Stars From All Over Asia Come Together For Sketchers Sundown Festival's Press Conference In Singapore

Sketchers Sundown Festival is an iconic annual music event held in Singapore since 2009. It showcases the diversity of Asian entertainment scene, introducing new line-ups each year to promote them to a larger audience. This year, there are a total of 13 artistes and bands from 11 Asian countries and territories in the line-up.

KpopStarz attended the press conference for Sketchers Sundown Festival held at PARKROYAL on November 21. 11 artistes and bands attended, they were asked to sign autographs on Sketchers Sundown Festival t-shirts, which will be sold in Sketchers stores.

Olivia Ong and Shigga Shay are the representatives from Singapore. When asked how often she comes back to Singapore, Olivia Ong shared, "I am based in Singapore now, since I have been away for 10 years, I need to spend more time with my family, do some soul-searching and look for a new environment. I have been writing songs and hope to come up with a new album next year."

Hip-hop artiste Shigga Shay was asked, "What makes us feel Asian?" He replied, "Asia is really unique, in Singapore, it is like a mini Asia, in a way it is an United Nations of music."

South Korea's representative is 6-member boy group Cross Gene, comprising Korean members Sangmin, Seyoung, Yongseok, Shin, Japanese member Takuya and Chinese member Casper. This was the first time the group is performing in Singapore. Shin commented "It is great honor to be invited to perform here as Korea's representative, we are delighted and will show our appreciation by showing our best tomorrow." As they have recorded songs in both Korea and Japanese, they were also asked to share whether they have plans to record songs in Mandarin or other languages, or even a multi-language song. Takuya replied, "We debuted as a multi-national group from China, Japan and Korea. We sing in a mixture of Korean and Japanese songs. Although we don't have next plans yet, we hope to record songs in Mandarin someday so to get closer to fans in China and Singapore. We would also like to come to Singapore as often as possible. Please invite us and we would be glad to come."

On Cross Gene's Korean comeback, Takuya said "We came back with "Amazing Bad Lady" and recently "I'm Not A Boy, Not Yet A Man" we have been performing in Korea, we know we have a growing number of fans in China and other parts of the world including Singapore, we are delighted to see them." On the artistes in the Korean music industry who inspired Cross Gene, Takuya revealed when he was in Japan he listened to BIGBANG and really liked them, while Casper exclaimed "When I was in China, I listened to H.O.T and Taiwanese boy group Energy, that was how I was inspired and came to Korea."

Japan's representative is a rock band trio Weaver. The 3 talented members graduated from famous schools in Japan and have completed their studies in London. Yuji Sujimoto (Pianist & Vocalist) said "We went to UK to improve our English. Since I am not good with communicating with language, music is the best way of expressing myself." On their impression of Singapore, Shota Okuno (Bassist) replied "We feel comfortable in Singapore, when we were in London, we ate a lot of food which tasted terrible." Toru Kawabe (Drummer) added, "Every time we come here, we can see new buildings. This country is energetic and encourages us to work hard."

China's representative is Regina Lin, a DJ-singer based in Guangzhou. She gamely shared that she likes Singapore's Bak Kut Teh (pork bone soup with herbs and spices) as she loves the peppery taste. She was so excited after trying it and she even updated her social network account on Weibo eagerly to share this dish with her fans.

Indonesia's representative is 6-member girl group, S.O.S that stands for Start of Sensation; they were finalists from Galaxy Superstar talent show. On how they think Asia's music culture will be like in future, AG responded by saying, "Many people will be able to hear Asian music and we hope someday that Asian music will get more exposure in other parts of the world."

India's representative is Kanika Kapoor. When asked about the secret formula for her success, Kanika answered, "I sing in the style that I love and I make sure the music is put together beautifully."

Thailand's representative is 5-member rock band Big Ass, who has won many music awards. On their thoughts to spread their music beyond Thailand, Pongpan Pollasit (Bassist) replied, "Not yet, we haven't thought about it. We want to focus in Thailand first."

Philippines' representative is a 4-member rock band Pupil. They were asked, "Who are you looking forward to meeting at this festival? Or have any idea of collaborations with them?" Wendall Garcia (Drummer) said, "We would love to, we want to do something different, with solo artistes, K-pop and J-pop artistes." Dok Sergio (Bassist) added, "But we didn't have a chance to rehearse. It was nice to meet some artistes just now, such as Olivia and Big Ass."

Hong Kong's representative is charming actress-singer Kate Tsui, on the question of what would she like to try in terms of Singapore dishes. Kate replied enthusiastically, "I was in Singapore many times, in fact I just came last month! I had midnight snacks last night, Laksa, Chicken rice and I always crave for Pandan cake. Everything here is good!"

Taiwan's representative is rock musician Chang Chen Yue, better known as A-Yue.  When quizzed about his future plans, A-Yue said, "My future music may be released free online, I will keep composing new music. What I am doing now is to help the artistes in my company in music composition and I am also involved in concert planning." On the question of what is good music to you? What do you think of the music you have written 10 years ago? He replied, "Since my debut, I have been composing songs, some songs are good works that I love, some songs are forgotten with time. Good music can touch hearts and let listeners remember. I feel that the emotions triumphs over singing techniques."

Special thanks to Red Spade Entertainment and Press Kit Pte Ltd for inviting KpopStarz.com to cover Skechers Sundown Festival Press Conference.

Writer: Ashley Ngo | Photo Credits: Ong Melin

Tags
Sketchers Sundown Festival
Olivia Ong
Shigga Shay
Cross Gene
WEAVER
Regina Lin
S.O.S
Kanika Kapoor
Big Ass
Kate Tsui
Pupil
Chang Chen Yue
Join the Discussion

Latest Photo Gallery

Real Time Analytics