On April 23, the 2nd Inspur Music Awards announced the complete list of finalists in Beijing, revealing a total of 35 honors in seven categories, including singers, styles, compositions and techniques, and selecting the annual memory of Chinese music in 2023. Among them, among the high-profile best singers, Lin Junjie, Eason Chan, Luo Dayou, Daolang, and Jude were shortlisted for the best male singer, and Yuan Yawei TIA RAY, Xiaoxia (Huang Qishan), Su Yunying, Dou Jingtong, and Yang Naiwen were shortlisted for the best female singer.
A number of members of the Inspur jury gathered at the shortlist release ceremony, including Fang Wenshan, a well-known lyricist in the Chinese music scene, Jin Dazhou, a well-known music producer and composer, Li Xingyu, music producer and founder of the Whale Circus, Luo Bing, lyricist, poet and writer, Mo Fei's law of the duo creative orchestra and music producer, Liu Lian, a music singer-songwriter, Bao Rui, a senior mixer, and Si Si, an associate professor of the Department of Arts Management of China Conservatory of Music, announced the shortlist of the 2nd Inspur Music Awards.
Lin Junjie leads with 8 nominations, Yuan Yawei TIA RAY, Xiaoxia (Huang Qishan) were shortlisted for the best female singer
This year, the Inspur jury spent several months selecting the most representative Chinese music works of the year from nearly 10,000 new songs and more than 500 albums released in 2023.
Among the shortlisted announced, JJ Lin and Eason Chan led the shortlist with 8 and 6 nominations respectively for the albums "Regain _ Happiness" and "CHIN UP!", not only shortlisted for Album of the Year, Best Male Singer and many other blockbuster honors, but also won a number of technical nominations such as Best Composition and Best Lyrics for album title songs such as Junjie Lin's "Wish and Sorrow" and Eason Chan's "Social Phobia Cancer Don't Mind Me". In addition, Daolang released the latest concept album "Mountain Song Few" in 2023, which is rich in cultural connotation and humanistic thinking, and has also been shortlisted for four honors, including Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Male Singer.
In this year's shortlist, the list of best male and female singers is particularly dazzling: in addition to Lin Junjie, Eason Chan and Daolang, Jude and Luo Dayou are shortlisted for best male singers, and with the new album "In the Innate Imbalance (ALLURE)" released in 2023, Yuan Yawei TIA RAY is shortlisted for Best Female Singer, along with Xiaoxia (Huang Qishan), Su Yunying, Dou Jingtong, Yang Naiwen and other 4 female singers with different styles.
The 2nd Wave Music Awards Best Male Singer Finalist
The 2nd Wave Music Awards Best Female Singer Shortlist
IN TERMS OF THE THREE MAJOR HONORS, TAO ZHE'S "DESERVED", AND EASON CHAN'S "DUST MASTER", YUAN YAWEI TIA RAY'S "RIVER FLOW", XIAOXIA'S "XIAOXIA", AND JUDE'S "BONE CURTAIN CALL" WERE SHORTLISTED FOR THE ANNUAL PRODUCTION, AND DAOLANG'S "RAKSHASA SEA CITY", LIN JUNJIE'S "WISH AND SORROW", HUANG QISHAN, XILIN NAYI GAO'S "IS A MOTHER IS A DAUGHTER", SHAN YICHUN'S "MISS YOU, THE WIND RISES" AND THE REJUVENATION BAND "FLOWERS" WERE SHORTLISTED FOR THE SONG OF THE YEAR.
The 2nd Wave Music Awards Album of the Year shortlist
Rewarding outstanding music works in vertical categories and helping Chinese music to flourish in diversity
The number of high-quality works under diverse genres is a key indicator to observe the benign development of the Chinese music scene. In order to encourage Chinese music creators to innovate in different music styles, the Inspur Music Awards have set up genre honors such as pop, rock, folk, electronic and rap to reward outstanding music works in different vertical fields.
Among them, Caodong No Party "Daydream" and Rejuvenation Dan Band "Flowers" were shortlisted for Best Rock Song, Chang Shilei's "Flower Drunk Lingnan", Landlord's Cat "Hey, That You" and other shortlisted Best Folk Songs, ZHANGYE/Zhou Shen's "Heart Of Peace", Lumi Liu Min's "Madness Loses Mind" and other shortlisted for Best Electronic Song. Ai Re AIR's "Homecoming", GAI Zhou Yan's "Chaotianmen" and other shortlisted for the best rap songs.
The 2nd Wave Music Awards are shortlisted for Best Rock Song
As an important medium for expressing emotions and stories, music and film and television works are also born together, creating a more profound viewing experience for the audience. And this complementary relationship is also perfectly reflected in this year's nomination for Best Film and Television Song. Five works, including Yu Kewei's "Going to a Windy Place", Zhou Shen's "Lingbud Journey", Ren Suxi's "Years of Life", Liu Huan's "The Way of the World" and Luo Dayou's "Thirty Thousand Miles of Chang'an" were shortlisted.
The 2nd Wave Music Awards Best Film and Television Song Finalist
In addition, with the original intention of "making music a civilization", the Inspur Jury has set up special honors in dialects such as Cantonese, Hokkien, and minority languages. For example, Lo Guanting's "Together as One", Farmer's "Farmer's Essays", and Dear Jane's "X" were shortlisted for Best Cantonese Album.
Commend the outstanding behind-the-scenes creation of Chinese music and promote the positive cycle of the music industry
Excellent music works are not only the work of the performers in front of the stage, but also inseparable from the creators of many links behind the scenes. The Inspur Jury focuses on outstanding creations and sets up creative and technical honors, hoping to set a benchmark for Chinese music in lyrics, composition, arrangement, production, and recording engineering.
In this year's shortlist, several well-made productions were shortlisted for multiple behind-the-scenes honorable mentions at the same time. For example, "It's a Mother and a Daughter" composed by Tang Tian and composed by Qian Lei was shortlisted for Best Lyrics and Best Composition Honors; "RIVER FLOW" composed by Ge Dawei and Yuan Yawei TIA RAY, arranged by Chen Jianqi and Antonio Dixon, was shortlisted for Best Lyrics and Best Arrangement Honors, and "Wishes and Sorrows" written by Xiao Han, composed by Lin Junzhuo and directed by Huang Zhongping, was shortlisted for three behind-the-scenes honors: Best Lyrics, Best Composition and Best Music Video.
The 2nd Wave Music Awards Best Lyricist Shortlist
In addition, the selection of the best album production has attracted much attention. "Mars Radio III" and "Liu Yanfen" produced by Mars Radio, "Jude" produced by Jude, "Expectation Set OPEN IT" produced by Arai Eleven and "Take You Fly" produced by Chen Junhao, Han Likang and Huang Wenxuan were shortlisted, which undoubtedly confirmed the prosperity of the creative music power of the Chinese music scene.
The 2nd Wave Music Awards Best Album Production Shortlist
Quality-oriented, with the quality of works as the only criterion, from the beginning of its establishment, the Inspur Music Awards has adhered to an authoritative and professional review lineup and a few but fine honor settings, and used a professional perspective to select outstanding Chinese music works that can represent the development level of Chinese music, leading the positive development of the industry. The complete list of finalists for the 2nd Inspur Music Awards can be viewed on QQ Music, Kugou Music, and Kuwo Music by searching for "Inspur Music Awards".
Stay tuned for the second "Inspur Music Awards Honor Ceremony" to be held offline to witness the sound of the Chinese music wave in 2023.