The opening of China Entertainment Group gave Jay Chou a head-on confrontation

Chapter 924 The Real Reason for Not Singing Folk Songs

Will Jay Chou be sitting in the audience at this year's Golden Melody Awards ceremony? That is the question.

"In the nomination list for the 17th Taiwan Golden Melody Awards announced the day before yesterday, Jay Chou's album "Beethoven in November", which was the runner-up in the Mandarin sales last year, only received two nominations: Best Arrangement and Best Lyrics. Moreover, the two awards went to Hung Ching-yao and Fang Wen-shan respectively, making it the biggest upset of this year's Golden Melody Awards."

Jay Chou, who recently won the Best New Performer award at the Hong Kong Film Awards for his role in the film "Initial D", suffered a rare setback in his own field, receiving no nominations for any awards, creating the most embarrassing record since his debut.

Wang Lihong, also a talented singer-songwriter, received three nominations for Best Male Vocalist, Best Arranger, and Best Album for his album "The Sun and Moon in My Heart".
"However, Tao Zhe's album 'The Great Peace,' which has been released for almost a year and a half, has earned him five nominations, including Best Male Vocalist and Best Album."

"In terms of female singers, in addition to Sun Yanzi who performed consistently, Chen Qizhen received five major nominations for 'The Magnificent Adventure,' including Best Album and Best Female Vocalist."

"At the same time, it is worth mentioning that Hsiao Ya-Hsuan, the top female artist from Virgin Records, is nominated for the Golden Melody Awards for the first time in her career this year. She is nominated for Best Album and Best Female Vocalist for her dance album 'The Artist', competing against Sun Yan-Tzu..."

Following the release of this significant result, major portal websites and newspapers immediately published analyses of this year's Golden Melody Awards—the kind that were hastily written and released after being written on the fly.

Because no one expected that Jay Chou would fail to win anything at this year's Golden Melody Awards, all their pre-written award previews became useless, especially when a name that was completely unfamiliar to the public appeared at this year's Golden Melody Awards—

Hu Defu.

A veteran singer born in 1950, who is 56 years old this year, has just released his first solo album.

On this nomination list, Hu Defu has clearly replaced Zhou Jielun, becoming his biggest rival with a total of six nominations, second only to Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi received seven nominations: Best Composer (A Thousand Miles Away), Lyricist (A Thousand Times Over), Arranger (Unfortunately, No Ifs), Best Male Singer (A Song Not Written for Anyone), Best Album (A Song for All), Best Album Producer (A Song for All), and the newly reinstated Song of the Year (A Thousand Miles Away).

"No, why should I? I can accept Wang Lihong, Tao Zhe, or even Lin Junjie if you really can't accept it, but who the hell is this Hu Defu?"

"The Golden Melody Awards have gone mad. Instead of promoting Jay Chou, who is doing just fine, they gave the award to an old man in his fifties."

"A cover-up! A blatant cover-up!"

Jay Chou's fans, finding this result unacceptable, were the first to cry foul. Not only mainland fans, but also those in Hong Kong and Taiwan, couldn't accept this fact—because most of them didn't even know who this Hu Defu was.

Until the resourceful reporters dug up this person's status—

To put it simply, Hu Defu, born in 1950, can be considered a godfather-like figure in the Taiwanese music scene.

In 1975, at the age of 25, he, along with Yang Xian and Li Shuangze, launched the "Campus Folk Song" movement, a pioneering movement in Chinese pop music. He was nicknamed the father of Taiwanese folk songs and influenced a group of Taiwanese musicians, including Luo Dayou.

Last year, this veteran of the Taiwanese folk music scene, a godfather-level figure, released his first solo album, "In a Hurry," which was 30 years overdue.

It's worth noting that although he has been performing for over 30 years, Hu Defu had only released eight singles before "In a Hurry". Therefore, when the album "In a Hurry" was released last year, Hu Defu caused a brief surge in popularity due to his status.

His six nominations at this year's Golden Melody Awards, second only to Zhou Yi, further confirm his status in the Taiwanese music scene.

"These damn bastards are definitely pulling strings, bringing this old codger in here to use his position to ensure you don't get shaved!"

Upon learning of this result, Qian Jiang cursed loudly in his office, wishing he could transform into the president of Jay Chou's fan club and lead them to storm the Golden Melody Awards official website.

The Taiwan Golden Melody Awards, in the final analysis, still have some bias.

No matter how powerful Zhou Yi is, if he wipes them out at the Golden Melody Awards, it won't look good for him.

Given Zhou Yi's current prestige, unless the Golden Melody Awards officially allow Luo Dayou to continue releasing albums, even if Li Zongsheng releases a new album, there's no guarantee that he can retain one or two trophies from Zhou Yi.

This is what it means to rely on foreign powers to bolster one's own position.

"The father of Taiwanese folk songs, the father of Taiwanese folk songs, if it weren't for you, Ah Yi, I would have chopped my head off."

If it were any other veteran singer from a different genre, Qian Jiang probably wouldn't be this angry. After all, those pioneering musicians who were responsible for pioneering the genre truly deserve respect; their contributions to Chinese pop music were a difficult journey from zero to one. You can't say the first five steamed buns were completely useless just because you're full after the sixth one.

But by sheer coincidence, Hu Defu is the father of Taiwanese folk songs.

What's the most criticized aspect of Zhou Yi's music right now? Isn't it that he refuses to sing folk songs no matter what?

Even if he writes songs and folk songs for others, he doesn't write or sing them himself.

Since Zhou Yi himself hasn't explained the reason, there are all sorts of speculations from the outside world and even within the industry, and now some are even trying to pin the blame on Gao Xiaosong.

At this critical juncture, what's the meaning of bringing in the father of Taiwanese folk songs for the Golden Melody Awards? And giving him six nominations at once, second only to Zhou Yi's seven.

Is it an attempt to subtly criticize the I Ching for forgetting its roots, or to openly stir up trouble regarding the I Ching?

"In order to avoid me shaving his head, he racked his brains and came up with this trick, and it's not bad."

Zhou Yi, who knew the situation perfectly well, was not angry at all. Instead, a smile appeared on his face: "They were quite quick to adapt."

To say he didn't know that Hu Defu would unexpectedly eliminate Jay Chou from the Golden Melody Awards nominations this year would be a lie, given that Zhou Yi had previously accused them of rigging the results.

Conspiracy theories interpret this as an attempt to use Hu Defu's position to suppress the disobedient Jay Chou.

Now, as expected, the "shady dealings" have fallen on him under his management.

His years-long refusal to release folk-related songs has finally paid off.

In order to avoid being completely shut out, the Golden Melody Awards committee chose to include Hu Defu as a backup plan. In their own view, this was to protect the dignity of the Taiwanese music scene. However, in the eyes of some people, this behavior was an open attempt to use the status of the father of Taiwanese folk songs to intimidate others.

We should respect the elderly.

The Book of Changes has always been someone who likes to have it all.

There's no way around it; it's really satisfying to get a good deal and then act innocent, especially when you do something like that and still appear as a pure and innocent person in the eyes of the world—that makes it even harder for him to refuse.

He has only withdrawn from award ceremonies in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau since the beginning of this year, but he deliberately kept his application for the Taiwan Golden Melody Awards open, waiting for this moment.

In the eyes of his fans, Zhou Yi's decision to decline all the award ceremonies in China except for the Taiwan Golden Melody Awards undoubtedly shows his respect for his Taiwanese fans, as it is the only city where his activities are restricted.

But now, the Taiwan Golden Melody Awards not only doesn't appreciate this gesture, but instead invited the patriarch of Taiwanese folk music to try to "suppress" Zhou Yi with his status. This is quite an ugly thing to do—they are pushing Zhou Yi to the brink of despair!
Therefore, it is only natural that the 17th Golden Melody Awards will be Zhou Yi's swan song for the Golden Melody Awards.

He can also give an explanation to his Taiwanese fans.

It's not that I, Zhou Yi, don't love you all; on the contrary, I love you very much. For your sake, I even had the company keep the tradition of registering me for the Taiwan Golden Melody Awards.

But now, the Taiwan Golden Melody Awards have gone too far in insulting me—I feel that their invitation to the folk music icon is aimed at me, that they don't want me to win an award, and that they even want to stir up trouble for me.

Because Hu Defu was rumored not to participate in the Golden Melody Awards last year, but suddenly he did this year.

They've really gone too far with their bullying; with my fiery temper, I, Zhou Yi, naturally can't tolerate it. My withdrawal from the Taiwanese music scene is therefore perfectly justified.

In this way, Taiwanese music fans will prioritize targeting the Taiwan Golden Melody Awards when they are angry!

They ruined the passion of the number one artist in the Chinese music scene!

(End of this chapter)