The 15th Freshmusic Awards (FMA) has finally announced its award winners, and four Singaporean artists have clinched their well-deserved awards at the latest edition of the awards ceremony that occurred on 24 June, and was livestreamed from Kuala Lumpur.
The organisation behind FMA, Freshmusic, is a Singapore-based online music review site, that aims to spotlight and celebrate the best local Chinese music scene. Artists must be at least half-Chinese ethnically, and bands should have at least half of their members be ethnically Chinese to be eligible for the award and nomination. The FMAs are decided upon by a panel of judges comprising music and entertainment industry professionals across Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China.
Linying won ‘EP of the Year’ for her 2021 release ‘Good Behaviour’. Her music was described by the judges to be “mature”, “catchy”, and fresh.
lewloh won the 'Freshmusic x TAMA Regional Album of the Year' award for his album ‘michigan/missinghim’. This category is a new addition to the ceremony, and it sees FMA partner up with Taiwan Asean Music Action. It's targetted at uplifting Singaporean and Malaysian acts, regardless of language and ethnicity. The judges felt that lewloh was “a musician who is adept at conveying his inner thoughts and imagery, with his music feeling like a great big warm hug that caresses the listener tightly”. They also noted that this category was a tough battle between lewloh, Shye, and Tanya Chua.
The Top 10 Singles of the Year category also featured Benjamin Kheng for his collaboration with Taiwanese R&B star J.Sheon, ‘Fresh Feelings’.
Meanwhile, the Top 10 Albums of the Year category spotlighted Tanya Chua’s ‘DEPART’. It was also noted that Tanya Chua came close to clinching the Best Female Vocalist award, but lost it by a small margin to Tia Ray.
This year’s awards mark the most number of Singaporean acts ever to be nominated in the history of the FMA, and also the most number of Singaporean winners in a year. The 15 Singaporean acts that were nominated also include Shye, Jasmine Sokko, The Steve McQueens, Subsonic Eye and BGourd.
Relive the 15th FMA livestream now.
