TAIWANESE indie band Sodagreen is the biggest winner at the 27th Golden Melody Awards held in Taipei on Saturday.

    The band won five awards, including best Mandarin album, best musical arranger, best band, and best album producer, with lead singer Wu Tsing-fong named the best lyricist.

    “Sodagreen has been trying their best in the past 12 years,” a thrilled Wu said during the ceremony. “We care about every minor detail in each of our albums. It’s such a bliss that in the past 12 years people have loved our songs.”

    Singaporean singer JJ Lin won the best male Mandarin singer and Julia Peng was awarded the best female Mandarin singer award.

    While Lin had won the title back in 2014, Peng said she had waited 20 years for the moment. She beat candidates A-mei and Tanya Chua, both hailed as popular choices for the award, to win. Nominated for six awards, last year’s best female singer A-mei went home empty-handed.

    With four nominations for his album “From M.E. to Myself” and two for Hebe Tien’s “A Little Happiness,” Lin also won best composer.

    Eli Hsieh, 22, went home with the best new artist award. The singer was first known for making the top eight in a TV singing contest in 2007 at only 13.

    Karen Mok, A-mei, Jam Hsiao, Jolin Tsai also attended the awarding ceremony held at Taipei Arena on Saturday.

    The annual ceremony is Taiwan’s biggest music event.

    (SD-Agencies)