When she won big at the recent Golden Melody Awards, Taiwanese pop princess Jolin Tsai thanked her detractors for attacking her and pushing her to work harder. Maybe they heard her. Now, they are out again at full force to slam her unexpected - and to some, undeserved - triumph. A media and fan backlash has followed since Jolin snagged two of the biggest awards at the Chinese version of the Grammys held in Taipei last Saturday, alongside other controversial winners. Jolin beat strong competitors like A-mei and Penny Tai to win the Best Mandarin Female Singer award. Her duet with David Tao, ‘Marry Me Today’, was named the Song of the Year - another shocker. Jolin, 27, also emerged the Most Popular Female Singer in a new audience-voted category that was introduced this year. Explaining her Best Mandarin Female Singer win, chief judge Liu Yawen said she stood out for her 'all-rounded' appeal and hard work over the years, reported Taiwan's United Daily News. But not all quarters are convinced. The reason is simple. Jolin was one of the weaker vocalists nominated for Best Mandarin Female Singer this year, in comparison with fellow nominees Sandy Lam, A-mei, Penny Tai, Angela Cheung and Jyotsna Peng. Since Jolin's debut in 1999, she has been better known for her dance-pop appeal and her penchant for drawing flak. Still, she proved herself worthy of her Dancing Diva label by pulling off all sorts of gravity-defying stunts during her concert tour last year. But to win an award that has earned its credibility by acknowledging the strongest female vocalists in the past 17 years, from Stella Chang to Shunza, Faye Wong, A-mei, Stefanie Sun and last year's Tanya Chua? An online poll conducted earlier by United Daily News asked voters: 'Who do you think is the strongest of the Best Mandarin Female Singer nominees?' Jolin was the lowest scorer with a dismal 2 per cent of the 25,090 votes, as opposed to Sandy's 54.5 per cent and A-mei's 29 per cent. Jolin was also not the popular choice in pre-award predictions by industry bigwigs, including renowned songwriters Lin Qiuli (he picked Penny) and Liu Tianjian (A-mei). Some critics say Jolin's win represents a paradigm shift in the Golden Melody Awards, which is organized annually by Taiwan's Government Information Office. It seems the judges - a mix of 33 academics and industry experts - are now leaning towards giving younger singers more credit. But that has not stopped Taiwan's Liberty Times from lambasting the judging panel for its 'unconvincing' rationale in rewarding Jolin. Internet forums are also abuzz with netizens expressing disbelief at Jolin's surprise win. One netizen going by the name of whoandwho wrote in Chinese on Taiwan's G Music forum: 'Jolin Tsai has her strengths, but there are many others out there with greater lung power, attitude, creativity and international appeal... It's really hard to believe that she has surpassed all of them.' Other disgruntled netizens lashed out at how Jolin had lip-synched through her opening performance during the award ceremony, and how it lacked conviction. But her manager has jumped out to explain that Jolin has already proven her vocal prowess during her concerts, and she was asked not to sing live because the organizers were concerned that her fire stunts may compromise the sound quality. In Singapore, industry experts are divided in their views. Radio 1003's deejay-cum-assistant program manager Lim Leng Kee and Ocean Butterflies' manager for marketing and artiste management Yvonne See both agreed that Jolin shines for her all-rounded talent and hard work. Ms Lim said: 'Jolin can't measure up to A-mei or Sandy in terms of vocal techniques, but few can beat her when it comes to being all-rounded and hardworking. 'She is constantly making breakthroughs, and her pop appeal has surpassed even Jay Chou. Her music and performance always wow.' Ms See added that Jolin is hardworking to the point of obsession. She cited how the singer sticks to a strict oil-free diet and puts in extra hours to master dancing to make up for her lack of a natural groove. But others find this argument flawed. Mr James Kang, marketing director of Warner Music, said: 'Jolin has indeed improved a lot from her early days, but she's still not the best vocalist around. 'Since this is an award for the best vocalist, there are others more deserving than her.' My Paper journalist Cheryl Loh argued that hard work is not a good criteria because other nominees are equally hardworking. But Jolin has an obvious edge over the rest because her efforts manifest in eye-popping dance sequences that gain massive media coverage due to her pop status. 'The judges are clearly rewarding Jolin for her hard work, but I can't agree with that,' said Ms Loh. 'Is it fair? Do Penny Tai's songwriting efforts and A-mei's efforts at reinventing herself pale in comparison? Jolin's efforts at dancing are just more visible, while other singers' hard works get neglected.' But, it remains to be seen if this new round of Jolin bashing will continue to propel her forward, or break her down. [youtube]D_nUVtnW9CU[/youtube] Jolin Tsai sings 'Dancing Diva' at the 18th Golden Melody Awards Source: Asianbite
why cant ppl just leave the poor girl alone? just coz she is Jolin Tsai, she is UNDERSERVING? wtf? she won the award, she has shown the JUDGES (who btw are the only people on this planet earth who could decide who is deserving and who isnt.) that she has done it BETTER. i am personally not a jolin fan, but this kinda attack is just ridiculous.
the girls got talent....she can sing and dance and she's hardworking...i think she deserved an award...she really lacked some vocal but she's still good...who's Jyotsna Peng by the way?
gosh people these days yeah jolin dont got the best vocals but i like her the msot because shes a hardworker and she deserves the award and shes a pro dancer
if u look at the arguments put forward, u do have to feel for the other female singers nominated. I mean, it is after all the "best Female Singer" we are talking about here. And the Golden Melody does have a history of shunning popularity and really giving the award to the better singer. (Think Jay Chou and David Tao, who never won the best male singer category before although they have undoubted creativity, talent and is hardworking). Do you think its fair just to give an award to someone just because, on the surface, she shown that she have done more than the others? Or because she dance better than the others? Or because she show more skin? She got a prettier face? This is not the Best dancer, most sexy, miss taiwan award we are talking about here. To say that she deserve an award because any of the above is misleading as to the true spirit of the Best fEMALE Singer award. If it were to do so, the golden melody award will just end up like the mutiple music award show in hongkong where it is just a "handing out award based on popularity no matter how have performed". Do we want that? (ps: i am not a jolin hater or anything like that, just that i feel that sometimes justice must be done and must be seen to be done and i truthfully say that she doesnt deserve this award .....yet!!!)
Personally, i think jolin is the best singer out of all, cos of her versatiltiy in voice- being able to sing all genres of songs (dance tracks, cute pop, ballads, etc etc), and dance when she sing. she is able to put herself into the emotions of different songs easily, even though she might not have the most powerful voice out of all singers. to me that defines a good singers. her songs truly touch my heart. through her album, i am able to picture myself in diferent situations. her good looks n dancing steps might make pple think that she's gained popularity thru all these , not vocal wise. well, to me, it's her whispered n unique vocal which attracts me- songs r expressed well w/o a slight intention to flaunt the vocal power. im not saying the other singers are not good. ah mei is very fantastic too, but she still unable to perform all genres of songs well enuff. her ballads r very expressive n so on. her fast tracks r more or less hot, but not really much to my liking, as compared to jolin's. . a good singer must get into the mood of all kind of songs readily. jolin has done it, though not to her best YEt, imo. her whispered n conspiratoral voice quality is something which attracts me, yet might be disputable as a weak singing voice.
Hmm, well I don't like Jolin much. I personally don't think she can sing. Although, she's very good looking and not a bad dancer too. Meh, everyone has there ups and downs...look at Jay Chou, he's awesome IMO but he can't really dance... (though he is improving I must admit) I reckon it's more about looks these days. If you're a very sexy looking singer/actor or whatever, you tend to be really popular. Look at Hyolee and Leah Dizon...both are quite overrated IMO because of there looks. (No offence to the fans)
jolin in my opinion is not the best singer....her voice is okay, i have heard better....but the reason why i think she had a good year, won many awards especially the golden melody, and is dubbed the best singer is because of all the publicity she is getting. in addition, she's gotta thank the anti fans...if it wasnt for them she wouldnt have worked hard...besides it was thanks to them that everyone knows about her...
wow i never knew that her song with DT won the best song award lol well now i do lol =) shes such a good singer and she looks really good in that pic too ^^
I find Jolin's voice to be very annoying. And her so called whispering voice is just a way to mask her inability to go to different vocal range. I would have no problem with her winning if the name of the award was "Best Female Entertainer", but its pretty laughable to call her the "Best Female Singer".
i just think that jolin is really very underrated in terms of her vocal versality and talents. Celebrities depend on image to be popular ano, Asians say. I totally agree. pple think jolin has a hot and sweet image= popularity is gained thru this, no vocal talents. But nvr even bother to listen to her vocal tracks properly. If she has a much more innocent and so called "vocal" image that sandy lam has, Ithink pple wld change the impression on her.Asians have the belief that you must look like this, in order to sing well. You cant look hot and sing well at the same time.
i think jolin is a terrible singer. She's riding the hype wave using her sexuality. When a hotter girl comes along willing to sacrifice their body for fame then she's gonna be in the back stage. She's gonna use up her 15 mins of fame and we wont hear here for a while then, hopefully.
jolin tsai is an ok singer but people are just hating her cause she's hot, they make it like her ability to sing is worst then what she is really capable of. Sure most people think mainstream in any culture is crap, but it takes some skills and talents to get to her status.
I wouldn't say Miss Tsai is the best female singer. She is the best selling product a record company can possibly hope for though. Like Ayumi Hamasaki, whom Miss Tsai borrowed HEAVILY from (image, style etc), she is an artificial product with marketing teams to back her up. She goes for a particular manner of dress or music because the researches show that they would sell, not because that's her taste or style. So I find it oddly appropriate that they named her latest DVD "acquired talent", because she is not talented, but lucky to have the chance to learn and shine.
yeah jolin has the best selling in the company i guess thats why she won. i mean look at nicky lee he jus had his cds for like a year or two? and already won best male singer?
Those who think she used her sexuality hot image really don't have basic respect for a girl. No offence intended. But did you guys listen to her singing? Do you guys know how she got into the industry? She won the MTV youth singing competition, emerging as first, impressing the judges with her rendition of the powerful ballad "greatest love of all". Her voice is, i can say, one of the very few who is not too "powerful", or too "act cute". THough her voice very common, some may say, but it brings out the true emotions and draws us closer to her songs. Thats what which attract different grps of pple listening to her music. Her strength is her versatility. Can anybody in the industry do all genres (hot uptempo, cutesy pop, ballads, fantasy music, oldies, traditional kind) except her? Fish leong tried cutesy music, and got criticised. Stef sun tried "wan mei de yi tian" (a different dimension of music- more towards cutesy), and she failed too. Sometimes when u study too much music, you focus too much on the vocal techniques that you worship pple with great vocal power and techniques, and forget the real n simple emotions being spoken in the music. Sometimes you are too baised, thus trying to judge on a person's image, before her singing style. I dare say jolin would be respected more in terms of vocals, if her image is a purer and more toned down one
And you can honestly say your opinion is unbiased, not one single bit? Seriously, preference is ALL ABOUT bias. While I can understand why some people like her, as I mentioned before, like Ayumi Hamasaki, I am not of that gang because I have certain standard which she failed to impress me. As for versatility, the fact that Fish Leong and Stephanie Sun made a mistaken career move doesn`t make it any less of a career risk to Jolin Tsai. She enjoys her popularity because people are willing to try different types of music for her fame and image. As for vocal power, she is not a terrible singer, but there exist better singers than her who have not achieved the kind of fame she enjoys. And I attribute her fame to her powerful agency.
Yes as a matter of fact, I did listen to her music. And her singing is by far the weakest of the nominees.
