Tan DingXiangThe Singapore e-Awards 2011 kicked off with much pomp and pageantry at 7pm at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Saturday night, with local and foreign artistes strutting their stuff the red carpet for the awards show.
The theme of the night’s event, organised by SPH’s Radio 1003, was 亚洲娱乐，独e无二 (“Asian entertainment, like no other”), with ‘e’ being a pun on the Chinese proverb 独一无二.
The UrbanWire’s Tan DingXiang picks out the highlights of the night, including the laughs.
Best Fan Moment
It looked like Derrick Hoh‘s intimate moments on stage with a female fan would come out tops for the night, with the local singer placing her hand on his chest.
Sorry Derrick, but channeling the infamous Heartbeat Molester (we kid) wasn’t enough, as Ambience, the official Singapore fanclub of Taiwanese pop trio S.H.E, made the most, um, touching moment of the night by belting out a rendition of one of SHE’s hits, together with Ella Chen, one third of the trio.
Despite the absence of fellow bandmates Hebe Tien and Selina Jen both bandmates had their own personalised messages to their loyal fans, some of which had been following the girls since their debut in 2001.
Selina, whose recent injury threatened to derail her career, sent an assuring message to fans about her wish to return to Singapore once more, with a “…我很想念 char kway teow!” (“I miss char kway teow!”), directly referring to the local delicacy.
Seems like food is what keeps pop idols coming back to Singapore, huh?
Best Quote of the Night
Fly Entertaiment‘s founder, Irene Ang, stepped up to receive her award for her contributions to the local film industry.
But more than ever, it was her ever-humourous demeanour that stole the show.
Best remembered as Rosie from the local hit sitcom Phua Chu Kang Pte. Ltd., Ang was ever-indignant about the fact that her command of Mandarin Chinese had improved over the past year.
Poking fun at her own Hokkien accent, she drew rapturous laughter from the hosts and fans alike, upon mentioning about her skills in the English language. “Even if I speak with Hokkien slang [sic], anybody also can understand. Correct or corr-wrong?”
The character of Rosie Phua has been reprised, this time, off-screen.
Most Stellar Performance of the Night
Taiwanese-American pop singer Anthony Neely undeniably put up the best vocal performance on Saturday night.
The former One Million Star contestant rocked his way through, solo, with not a single note missed, throughout his rendition of “缠斗” (Struggle), the theme song of the Channel U mega-drama, Secrets For Sale.
Not even a struggle for Neely, as he breezed through his performance, drawing incessant screams from local fangirls.
Most Memorable Comeback of the Night
If beleaguered local director Jack Neo had come onstage to, let’s say, reprise his role of the absentminded old lady Liang Po Po, it would probably have been the best comeback for Neo, whose extramarital affairs were uncovered in 2010.
But Neo was merely invited as a VIP for the night and would only reveal that his future plans would be to break into the fray in the Malaysian film industry.
Still, local songstress Kit Chan was the lady to watch as she made her comeback with a Canto-pop number.
It was a pretty easy feat for the 38 year-old, given her acting experience and ability to converse in Cantonese, as seen 11 years ago in the Hong Kong TVB drama serial, Healing Hands II.
The highlight for the singer, best remembered for the 1998 National Day staple Home, was when she belted out an array of 3 classic songs of hers from the past decade, including 喜欢你 (Liking You) and 炫耀 (Showing Off).
After an illustrious career spanning 18 years and more than 20 albums and EPs on, Kit still hasn’t lost her lustre. Not one bit.
Best Musical Tribute
It was a case of senior reuniting with her juniors on-stage. SIGMA, the Taiwanese power-pop trio under HIM International Music, paid tribute to their seniors S.H.E, with a rendition of one of their hit songs. Ella Chen, a third of S.H.E, expressed her approval by singing along in the stands.
Sincerity and gratitude were the virtues shown in SIGMA’s performance, but it was a powerhouse team of Tay Kewei, 插班生 (The Freshman), Serene Koong and dayDream that brought the house down with a medley of 新谣 (“xinyao”, Singaporean song) classics from the likes of Stefanie Sun, Ah Niu and many more.
Loudest Cheers of the Night
The Korean wave was undeniably the strongest of the night, with the loudest cheers coming from fans of Korean pop singer Se7en.
The YG Entertainment artiste, whose real name is Choi Dong Wook, got the crowd dancing to Digital Bounce, his latest hit single to date. He was crowned as the Most Popular Asian Artiste for the night.
His juniors Big Bang were not present for the night, but the crowd still went crazy when it was announced that the quintet bagged the award for Most Popular Korean Artistes.
Photos by Jimmy Oh.