Head In The Clouds Filled An Entire Stadium With Asian Joy

Head In The Clouds Filled An Entire Stadium With Asian Joy




By Kelly Nguyen


To experience 88rising’s recent Head in the Clouds festival was to feel pure jubilance. Bursting through sunny, sublime skies on November 6 and 7 was history in the making: Every space indoors Pasadena’s Rose Bowl Stadium was interwoven with Asians and Asian Residents of the
U.S. Owning their power. In the middle of the gathering, a Asian plaza-inspired sign directed audiences to the heart and soul of the festival — Asian-owned restaurants and corporations. The smell of Bopomofo’s spicy Sichuan wafted by way of the air as festival-goers — dressed in everything from Joji’s Pink Guy skin-tight bodysuit to a outfit designed right following the national flag of the Philippines — excitedly lined up.


The nucleus of this was the 88rising label, which first organized the fest in 2018 as a celebration of what it means to truly, unquestionably be delighted of our identities. Asian storytellers are usually forced to be simultaneously the creators and heroes of our own tales. As a result, the music organization encourages artists to pen their own, pushing boundaries so Asian narratives flawlessly come to the forefront of the conversation.


This constant battle of ensuring Asian art and lives are visible — this fight to be seen — can be suffocating. Several of us look for the small windows where Asian stories aren’t defined solely by learning to be resilient or strong. As such, every performer made sure to inundate the stage with their prismatic fun. While in headliner and early label-signee Rich Brian’s efficiency of flamboyant track “Edamame,” backup dancers popped and locked while dressed up because the titular soybean. Up-and-coming singer Bibi rained down condoms on her audience and kissed a women fan mid-performance, all in the name of giving people a space to simply get lost in the magic of the music.


In the midst of booming bass throughout headliner Saweetie’s set, she paused, glittering eyes taking in the 30,000 festival-goers with awe. She dedicated her efficiency to “Asian kings and queens” watching. While the crowd aggressively shook foam light sticks in their hands, she encouraged something radical — the act of learning to proudly “love yourself.” The audience erupted in noisy, unadulterated joy. The nights at Head in the Clouds routinely end like this: laughter, light as air, blanketed by the collective feeling the festival’s very name conjures.


"This community has been built up from literally the ground up,” headliner Niki explained to MTV News, speaking to the magic in the atmosphere. “It's just really cool to be able to see a familial bond between artists, artists’ fans, artists’ corporation ... It just feels really tight-knit and like a real community.” Backstage before their big performances, she and also Head in the Clouds’s other star Indonesian performers Wealthy Brian and Warren Hue take us through their journeys standing up for themselves creatively, their authenticity as creatives of color and Asian pride and joy.


MTV News: What does Asian pride and joy look like to you? 


Rich Brian: It sort of looks like what's going on out there now. I think it's just like seeing this several people, and there's so several Asian people just being able to express themselves. Watching a lot of people that are also expressing themselves is really cool, and just seeing that influence happen right in front of you. I don't go out much. I'm a very homebody-type person. However I love doing Head in the Clouds because every year, I get to be able to see this happen in front of me.


Niki: I think it's just all of us celebrating who we are, through the food, through the music, by means of the celebrating each other. As a diaspora, especially because we're like a minority within a majority culture, I think it's so essential to uplift each other and sort of just have that spirit of like, we're all in this with each other. And I've seen that a lot within my own companions. I think a normal misconception is that I'm Asian American, nevertheless I'm literally a Indonesian person that moved To America. So my experience differs from, you know, my companions who are first-gen, second-gen Asian Residents of the
U.S.. And however, there's still this sort of overlap in terms of the Asian experience In America. I think it's just so cute, just as it is. I think we just need to celebrate one another.


MTV News: How do you feel right now, looking at the crowd and seeing each person excited to be able to see you perform? 


Brian: It felt fantastic, man. That was crazy. That was my first time performing since 2019, and yes it was crazy. Especially like, you know, immediately after not seeing that happen for two years. Just seeing that in front of me — this for now was my most surreal-feeling show. I think the most surreal [performance] was this show, and then my first show ever. Typically While I perform, I'm very present. I'm very there and I know that I'm performing. I know that that's what I'm doing. Yet then, any time If I was doing my set last night, I just remember being three or four songs deep, and I'll still be like, wait — I'm performing right now. I would just go somewhere, then come back, mentally. And it also just took a lot to process. Yet it was insane.


Warren Hue: This is my first time performing, ever. So it's crazy, like super surreal. I used to perform with 100 people watching me, and the majority could be like, my homies, or at a club and stuff. Nevertheless this is like, damn. I'm seeing people actually love the music I made any time While I was back residence in Jakarta, in my bedroom. [This music], it's getting transferred to like 30,000 people. That's, like, so surreal to me. Oh my god, it feels like a dream for sure. And the feeling still lasts up until now.


MTV News: Do you remember the opening time you stood up for yourself creatively since joining 88rising? 


Hue: I began off just making songs on YouTube and shit, and posting it on SoundCloud. So I was just like, oh, this feels good. I like listening to it. And I'll just post it — weekly, monthly. And just without, you know, who cares if people don't fuck with it? You know what I mean? Because I like it.


Brian: A piece of being an artist is also just networking with. You've got to sort of trust other people's creative decisions and perspectives. One of the initial times I had to stand up for myself creatively, it was… for a music video, any time If I [was] in the editing room with the director. Because some days once you're in that room — it's just you and the director. And you're staying awake all night at night, you're both tired. You really don't like the shot of yourself or how it looks, or, like, you feel like this shot really matches with the music. However then he has his own tastes. For me, [music videos] are most crucial to me. So I get really, really into it.


MTV News: As a creative of color, what does authenticity and overcoming failure look like to you? 


Niki: I think it took a minute for me to navigate. I'm Indonesian, nevertheless I speak English, nevertheless I reside In the United States. I think the main takeaway from this learning journey that I'm still on is just to embrace that it all adds to my identity, as instead of taking away from it. I think, as a 16-year-old, I was like, who am I? Am I American? I'm not American, nevertheless I speak English. And I remember just being so confused. Yet I think the confusion is piece of the process. At the end of the day, it just adds more dimension and color to each person. As a creative of color, I think it's just been really cool growing into what I believe is authentic to myself and to my artistry.


MTV News: How are you taking care of yourself right after your performance?


Niki: I am actually planning to go house Indonesia in December to be able to see my family member, and I haven't seen them since COVID. I think, like, seeing family member and just sort of being back in a house environment — and any time Whenever I mention home, like, residence has sort of a loose meaning for me right now. Nevertheless Indonesia is usually my first house. Once I go back, it just resets. I'm my dad's kid. I’m my brother's sister. I'm just chilling and I have my cats. Going house is just routinely very healing for me. That's just gonna really help me reset as well as just appreciate life.









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