88rising #AsiaRisingTogether livestream on Twitter to #StopAsianHate

Twitter livestreamed 88 Rising’s online concert Asia Rising Together for the world in celebration of Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. The Asia Rising Together concert drew the attention of global music fans as it contained many different types of content such as music and artistic performances. The concert (held for two hours) recorded a cumulative number of over 1.7 million viewers worldwide on Twitter.

This year’s Asia Rising Together was more meaningful as it became a place where people could console one another through music and unite their voices in the midst of hate crimes against Asians and the COVID-19 pandemic. The artists shared their experiences and voiced their opposition to racism and hate crimes against Asians. It was a moment that was filled with comfort, emotion, and various performances.

This year’s Asia Rising Together concert saw performances from Korean artists eaJ (DAY6’s Jae, @Jae_Day6), MFBTY’s Yoon Mirae (@Yoonmirae), Tiger JK (@DrunkenTigerJK), Bizzy (@Bizzionary), CL (@chaelinCL), and Seori (@seori_official) as well as top-class Asian artists ATARASHII GAKKO! (@japanleaders), GUAPDAD 4000 (@guapdad4000), AUDREY NUNA (@audreynuna), AUDREY MIKA (@audreymikarm), MXMTOON (@mxmtoon), KOAD (@itskoad), Luna Li (@lunaliband), NIKI (@nikizefanya), RZA (@RZA), and DUMBFOUNDEAD (@dumbfoundead).

Asia Rising Together ranked seventh in real-time trending on Twitter worldwide as it showcased artists who are known for captivating the hearts of music fans all around the world. The concert also ranked in real-time trending in Indonesia, the Philippines and worldwide.

The countries with the most tweets related to the concert were Indonesia, South Korea, the United States, Philippines, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, and France, in that order.

The top ten countries with the most Tweets hashtag #AsiaRisingTogether were:
1. Indonesia
2. South Korea
3. the United States
4. Philippines
5. Thailand
6. Japan
7. Malaysia
8. Brazil
9. the United Kingdom
10. France

The concert became a hot topic right from the start as CL (@chaelinCL) opened the concert as the main act. On a stage decorated with traditional Korean items, CL said, “Looking back, half of the year has already passed. We have spent a lot of time feeling isolated from the world and ourselves.” Her words evoked much sympathy as they conveyed consolation to music fans around the world who have been suffering due to COVID-19.

Through the autobiographical song “Black Happiness,” Yoon Mirae talked about the discrimination and prejudice she has experienced for being biracial, an experience that resonated with many people.

The performance that received the most attention from Asia Rising Together was from eaJ (DAY6’s Jae, @Jae_Day6). 

The variety of content featured during the Asia Rising Together concert (in addition to the videos of artists performing) generated a great deal of attention. The concert also included poetry readings by Vietnamese-American Ocean Vuong, an interview with Burdock Media, a video of activities by the Vietnamese-American community VACCEB, collaboration video of NIKI and Rich Brian, and a campaign video for #STOPASIANHATE.

All donations from the concert will be delivered to the Asian Mental Health Collective (@asianmhc) where they will be used for those affected by COVID-19 and hate crimes against Asians. Music fans around the world used their good influence on Twitter to encourage people to donate and join the good cause.

Twitter has also provided a special emoji that is automatically applied to tweets using the hashtags #88rising,  #AsiaRisingTogether, #AsianHeritageMonth, and #AAPI to further promote the good cause of Asia Rising Together.

While experiencing so many difficulties due to COVID-19, this was finally a time for people to come together and become one through music. It is our hope that music will overcome COVID-19 with the power to unite people across borders, race, and religion. #STOPASIANHATE