TAIPEI, June 29, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Taiwan's hip hop singer Trout Fresh and songstress-DJ Waa Wei won top honours at the Golden Melody Awards for Mandarin chart music in Taipei on Saturday.

"Mom, this is the closest I've ever been to Jay Chou," Trout Fresh told a cheering crowd in the Taipei Arena, referring to one of Taiwan's biggest pop stars.

The singer, whose real name is Lu Shih-hsuan, beat better-known rivals including China's Li Ronghao and Hong Hong's Terence Lam to win best male singer.

He also bagged the best Mandarin album award for the track "Good Sound with Attitudes".

Wei saw off Singapore's Tanya Chua and Malaysia's Penny Tai to be crowned best female singer for the second time.

"I still want to give it a try and I still want to challenge myself... I think the hardest thing is not to give up," said Wei.

"Thank you to the judges and thank you for this award. It lets me know that I can still do it. So when I sing, I really feel loved."

Late Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong was awarded best composer for his track "Twenty Three".

Fong, who passed away in February, also received the jury award for another album "The Dreamer".

K-pop group Hyukoh teamed up with Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and took the best music video prize for the song Antenna, in their album "AAA".

Singers, songwriters and composers from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea competed in more than 20 categories at the 36th edition of the awards.