Some likened it to a star-studded high school reunion, others called it a Mandopop musical bonanza for fans and artistes alike

Text: Joanna Goh
Photos: Angie Ng, Joanna Goh & Lim WenYing
Videos: Fiona Lin, Tay Yixuan, Teng Siew Eng & Ling Pak Wei

Mandopop fans were in for a musical bonanza at the Global Chinese Music Awards (GCMA) 2012 yesterday. On top of catching their favourite singers in the flesh, fans were also treated to their live song and dance performances at the awards ceremony.

As Harry from Taiwanese hip hop group, Da Mouth, said during his backstage interview with the media, the 12th GCMA held in Singapore this year "felt like a class reunion of sorts" with old friends and fellow musicians. And we couldn't agree more with what he said. The annual music awards show saw the attendance of top musicians and performing artistes from Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and Singapore as they all came together to perform under one giant roof yesterday night.

This year, close to 40 awards were given out to recognise new performing talents, lyrical compositions and all-rounded artistes, just to name a few. Going by their years of experience and exposure in showbiz, veterans such as Tanya Chua, JJ Lin, Eason Chan, Show Luo and Joey Yung went home the biggest winners of the night as they bagged a total of four awards each.

In a backstage interview, JJ, who won Most Talented Artiste Award, Best Album Award, Top 5 Most Popular Male Artistes Award and Top 20 Hits of the Year, said he felt particularly heartened and touched to see so many "seniors" present tonight. "This is my hometown and it (the music awards) feels so different to see my mom and dad present at the stadium too. It feels very touching," he added.

JJ's folks shared their talented son's limelight too as a slew of singers thanked them in their acceptance speeches. Show got the ball rolling when he spotted them in the audience and gave a random shout out to them. His gesture of appreciation was followed by Shane and finally Joey, who said, "Because JJ wrote me a song called 'Is This Love?' so I want to thank his parents for having such a talented son."

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