The iconic Sundown Festival returned with a bang this year as Skechers Sundown Festival, with Skechers as the presenting sponsor! For those unfamiliar, Sundown Festival is an amazing music festival with a huge cause and meaning – they aim to unite Asia as one through the universal language of music and celebrates the best of each culture with food to accompany the Festival. Now into their sixth year, they have once again outdone themselves with a grand total of 16 artistes from 11 different countries. With such a grand line-up, festival goers had the privilege of partying for 5 hours, from dusk till almost one in the morning! But hey, no one can be ever enough of good music, especially one of such grandeur, right?
To kick off we had local rapper Shigga Shay and Jeremy Teng, reinforcing the organiser’s wish of transforming Singapore to be the music capital of Asia. Shigga Shay was featured in this year’s National Day Parade while Jeremy Teng represented our sunny shores for the prestigious singing competition, The Voice in China. Shiggay Shay performed his self-composed hits that portrays the vibrancy of Singapore through Lion City Kia and Limpeh while Jeremy performed a mix of Chinese and Japanese songs, a call to his win on a Japanese singing competition earlier on where he emerged victorious over 19 other contestants from 13 different countries.
A much-awaited Cross Gene graced the stage amidst the loudest of cheers from fans, some hailing all the way from Japan. Cross Gene is no stranger to the harmony of multi-ethnicities as the group includes Chinese member Casper and Japanese member Takuya, hence introducing themselves as “Cross Gene from Asia”. They brought their entire crowd to their feet with their latest single, I’m Not A Boy, Not Yet A Man before moving to their introduction which definitely highlighted their individual personalities. Shin spelled out his name, while Casper had a bad boy vibe that was consistent to his position of a rapper. Following up with Crazy, Shooting Star, On The Floor and Dirty Pop, their flashy moves and catchy songs definitely caught the attention of those present who may not be their fans. Their performance was also peppered with lots of fan service that will make any fans’ money worthwhile with hearts, waving directly at fans and making faces directly into the cameras. With their amazing potential, we are excited to see more of what Cross Gene has to offer and we will definitely look forward to their return to Singapore as they grow in popularity!
Another highlight of the night was Weaver, a piano rock band from Japan that wowed the audience with a strong display of their skills on their respective instruments. Several Japanese were also spotted cheering them on, proud of their fellowmen. Although it was their 4th time in Singapore, it was their 1st time performing in front of such a huge crowd and we believe that such a musically talented group like definitely deserved a stage such as Sundown Festival. Fine-tuning their performance for a more local taste, they performed Tian Mi Mi (甜蜜蜜) as a hint of what was to come before revealing their big secret in the middle of a mashup of Shinseikai and Coldplay’s Viva La Vida. A collaborated piano performance from all of the 3 members of a song every Singaporean will know - Home. It immediately hit home run (pardon the pun) as the entire audience broke into applause and connected on a whole new level with their performance. Transiting into Let It Go and joking about how Olaf was their 4th member, their overall performance was indeed an extremely memorable one and embraced the whole idea of uniting Asia as one with music best among the many acts. Weaver saiko (awesome)!
A sweet Kate Tsui graced the stage next, looking slightly nervous initially but melted down into a pool of cute as she thanked her entourage of fan girls who were equipped with LED fan boards and donned matching fan shirts. Props to Kate for making the effort to get her teacher to change the lyrics of David Tao (陶喆) ’s signature tune, I Love You (爱很简单) to have it both in English and Chinese to cater to the local crowd. The audience managed to sing along with Kate for this classic as she brought serenity to the Festival with everyone bonded over a song so iconic and meaningful that even the younger generation would have come across at least once or twice. Alternating between Cantonese and fluent English when interacting with her crowd, Kate managed to deliver a great performance that held weight among the many performances that aimed to hype the crowd up. She brought the temperature down in a way that was soothing and sweet, just like Kate herself.
Following a kick-ass performance from Thailand band BIG ASS, Singapore’s very own sweetheart, Olivia Ong, was up next. The talented songstress sang to a live accompaniment as well as a xylophone, tambourine and a guitar. Well, almost. She shares that she is able to “emote better” when she holds onto a guitar and thus will just “pretend to play”. We don’t know if she really do not know how to play, because our team definitely spotted her fingers moving to respective chords! Starting with a slightly upbeat 要你管 and setting a cosy, living room vibe with 不变 from her latest album, Waiting, she revealed that she specially arranged the songs for a more acoustic feel. It felt like a very intimate affair as she continued on with 幸福记号 and ending with A Love Theme, as though the Festival grounds momentarily shrunk and we were all in a small space with Olivia, with her (fake) strumming her guitar albeit Taylor Swift-esque, while we enjoy her angelic voice singing her favourite songs.
Keeping the best for the last, the last highlight we wanted to share is the embodiment of what it means to be culturally tolerant and harmonious – the one and only Shilah Amzah! As a Malay and a Malaysian, she has managed to conquer the hearts of many people in China with her stunning covers on I Am A Singer, such as 想你的夜and Jay Chou’s 最长的电影. These two songs are highly emotional and difficult to sing, but as usual, she managed to nail it that night without a hitch. Not forgetting her roots despite spending long periods in China, she sang Cinta Hati where she confessed worrying about forgetting the lyrics. Not only did she sang it well, she also managed a rap in the middle of the song that earned cheers from the audience. Those following her on Instagram might have gotten the hint that she is a fan of EXO – and no doubt, she performed Overdose as well. To mark the very special occasion, she performed John Legend’s All Of Me for the first time ever. Covering songs in 4 different languages (Mandarin, Malay, Korean, and English) all in one performance? Check with no sweat! She shared that she will be releasing her very own album soon and that there must be support for her before she will return because “if no one like me, no one will call me for show lah!” Oh Shilah, we are definitely looking forward to attending more shows featuring you, or maybe even your very own show right here in Singapore? Can one lah!
With the many different Asian musicians focused on producing the best music for their fans in the different languages, with all of the stars that night giving their all to connect with our local audience, we finally understood what it means to have music as a universal language. Conflict and unrest may dominate the newspapers' headlines daily while the entertainment section is given less attention to, but in near future, may the headlines be about music as a peacemaker, a common ground where people forget their differences and celebrate who they truly are.
Much thanks to Red Spade Entertainment for inviting SeoullySG to cover the event from the media preview right up to the concert itself!