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The Same Willows release heartwarming collab vid with 16 year old cancer patient & announce show.5/12/2018  Children’s Cancer Foundation (CCF) beneficiary, 16-year-old Nurul Shafikha Bte Kamsani, was diagnosed with High Grade Glioma (brain tumour) in 2017. One of her biggest dreams is to be a singer and YouTuber so that she can create a song that will help to bring hope and happiness to people who may be in a similar situation. In order to help her fulfil that dream, Singaporean band The Sam Willows have agreed to work with her to produce her own self-written song. On 19 September 2018, through the CCF’s Legacy Building Programme*, Shafikha’s dream was realized when she received the chance to work with The Sam Willows on her very own song titled “Why Me?”, which she wrote and recorded with the band at their studio. The music video, which features the recording session and the reactions of her family members after hearing the song, was produced as a gift of love that Shafikha hopes to leave behind for her family. “When we were approached with this idea, all of us immediately jumped onboard. It means so much to us that we are in this position to help create something this meaningful for someone.” said the band about this project. On top of that, The Sam Willows have also announced that, in the spirit of Christmas and giving back, they will be holding a one-night only exclusive Christmas Special Show in support of CCF and with partnership of Funan. In the hopes of raising childhood cancer awareness and funds for CCF, the band will be donating 100% of the gross donations from the show to the Foundation. Attendees will also be able to make voluntarily donations to the CCF at the show itself. The band hopes that this will help to spread their love to those who need it the most during this festive season with Benjamin Kheng himself stating:
“Christmas is and always will be a blessed time for everyone, no matter the circumstance or specifics. With this special event, all we want to do is bring a little bit of the Christmas we know to everyone’s hearts and having CCF be a part of this really means the world to us cause, at the end of the day, the greatest Christmas gift we can receive is knowing we made a difference to some of their lives.” Head on over to the band’s social media pages to find out how to score some exclusive invites to the Christmas Special show. Asia-wide hits are streaming 24/7! Head on over to our 'Listen' page! Media Release by: Alfred Tan, SONY Music Singapore. Edited by: Donny Tan Facebook: facebook.com/asianpopradio Twitter: @asianpopradio  Photo: Famous People Contributor: Daryl Basmayor Rising Filipino recording artist and The Voice Kids PH's finalist Juan Karlos Labajo, also known as JK Labajo, continue to wow the OPM fanatics as his smash-hit single "Buwan" gets featured in World Music Awards on November 22. It is not the first OPM song featured in the renowed music website and award-giving body. Filipino pop superstar Sarah Geronimo had several hits which caught WMA's attention including "Ikot-ikot", "Kilometro", "Tala", "Minamahal", "Isa Pang Araw" and more. Other songs featured before are "Tagpuan" by Moira Dela Torre, "Dahil Sayo" by Inigo Pascual, "Mundo" by IV of Spades, "Randomantics" and "Cool Down" by James Reid and many more. Nevertheless, Buwan's popularity is quite impressive for an artist like Labajo who is just starting to be an established one in the recording industry. The five-minute-and-forty-three-second single was released June 22, 2018 and instantly dominated iTunes Philippines. It started to chart in Spotify PH at #56 on October 4 then reached its #2 and #1 peaks on 18th and 25th of October. According to Music Weekly Asia, Buwan is currently the #1 song in the Philippines' Top 30 Digital Tracks. It also charted in the popular music channel in television Myx Philippines as well as in radio stations like MOR and Pinas FM 95.5. It's kundiman blues aura hook the music listeners with delight for it already reached 1M streams in Spotify on September and now racking massive views in YouTube. It's bizarre music video is already viewed more than 28M times.
On October 2018, the single's popularity even boosted when "Darren Espanto-Juan Karlos Labajo Twitter war" shook the Filipino netizens. It started when Espanto posted on October 22 a screenshot, that Labajo allegedly tagged him of the latter's tweet, now deleted, "@Espanto2001 gayness at its finest." Darren even threatened to sue him. Labajo, therefore, received a bunch of criticisms and hate comments. He posted a photo of him in Instagram, wearing makeup, a wig and a floral dress as answer to his bashers. As expected, the public swiftly forgotten their Twitter feud like any other celebrity issues. JK Labajo's hit is the debut single of his band "juan karlos" composed of himself as the lead vocalist, Abe Hipolito, lead guitarist, Louise Bayas on bass and Gian Hipolito on drums. Asia-wide hits are streaming 24/7! Head on over to our 'Listen' page! Written by: Daryl Basmayor Edited by: Jay JohnFacebook: facebook.com/asianpopradio Twitter: @asianpopradio Ahlam & Sarah Geronimo win big at Big Apple Music Awards; Australia's Faydee bags 2 awards5/12/2018  Contributor: Daryl Basmayor The queen of Middle Eastern music Ahlam and the reigning Filipino pop superstar Sarah Geronimo are big winners at this year's Big Apple Music Awards, an award-giving body based in New York, USA. The former was honored with an "Icon Award", while the latter was hailed "Most Popular BAMA 2018 Artist" and "Best Filipino Artist." Originally, the awarding ceremony plus live performances was set to take place at Dolby Theatre in November 23 but the BAMA 2018 committee cancelled the event out of respect for the victims of the California wildfires. A private gala was held, instead, to present the awards to the winners. Other winners are: RedOne- Best International Music Producer Dr. Sumaya Alnasser- Humanitarian Award Vardan & Siranush Dance Academy- Heritage Award Faydee- Best Australian Artist & Special Oscar's Trophy Award Ramy Ayach- Best Middle Eastern Artist Dunia Batma- Best Upcoming Middle Eastern Artist Sako- Best Armenian Artist Suro- Best Armenian Pop Artist Bomba Lia- Best Armenian Composer Andrea- Best Balkan Artist Galena- Best Bulgarian Artist DATO- Best Georgian Artist Rossa- Best Indonesian Artist Fnaire- Best Moroccan Rock Band Super Junior- Best Korean Pop Artist The selection of winners and the result are based from combined votes from the public and BAMA 2018 committee. Asia-wide hits are streaming 24/7! Head on over to our 'Listen' page!
Written by: Daryl Basmayor Edited by: Jay John Facebook: facebook.com/asianpopradio Twitter: @asianpopradio  As a child living under the care of a lego enthusiast had me entranced at the seemingly limitless real world applications lego could bring into your home. An element missing (until now) was a Chinese quarter but As off 1st January 2019 the Asia-Pacific region will be bringing in LNY with a couple of new sets released specifically in the Asia-Pacific region (includes Australia & New Zealand) to commemorate the New Year.
The Two sets that have been officially announced (so far) are; [80102] The Dragon Dance (Above) & [80101] Chinese New Year’s Eve Dinner (Below)
The new sets replicate Luna New Year traditions. Often performed during Chinese New Year, The Dragon Dance is a symbol of the Chinese culture and is believed to bring good luck to people. The Dragon Dance set features a team of dragon dancers & a pig, celebrating the coming Year of the Pig. Chinese New Year Dinner shows a Chinese family reuniting to celebrate the lunar new year in a traditional home detailed with the most aesthetic front door I've ever seen incarnated in official lego form, one can spend hours reenacting how drunk uncle got last year! A limited run of sets will be available from Myer, David Jones, LEGOLAND Discovery Center & LEGO specialists stores official and independent as on New Year's Day 2019.  Written & Edited by Travis Skuff
Facebook: facebook.com/asianpopradio Twitter: @asianpopradio  Photo: Korseries.com StubHub, the world’s top ticketing marketplace owned by eBay, created a poll for K-Pop fans around the world to vote for their favourite Korean Pop group of 2018. To truly get an international result, the poll was launched in 13 countries across the globe in eight different languages and lasted for a month, from 1-31 October. Voters from Asia, Europe, and the Americas participated to help identify the world’s K-Pop fan favourite.  BTS at Asian Pop Radio studios in 2015 With 16 nominees to choose from, StubHub’s K-Pop fans chose the Bangtan Boys (BTS) as the clear winners with 5,552 votes. It may come as no surprise as BTS has truly rocked it out this year and have proven themselves as one of K-Pop’s biggest international sensations. EXO, another stand-out name in 2018, took the silver medal with 3,352 votes. Super Junior followed extremely close behind in third place with 3,267. The final standings were the following:  Interesting K-Pop facts and much more Although the voting period is now over, K-Pop fans can still access the results page and discover K-razy facts about all 16 groups and additionally enjoy top music videos. For each group there is a link where they can find available tickets to all the groups’ upcoming concerts around the world. For example: · BTS, who are winning awards left and right for their music this year, will be finishing 2018 and starting 2019 with multiple concerts in countries such as Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand.  Photo: Billboard.com · Keep an eye out for EXO tour announcements! Considering their second place finish and recent successful return with the album Don’t Mess Up My Tempo, they’re sure to be hitting the road and performing in cities all around the world.  Photo: SM Entertainment · Super Junior have been around for 13 years now, but the legendary K-pop group is still going strong! They’ve got concerts scheduled throughout Asia until the end of the year and rumour has it that they’ll be continuing on with their reunion and performing all over the world come 2019!  Photo: Kpop Profiles · Wanna One, the 2018 winners of the MBC Plus X Genie Music Awards daesang for Song of the Year, have just finished their 2018 World Tour and are bigger and better than ever! We’re on the edge of our seats waiting to hear what’s in store for this talented group in 2019! · Black Pink and Red Velvet are planning on making a big splash in the K-Wave come 2019. Both groups have recently announced world tours and fans couldn’t be more excited! Will K-Pop’s favourite girl groups dominate the charts in 2019? We wouldn’t think TWICE about it! What’s in store for K-Pop in 2019? Interest in K-Pop is at an all-time high and K-Pop fans have proven to be some of the most loyal in the world. The K-Wave reached amazing levels in 2018, but the full impacts are sure to be felt in 2019. It’s no longer a question of ‘if’ Korean Pop will be successful around the world, but rather ‘when’ it will reach its peak potential. In 2018, we saw more languages being incorporated into many Korean Pop songs causing international fandoms to grow like wildfire.
On StubHub’s K-Pop page, devoted followers can stay up-to-date on the latest concert announcements across the globe as well as upcoming events. They can also subscribe to the newsletter to be the first to know about official onsale dates and any other music related news! All in all, 2019 will be an extremely exciting time for K-Pop! And dont forget you can request your favorite Kpop in real-time, any time (almost), on Asian Pop Radio by taking advantage of our Requests Service. Check it out now. Media Release by: Danielle McConnel, StarHub. Edited by: Donny Tan Facebook: facebook.com/asianpopradio Twitter: @asianpopradio  'In light of the upcoming festive season and in the spirit of giving, homegrown luminaries The Sam Willows have just released a surprise original Christmas song - “I’m Gonna Be Loved (This Christmas)” The song was written by the band specifically to show their gratitude for the endless love from their fans, reminding them that their unwavering support does not go unnoticed, with The Sam Willows themselves stating: “Our fans mean the world to us, and yeah it’s easy to throw around big words like that, but after 6 years of song, sorrow and all the silly dancing, we can safely say none of it would’ve been worth it without the fans." "This Christmas, we wanna acknowledge all that support and love that we’re constantly given through this special brand new tune to kickstart the festive season”. The band is currently gearing up for the end of the year with more exciting news lined up, so keep your eyes and ears peeled! Asian Pop Radio have supported the group from the start having been sometimes the only radio station in Australia to play their tracks, we've absolutely loved them and championed their songs every time. 2018 has certainly been the best yet from the Singaporean group having brought us tracks like 'Keep Me Jealous' and 'Papa Money'. "They are just golden" says Asian Pop Radio founder Jay John. "This is a group that has gone largely unnoticed in Australia and so many parts of the world and we will never understand why. They have a lot to give and they have given us so much".  Keep listening out for the track on Asian Pop Radio from this week. Yes it's that time of the year again, we have flicked the switch and are playing some of your favorite Asian Pop Christmas tracks from years gone by, all from today and until the new year. Tis the season, so get into it :) Asia-wide hits are streaming 24/7! Head on over to our 'Listen' page!
Media Release by: Alfred Tan, SONY Music Singapore. Edited by: Donny Tan Facebook: facebook.com/asianpopradio Twitter: @asianpopradio  Hold onto your hats and grab your credit cards! Mitski is coming to Australia as part of the Laneway Festival in 2019! Known for her powerful stage presence and emotionally raw performances the Japanese-American singer-songwriter has been praised by the music industry legends and experts such as Iggy Pop and Vulture magazine. Having released her latest album “Be the Cowboy”, Mitski’s indie-rock music is setting off on a whole new adventure, and Australian fans will be able to witness the birth of this new (albeit previously-teased) persona - a woman in control. If you haven't had the chance to before, Laneway Festival is truly an event you need to see at least once in your lifetime. The first Laneway Festival came together on a challenge from Aussie band The Avalanches. “We said ‘Why not throw a first birthday party for the bar?’ We got excited and then thought ‘Well why don’t we try and close this Laneway down? After a few drinks with The Avalanches one night we asked, ‘If we closed this lane down would you guys play? They said ‘You won’t be able to close this lane. So if you do, we’ll play.’ Said Danny Rogers, Laneway co-founder. With a line-up pulled from acts who played the Summer Series, along with headliners in The Avalanches and touring Canadians The Dears, the debut festival pulled 1400 people into a very tight laneway in Melbourne's CBD. The event now spans Melbourne, Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Fremantle & Singapore across Summer. Listen to 'Asian Pop Radio' here, where we stream Asia-wide hits 24/7.
Be sure to grab your tickets while they are on sale - you won’t want to miss out on this electrifying performance! Mitski will be performing on at the following venues: Sydney : 4th of Feb (Monday) - Oxford Art Factory http://moshtix.com.au Melbourne: 7th of Feb (Thursday) - Corner Hotel cornerhotel.com Written by: Katy Phillips Edited by: Jay John  It's safe to think that a sizeable chunk of our audience have probably mader their way around Asia re-enacting their favorite K drama moments or taking photos out the front of landmarks that have featured in their favorite binge worthy dramas. For me, it was my 2009 trip and I travelled around Seoul and Macau taking happy snaps in front of egg tart stalls, hotels and other hot spots that the cast were seen in front of during the filming of the series 'Boys Before Flowers'. Have you found yourself in a similar position? It is why we are pretty excited about the news that a winter wonderland style ice skating rink is heading to Melbourne's iconic Queen Victoria Market this Summer. We'll be able to recreate our favorite Korean Christmas K drama moments whilst saving a chunk of money on airfares. The Queen Vic Market has partnered with Canada’s flag carrier to create Melbourne’s first outdoor summer ice rink. The Air Canada Ice Rink - the centrepiece of the Market’s festive celebrations - will invite market shoppers to enjoy the magical spirit of a northern hemisphere Christmas during the first three weeks of Australia’s summer (1–24 December 2018). The Air Canada Ice Rink will ‘pop-up’ under the Market’s 140-year-old historic sheds and merge Canada's famous winter culture with Australia's summer celebrations. The ice rink will offer cool, festive fun for skaters of all ages. Skating sessions will run hourly with skates, helmets, skate aides (and pads for exposed knees) available for hire. With the airline expanding their non-stop routes from Melbourne to Vancouver, Air Canada is also offering Melburnians a tempting taste of Canada. Rink-side treats will include maple syrup ice cream from the Market’s Geloso Gelateria, Canada's legendary poutine (a national treasure of French fries, cheese curds and gravy), plus fairy floss and popcorn for little ones.
To spread the Christmas cheer, Queen Victoria Market is offering the chance for one lucky skater to win a return flight for two to Vancouver with Air Canada. Full competition details available at www.qvm.com.au/christmas. Open:
Sourced by: Queen Vic Market Edited by: Jay John 
Perk Pietrek, Singapore’s very own DJ/producer phenom, follows up on his previous hit successes with an EP under Super Snacks. Titled ‘Wildlife’, this 6-track record comes hot on the heels of the highly acclaimed +65 Remix Vol. 2 that celebrates his home nation’s birthday and a reimagining of the iconic Mission Impossible theme song for the Mission Impossible: Fall Out movie release that’s been described as a “glorious trap banger”.
Whether it’s a remix of UZ’s ‘Stockholm White Feat. Two Fresh & Elliphant’ or a cult classic like ‘Busy Gyal Feat. Rocky Rivera’, Perk’s deftness and creativity is one that fans and music aficionados never fail to gush over. ‘Wildlife’, as its name suggests, is an all-out, hightempo aural adventure that defies genres and demands the listener’s attention from start to finish. Listen to 'Asian Pop Radio' here, where we stream Asia-wide hits 24/7. Kicking off the EP is ‘Life’, which takes reggae to new heights, courtesy of vocals from MAS1A, the dancehall sensation who’s reshaping the music scene in Southeast Asia. But that’s not the only collab that Perk has up his sleeve. ‘Thunder’, a masterpiece of non-stop, heart-thumping beats features Jamaica’s one and only Richie Loop. 
“It’s been an incredible 2018, but I wanted to dream bigger, and what better way to do that than with an EP that distinguishes itself from my remixes? ‘Wildlife’ is a treat for the ears and proof that with like-minded artists, anything is possible.” Perk said. We wish him the same success in 2019.
Read more on Perk Pietrek by expanding the link below. Hear about Perk's collaboration with Uz here. Loving Perk's stuff? Request his tracks anytime on Asian Pop Radio's Request Service where YOU choose the music you want to hear in real time! Written by: Super Snacks Edited by: Jay John |
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