A future in the clouds
Sean Miyashiro is on a mission to globalize the popular music landscape. The founder and CEO of 88rising has already let his actions speak volumes through the label’s work in launching the careers of acclaimed artists like Atarashii Gakko! and Rich Brian, as well as their annual, sold-out Head in the Clouds Festival. But Miyashiro wants to push it even further.
“88rising has always been driven by innovation,” says Miyashiro. And the proof of that has been cemented through the numerous collaborations between 88rising and Microsoft, whether that means using Copilot to enhance Spence Lee’s creative capacity, leveraging Copilot and Azure OpenAI to help Atarashii Gakko! team up with their fans to fight monsters, or stepping into a technology-driven elevator to Jackson Wang’s MAGIC MAN scenes. Miyashiro is tapping into technology to give Asian artists the tools and opportunities they deserve.
“We recognize the immense creativity and potential within our community, and we want to provide a platform that celebrates and amplifies their voices.” With that spirit in mind, 88rising is creating a movement to inspire and elevate Asian creatives the world over.
88rising’s new immersive brand, 1999, highlights Asian culture by bridging it with the ‘90s iconic era for Asian Americans, bringing it to life through a new digital experience encompassing music, video content, and moments. 1999 World, the digital representation of the brand, comes to life with Copilot, dressed as the old-school MSN Messenger chatbot, offering fans an engaging way to interact and discover content on the site with the flare of the 1990s. Visitors can chat with personas from content around the brand and discover more about 88rising’s 1999 WRITE THE FUTURE’s newest releases. 88rising reimagined the Windows ’98 era to intersect with the settings and characters that are part of the nostalgic new collection.
ATARASHII GAKKO! is a Japanese pop group with a music style self-described as pop-leaning eclectic that allows for expression through movement and experimentation.
ATARASHII GAKKO! invites everyone to play QuestAG!—a build-your-own-adventure experience created with Azure OpenAI Service and tools like GPT-3.5 and Microsoft Translator—and learn more about their mission to embrace positivity and confidence. QuestAG! uses AI to build a personalized story for each user as they navigate the experience and connect with members of ATARASHII GAKKO! Throughout the adventure, players can confront and overcome their own negative emotions while visiting new realms that encourage everyone to be their most positive, creative selves.
Spence Lee’s creativity doesn’t stop with music. He’s always had a visual flare and style that made him a natural on stage, a runway, or in front of a camera. His creations build on his background in a multicultural New Jersey community, and his family’s Vietnamese and Chinese heritage. Creating his own hand-drawn clothing for his performances is one way that he brings a personal touch to his artistry.
Finding a tool like Microsoft Copilot to help work through his ideas was a natural fit for someone who loves visual expression. The idea he had for the look of his performance at the Head in the Clouds festival brought together references to his life, combining styles and ancient artworks. He used Microsoft Copilot as a starting point to visualize these ideas. He transferred the inspirations to a hand-drawn outfit to wear on stage, created a graphic backdrop for his show, and used them as a feature in his music video “Spend My Days”.
“I always had an abundance of ideas but not necessarily an abundance of funding or materials to execute each idea, but with the AI you can map it out with unlimited ideas,” says Spence Lee.
Jackson Wang is a singer, performer, creative director, actor, and founder of TEAM WANG records and TEAM WANG design. He also developed the MAGIC MAN persona for his latest album “MAGIC MAN.” 88rising is excited to bring Jackson’s magical world to life for the 2023 tour and festival season with The MAGIC MAN Experience. Fans enter an “elevator” and are transported to the MAGIC MAN world, a place that mixes reality with virtual realms. Using Computer Vision Spatial Analysis to detect movement in real time, Microsoft Azure Kinect to manipulate auras, and OpenAI’s GPT tech to inspire new magic-isms, the experience transports fans into Jackson’s captivating imagination. Shareable clips are available for fans to keep after their visit.
Award-winning singer, songwriter, and music producer Akini Jing is engaging more deeply with fans, giving them access to her cybernetic mind. With the release of her new music, she’s sharing her creative process through her cyborg dreams. Microsoft AI helped bring these dreams to life using Azure’s cloud platform, creating AI-driven lyric videos for “7 Night “Over the Bones”, and Akini’s newest single, “Pump Up”. AI visuals generated with Azure’s creative services send viewers to alternate universes, distant planets, and alien landscapes. Fans can journey through Akini’s dreams while singing along with her diverse catalog.
When the plan to create a mascot for 88rising’s Head in the Clouds festival started to come together, they had a name, design, animation ideas, and so many places to use it. However, they felt like the animated cloud character called Clo might be missing something. Clo’s persona could really come to life with a voice. Working with Microsoft, the team used Azure AI’s Custom Neural Voice technology, as well as Azure Speech Studio to train a unique voice for the character to inhabit. 88rising brought in Kyedae, a streamer/gamer from 100 Thieves, to use her voice as the basis for Clo’s. Her unique voice was exactly what 88rising needed to bring Clo to life. Kyedae read a list of example phrases known as “prompts” to train the technology, giving Clo a bright and fun voice for the festival and beyond. Get some insights into the behind-the-scenes process with Kyedae and the 88rising team.
“Knowing that there are going to be thousands of people listening to my voice…is going to be absolutely incredible,” says Kyedae.
88rising, Steve Aoki, and JJ Lin collaborated to create “The Show,” the first single from FLUXGEN, a partnership between 88rising and Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak Records. The music video features visuals generated by AI powered by Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. This approach gave the team a vast range of experimental possibilities including generative textures and morphing effects. In the process of creating the video, Co-Director Jon Primo explored how to use AI to further enhance the visuals with AI generated scenes.
“I thought about the concept to create a world where the foreground is a moving painting, and the background is its own canvas. That’s when I thought about using AI,” says Jon Primo, Co-Director of “The Show”.
Rapper and “BOY OF THE YEAR,” Warren Hue, curated a fantastical way to step into a world filled with low-fi artifacts like giant ketchup squeeze bottles, faux palm trees, and a motorcycle glove from his musical journey and celebratory year. Warren released a new album in 2022 titled “BOY OF THE YEAR” and wanted fans to have a fun, interactive way to experience it. Using Microsoft Azure AI and Custom Vision capabilities to capture a 360 degree performance, an AR and web music experience were created to land fans in the midst of the BOTY world. As fans jumped into the AR, Warren came to life right in the palm of their hands, tilting their devices up, Warren would be seen falling out of the sky, while rapping one of his hit songs from the album. In typical Warren fashion, the experience is catered to the Y2K futuristic aesthetic that he is known for, and the 360-degree music video gives fans a chance to see Warren in the round and engulfed in the objects of the year. Check out the experiences and be sure to turn your volume up!
“BOY OF THE YEAR was an idea that I came up with because I wanted to speak on being out here in LA, a world full of stars,” says Warren Hue.
What is the sound of a sunrise, or a bird flying across the horizon? An installation from media collective 88rising and rapper Warren Hue explore these questions and more in a soundtrack that changes in real-time, using AI to react to events in the skyline of a vibrant Asian-American community. The San Gabriel Valley is home to largest concentration of Asian American communities in the country and remains a historically important enclave for recent Asian immigrants. Using a video feed streaming from an overlook above the Valley, the installation took 88rising artist Warren Hue’s track “Too Many Tears” and remixed it using AI as it reacted to events in the landscape and skyline in real-time.
