MUMBAI: 88rising’s Head In The Clouds Music & Arts Festival made its much-anticipated debut in Jakarta with an impressive line-up of headliners the likes of NIKI, Rich Brian, Joji, Jackson Wang, (G)I-dle, eaJ, YOASOBI, BIBI, CHUNG HA and Zico, over two days at Community Park PIK2 from 3rd to 4th December.

The festival drew fans from Indonesia and around the region who showed up in force to witness debut performances of Atarashii Gakko!, August 08, Elephante, MILLI, Spence Lee, Yanqi Zhang, Ylona Garcia and Ziyi Wang in Indonesia, sending #HITCJakarta to trend up in the country. The two-day festival was also live-streamed exclusively on Vidio in Indonesia with almost 900,000 views and watched for 9.3 million minutes, breaking Vidio's record as the highest watch duration on a single music event on their platform.

“Putting on this show for our amazing fans in Indonesia has been a goal for 88rising for many years. Being able to bring everyone together and have a massive homecoming for so many of our artists was an incredibly special experience. I cried both days because this was such a long time in the making and I knew how special it is for NIKI, Brian, Warren and Stephanie. When I first started talking to all of them they were all in Indonesia, it is where a lot of what 88rising is today, has started." said 88rising Founder and CEO Sean Miyashiro.

One of the highlights from Day 1 of Head In The Clouds Jakarta was notably Indonesian pop diva Titi DJ who joined festival opener Stephanie Poetri in a surprise mother-daughter duet of the former’s timeless hit ‘Sang Dewi’. The young singer-songwriter also welcomed on stage Vidi Aldiano to perform ‘Bad Haircut’, a track off her latest EP oh to be in love which originally featured JVKE. Rising Thai rapper MILLI came on the 88rising stage next to wow the audience with her rapid fire flow and Coachella-viral hit ‘Mango Sticky Rice’.

Headliner Joji brought his incredibly well received SMITHEREENS tour to Asia, performed singles ‘Die For You’ and the phenomenal global hit ‘Glimpse Of Us’ for the first time in Indonesia, before moving on to a solo show in Bangkok as well as the Manila leg of Head In The Clouds before the year ends.

The night closed with Indonesia pride NIKI’s crowd pleasing, massive singalong stage that featured fan favorites ‘Before’, ‘Lowkey’, ‘La La Lost You’, ‘High School In Jakarta’, ‘Oceans and Engines’ and global hit ‘Every Summertime’.

Warren Hue welcomed fans on Day 2 and brought the heat with focus track ‘IN MY BAG’, and ‘BOY OF THE YEAR’, off of his debut album of the same name released earlier this year. The music video for the track has premiered last week.

In her last stage performance for the year, CHUNG HA delighted fans with ‘California Dream’ and ‘Sparkling’, both are songs lifted from her latest album Bare&Rare, Pt. 1 that was released in July.

Other highlights of Day 2 includes YOASOBI’s highly awaited first performance outside of Japan (fan favourites ‘If I Could Draw Life’, ‘Gunjou’, ‘Into The Night’ included) as well as Argentine-born American singer-songwriter eaJ who returns to thrill audiences in Asia this time with his solo music including latest single ‘Car Crash’.

Hometown hero Rich Brian opened his stage with ‘VIVID’ (most recent release accompanied with an official music video) and delivered an upbeat mélange of hits such as ‘Edamame’ and ‘TOKYO DRIFT FREESTYLE’. During the latter half of his set, the headliner was joined by the Batavia Madrigal Singers choir group for ‘Glow Like Dat’, ‘Yellow’, ‘Drive Safe’, and ‘Slow Down Turbo’, which added more gravitas to his performance.

The much talked about finale was a medley of performances which included Jackson Wang and Stephanie Poetri who dueted ‘I Love You 3000’, appearances from Atarashii Gakko! and YOASOBI, as well as Warren Hue who reunited with Rich Brian to perform ‘Getcho Mans' to the delight of the fans. August 08 was enlisted to lead the crowd to a massive sing-along of 88rising’s viral anthem “Midsummer Madness”.

Head in the Clouds Jakarta is proudly sponsored by BCA, Sprite, G-Shock, Blibli, Samsung, Vidio, Erha, Macbeth, Closeup, Nirmana, Grab, Ultra Milk, Ponds, Toyota, Janji Jiwa, Hearthstone, iForte, Guess, Iceperience, and Superlive.

Day One

Atarashii Gakko!
(G)I-dle
Joji
Kaskade
MANJA
NIKI
Spence Lee
Stephanie Poetri
Yanqi Zhang
Ylona Garcia
Zico

Day Two

August 08
BAP.
BIBI
CHUNG HA
eaJ
Elephante
Jackson Wang
MANJA
Rich Brian
Voice of Baceprot
Warren Hue
YOASOBI
Ziyi Wang