88rising Artists- Part 1

Sorry the 2nd post is later this week; I didn't manage to finish it yesterday. :)

 

Back in in 2019 I wrote a blog post featuring songs from Head in the Clouds II, the 2nd album by 88rising. You can read that here: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/11/songs-from-head-in-clouds-ii-album.html 

I thought it would be cool to expand on that by featuring more artists from the record company, so that's what today's post is about. I decided to split it into two posts because I was behind with posting. :) 

88rising (also written as 88⬆) is an American mass media company founded by Sean Miyashiro in 2015. It primarily represents Asian artists, both from America and Asia. 88rising's enterprises include a record label, video production and clothing companies. The record label mainly works with hip hop and R'n'B rappers and singers.

To date there have been two compilation albums featuring 88rising artists, Head in the Clouds, released in July 2018 and Head in the Clouds II (see link above), which came out in October 2019. The record label also produced the soundtrack for the 2021 film Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings.

Here are some of the 88rising artists previously featured on Star Sparkle Blog.

 

Lexie Liu

Chinese singer and rapper Lexie Liu (Chinese name Liu Boxin) started her career in South Korea and China, before singing with 88rising in 2018. To date she has released 5 albums and EPs- 2029 (2018), 2030 (2019), Meta Go (2019), GONE GOLD (2021) and The Happy Star (2022).

I first featured Lexie's music in my December 2018 C-pop Saturday post, sharing the videos for Like A Mercedes and Sleep Away: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2018/12/c-pop-saturday.html

 

And here are the rest of the C-pop Saturday posts featuring Lexi on the blog:

Features Nada and Outta Time with KILLY, both from her 2019 EP 2030: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/02/c-pop-saturday.html

Includes Bygone, also from 2030 (bottom of post): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/04/c-pop-saturday.html  

Includes Metropolis (2020) from her 2019 album Meta Ego (scroll down): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/03/c-pop-saturday.html

Features a single from late 2020 with a Chinese title; I think it's called Jiaren ("Beauty" in English); https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/11/c-pop-saturday.html

Includes the 2021 single ALGTR (bottom of the post): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/01/c-pop-saturday.html

 

DIABLO

Lexie's latest release is The Happy Star, which came out on 6th December (2022). So far, she has brought out two singles from it, FORTUNATA and MAGICIAN, and also released several performance videos. The Happy Star is Lexie's first-self produced full-length album and features a different style of music to her previous releases, more electropop.

Here is DIABLO, the latest performance video from the album. The song is sung in a mixture of Chinese (Mandarin) and English, and the video was uploaded on 28th December.

 

 

Read more about The Happy Star here: https://younghollywood.com/scene/q-a-with-artist-to-watch-lexie-liu.html

And subscribe to Lexie's YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrWmDUvmK1LmFKjqTrfx_Kw

NIKI

NIKI (full name Nicole Zefanya) signed to 88rising in 2017. Her first single was See U Never, released in July 2017. I featured it as a Weekly Music Video in 2019: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/06/weekly-music-video.html

Her debut EP Zephyr was released in 2018, followed by Wanna Take This Downtown? in 2019. She has released a live album, NIKI: Acoustic Sessions: Head in The Clouds II and two studio albums, Moonchild (2020) and her latest, Nicole, which came out in summer 2022.

Here are the rest of the Star Sparkle posts featuring NIKI:

Indigo, which was the first single from Head in the Clouds II, the 2019 second compilation album by 88rising artists: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/10/weekly-music-video.html

My 2019 post Asian Music- Part 2 featured La La Lost, a song from the Head in the Clouds II album (see under Indonesia): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/11/asian-music-part-2.html

Includes Lose from MOONCHILD (2020): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/08/new-music-releases.html

 

Keeping Tabs

This is Keeping Tabs,  a song from her latest album Nicole. This is the official lyric video and it was uploaded last August. Please note that the song is explicit. :)

Subsribe to NIKI's YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaAWRu53UW815hGTmxvHFbA

 

Jackson Wang

Hong Kong singer and rapper Jackson Wang started out in the K-pop boy band GOT7, before launching a solo career in 2017 with the English single Papillon. Since then, he has released quite a few solo singles including OKAY, Oxygen, BULLET TO THE HEART, Dway!, 100 Ways, Blow and his latest, Why Why Why. 

In October 2019 Jackson released his debut album MIRRORS, which contained a mixture of Chinese and English songs. To date he has brought out another studio album, Magic Man and a mixtape, Lost & Found, both released in 2022. He is also a member of the Chinese hip hop group PANTHEPACK.

Jackson collaborated with several other 88rising artists for the HITC II album, featuring on the songs Tequila Sunrise with Chinese hip hop group Higher Brothers, American rapper AUGUST 08 and American rapper/singer GoldLink, Walking with Japanese singer Joji, American rapper Swae Lee and Jamaican/American trio Major Lazer, and I Love You 3000 II with Indonesian singer Stephanie Poetri. 

His latest album MAGIC MAN was released last September.

 

Here are the posts featuring Jackson:

Video for OKAY, released in 2017: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2017/11/weekly-music-video_29.html

Includes BULLET TO THE HEART (2019): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/09/c-pop-saturday.html

Features DWAY!, and I Love You 3000 (Chinese version) from MIRRORS, plus GOT7's You Calling My Name: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2019/11/new-music-releases.html

100 Ways (2020): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2020/05/weekly-music-video.html

Includes Should've Let Go, his 2020 collaboration with JJ Lin: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/01/c-pop-saturday.html

 

Alone (2021): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/02/weekly-music-video_17.html

 

MAGNETIC with Korean singer Rain (2021): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/03/weekly-music-video_10.html 

Includes So Bad, his 2021 single with Chinese rapper VaVa (scroll to bottom): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/04/c-pop-saturday.html

 

My Asian Music Round-up post in 2021 included M.I.A, which saw Jackson team up with Indonesian singer Afgan: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/03/asian-music-round-up.html

 

Features Too Busy, his 2019 collab with Chinese boy band BOY STORY: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2021/09/c-pop-saturday.html

 

Includes Shanghai Dream with PANTHEPACK and his solo song Jackson Wang (2021/2022): https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2022/01/c-pop-saturday.html

 

 

Come Alive

 

Here is the video for Come Alive, Jackson's latest English single. It's from MAGIC MAN and was released on 9th December.

 

 

 Why Why Why

And here is Why Why Why, his latest Chinese single (mostly Chinese with a few English lines). it's a different style to his recent English music, more chilled. It came out on New Year's Eve (31st Dec) 2022.

 

 

Here's Jackson YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJS0K01yC8BmQtSuRdqqo3w

 

And his TEAM WANG records channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJS0K01yC8BmQtSuRdqqo3w

 

Also check out the Songs from Head in The Clouds II Album post to see the videos for these songs:

 

Rich Brian feat. Chung Ha- These Nights

Joji and Jackson Wang feat. Swae Lee and Major Lazer- Walking

Jojo and GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE- Need Is Your Love

NIKI- Indigo

AUGUST 08 and Barney Bones- Calculator

 

 

Keep up with 88rising artists at the official site: https://88rising.com/

 

Hope you enjoyed the post! Look out for a follow up soon. :)