FM DJs, Danny Yeo, Tan Liyi, Foong Wai See and Desmond Koh, took the stage nearly 2 hours after the stipulated time of the concert. The first to receive the Best Newcomer Award from Tanya Chua and Li Weisong was 19-year-old Jolin Tsai, followed by first and second runner-ups Grace Chow and Elva Hsiao, respectively. Jolin, dubbed the "teenage-boy-killer", left her (male) fans dumbfounded (too much screaming, I presume) after a seemingly effortless presentation of Don't Stop, her hit number from her latest album. Next, the Best Album Award went to David Tao, followed by the last-minute insertion (by sponsor Starhub) of the Best Potential Local Singer Award - no surprises there. Yes, who else but newcomer Stefanie, for there was practically no else to compete for the accolade. Although she rendered a medley of 2 songs from her record, she did not quite blow the audience away with her slightly off-tune rendition. But, on the other hand, an imperfect performance also meant that, at least the singer was singing 'live' and not simply lip-synching to her CDs. So much for all the expected results, Best Lyricist (for the song, Xin Ru Dao Ge, by Jacky Cheung) Li Feihui could not have come on stage at a better time (just when the audience was beginning to feel a little distracted and restless) with a witty joke about answering his handphone using the sponsor's "excellent signals". The Best Tune went to local talent Tanya Chua (the song, Ji Nian), while ice queen Faye Wong bagged the Best Selling Album Award. Best Group, of course, went to Power Station. To their credit, they could not have put up a more excellent show as they mesmerised and charmed the audience with their impressive stage charisma. Too bad about the technical fault (one of the members' mike was constantly down) that marred the otherwise good show. However, one of them decided to give up his mike to share it with his partner. Thumbs up for the brilliant showmanship! Bloops And Blunders Just when audiences were expecting the results of Best Local Artiste (which went to Kit Chan), a minor blunder occurred when the hosts wrongly asked David Tao up on stage and he found himself with the envelope for Most Charismatic Award (which went to Aaron Kwok). The panic-stricken hosts quickly ushered him back to his seat. Power Station then came on to give away the correct award. When asked about how he felt about the miscommunication, a friendly David mused: "Well, at least they did not mispronounce my name as Tao Ji Ji (what his name is sometimes misread instead of Tao Zhe)!" After the announcements of the winner of y.e.s. 93.3FM's Top Billboard Award (Sandy Lam's At least There's You), Best Female Singer Award (Faye Wong), Best Male Singer Award (David Tao) and the Merit Award (Wu Bai), the time finally came to reveal the winners of the Most Popular Singers - the moment that everyone was waiting for. While Jeff Chang (followed by Emil Chau, Andy Lau, Nicholas Tse and Daniel Chan) walked away with the most popular artiste under the male category, superstar Sammi Cheng emerged champion under the female artiste category, much to the happiness of her overjoyed fans. She was followed, in descending order, by MediaCorp's pride Fann Wong, Faye Wong, Sandy Lam and Zhang Hui-Mei. The rankings shocked many in the crowd, judging from the loud whispers and howls of disbelief). We couldn't help but notice that those who attended the ceremony won awards. It seemed that almost no one went back empty-handed (well, maybe except for Two Girls, who lost to Power Station under the Best Group Award). While this makes it worthwhile for foreign artistes to make a trip down, it does make things terribly predictable. Still, it was a good chance to catch the glamour and excitement of our very own music awards. --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.twbbs.org) ◆ From: g883456.SHAN.ab.nthu.edu.tw