Clockenflap 2023: 5 East Asian artists ruling Hong Kong’s festival line-up, from Thai pop duo HYBS to neo-kawaii girl group Chai and Ginger Root’s uber-meta ‘Japanese’ city pop

Feb 25 , 2023

Leenalchi, HYBS, Yellow, Chai and Ginger Root are five East Asian acts you won’t want to miss at Hong Kong’s Clockenflap music festival. Photos: Handout

Forget the big Western headliners – East Asian pop culture is having a moment, and Clockenflap 2023 has a finger firmly on the pulse in its stunning roster of regional acts

Forward-thinking R&B talent Yellow 黃宣 might be Taiwan’s hottest export this year, while South Korea’s Leenalchi fuses traditional pansori folk with angular post-punk bite

In the four and a half years since Hong Kong’s last Clockenflap festival, the global entertainment landscape has experienced a long-overdue, but very welcome, sea change. The rise of K-drama. The MCU’s first Asian superhero. Parasite’s Palme d’Or. Michelle Yeoh’s moment and Everything Everywhere All at Once. And, of course, the global dominance of K-pop.

In 2023, East Asian pop culture – and especially music – is not just breaking into the mainstream, it’s setting the agenda. (A random example: two of last year’s biggest Western pop albums paid tribute to Japanese city pop – The Weeknd sampled a vintage Tomoko Aran track, while Harry Styles riffed on Haruomi Hosono with the title of controversial Grammy-winning LP Harry’s House.)

Now, Clockenflap has always been ahead of the curve, programming a carefully curated mix of local, international and regional names since its inception in 2008. But ahead of this year event – taking place at the Central Harbourfront, March 3-5 – there’s an extra special buzz around the diverse line-up of artists putting East Asian culture firmly in the spotlight. And perhaps for first time, the international audience is properly paying attention.

Clockenflap has always boasted a diverse line-up, but this year promises to be among the most diverse yet.

As it should be – because this is where the trendsetting zeitgeist-grabbers of 2023 are found. All the festival’s big Western headliners are established legends who have been active for decades (Arctic Monkeys, The Cardigans and Wu-Tang Clan clocking more than eight decades on stage between them). By contrast, all the wave-making acts we’ve cherry-picked below made their debut within the past decade, or far less. These young, fresh and genuinely inventive musicians are defining the sound (and look) of the future.

Oh, and these selections do nothing to undermine the huge array of home-grown Hong Kong talent playing Clockenflap 2023, which we’ve already rounded up here:

1. Chai

Est: Nagoya, Japan, 2012

Chai is a four-piece girl group founded by high school friends.

Seen one Japanese girl group, seen ‘em all? Chai is on a mission, a mission to smash any preconceived notions about kawaii (cute) culture. “We are a new exciting onna (female) band,” declares the quartet’s loud, proud “neo-kawaii” manifesto, which is realised in a turbocharged, Technicolor haze of disco groove, feminist punk, sisterhood, self-love and bubblegum.

CHAI - まるごと - "WHOLE" - Official Music Video

Formed by four high school friends – Yuuki, Mana, Kana and Yuna – within months of moving to Tokyo to pursue their musical dreams in 2016, the quartet were signed by Sony, touring the US and playing the legendary SXSW festival. Breakout albums Pink (2017) and Punk (2019) are joyously playful, poptastic, outsize celebrations of individuality, matched only by the primary-coloured choreography; 2021’s Wink expanded the sonic scope while celebrating the simple pleasures of (and crafting metaphors about) doughnuts, salmon balls and kiwi fruit.

Notably, unlike their peers, Chai’s members have always had half an eye on the international market, signing deals with the UK’s Heavenly Recordings and the iconic US Sub Pop imprint. They were repaid with collaborations with British pop groups of two golden eras – Gorillaz and Duran Duran. But at its core, Chai is best sipped without any sweetener.

When: Saturday, 5.45pm on the Park Stage