Facts and figures will tell you that nearly 20,000 people flocked to Surf Beach, Sunway Lagoon on Saturday night (12th September) for the live edition of MTV World Stage Malaysia 2015, but our experience as part of the crowd tells us that there could be more than that because the energy level was just unbelievable crazy!
Touted as one of the biggest Southeast Asian music nights of the year, this year’s MTV World Stage Malaysia offered a number of noteworthy MTV moments for the concert-goers. All the excitement it held since the line up announcement led to one of the most memorable music events in recent years.
Recorded live for global telecast, the one-night only outdoor event is in its 7th year since it launched. Similar to its previous shows, this year’s event once again brought multi-genre talents from around the world onto a single stage, with SEKAI NO OWARI being the first Japanese act to perform live at MTV World Stage Malaysia.
Besides SEKAI NO OWARI, the music event was also graced by a stellar line-up of performers, including R&B singer/songwriter Jason Derulo, Canadian pop singer Carly Rae Jepsen, Apink, and Malaysia’s #MostWanted local act, Stacy.
The crowd, that was already in the party mood, screamed with excitement when the award-winning Malaysian singer Stacy kicked off the show with her latest upbeat dance track, “Not For Sale“.
There’s no doubt that she is a “Malaysia Dancing Queen” because not a single dull moment was spent with Stacy as she wowed the crowd with her impressive moves. Malaysian rapper Altimet also made a surprise appearance onstage and had the crowd going wild over his sick flow.
With the exception of “Death Disco”, Japanese band SEKAI NO OWARI surprised fans by making their MTV World Stage debut with a slew of English songs.
All dressed up in the white “A Clockwork Orange“-inspired costumes, the band kicked off their electrifying performance with “ANTI-HERO“, the theme song for the Japanese manga-based live action movie, “Attack on Titan“. Soon after, they had the crowd singing and jumping along to the EDM-laden track, “Mr. Heartache“. Fans were surprised and broke into laughter when DJ Love, who wore his infamous clown mask onstage, greeted them in Malay.
Apa khabar, Malaysia! Tadi kami makan satay, laksa, char kuey teow!
One of the most amazing moments from MTV World Stage Malaysia 2015 was when SEKAI NO OWARI performed “Death Disco”. The performance was both a musical and visual sensation for fans as mesmerising 3D laser orbs lit up the stage in tandem to the band’s unique musical expression. Before ending their 5-track set on a high note with “Dragon Night“, they “transported” fans to another world with an ethereal rendition of “SOS”.
As soon as SEKAI NO OWARI ended their set, pink balloons slowly became visible as Apink fans prepared to welcome their beloved K-Pop idol girl group with lots of love. The group instantly made the crowd go wild as they made their MTV World Stage entrance in true superstar style with “NoNoNo“, the first song from their 4-track set.
In true festival spirit, confetti-filled balloons were released into the adoring crowd, allowing fans to play along with the balloons as Apink was performing. Unsurprisingly, when the girls took a break to greet their fans, resounding screams came from their male fans, whose hearts melted into puddles from their lovely voices.
The crowd completely fell in love with the girls and attempted to move closer to the front of the stage to interact with the Apink members who were standing upfront singing “Mr Chu” and “LUV”. The Apink girls were genuinely surprised by fans who could sing along to their song as they wrapped up their set with a rousing performance of “Remember”.
The show didn’t just end there, of course. Clearly, it was only about to get started as more fans moved closer to the front of the stage for Carly Rae Jepsen.
The happy crowd instantly burst into cheers when the multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter opened her set with “Run Away With Me”, the 2nd and latest single from her highly anticipated new album, “E·MO·TION”. She then stole her fans’ hearts away with a breathtaking rendition of “E·MO·TION”, the title track of her album.
Her fun and bubbly side shone through her entire set as giant LED balloons bounced around above the crowd and bubbles released into the mosh pit. The crowd partied like it’s the last night of their lives too while Jepsen was performing “Tonight I’m Getting Over You“.
After a few more slow-paced tracks like “Boy Problems” and “My Type”, energy levels were through the roof again as Jepsen had the crowd singing along to her chart-topping track, “Call Me Maybe”. She ended her 9-track set with a lively performance of yet another fan favourite, “I Really Like You”, leaving them really, really, really hungry for more.
Eagerly anticipating international superstar Jason Derulo’s performance, the crowd roared as DJ Joe Murphy appeared on stage in a Harimau Malaya jersey. Derulo kicked off his MTV World Stage Malaysia performance with a bang, jumping up as he was elevated onto the stage.
Kicking off with “In My Head”, Derulo turned his 14-track set into non-stop party as the crowd rocked to the beat of his party tracks such as “Wiggle Wiggle” and “Trumpets“, as well as his hit singles, “Whatcha Say“, “Ridin’ Solo“, . A shower of glittering flames lit up the stage as Derulo impressed the crowd with his mad dancing skills, bringing the crowd’s energy levels to its peak. Hopless romantics in the crowd swooned while they were serenaded with the popular track, “Marry Me”.
Stacy surprised fans during Derulo’s set as she emerged onstage onstage again to show off her dance moves to Rihanna‘s “B*tch Better Have My Money“. Derulo then took a break to have a heart-to-heart with his fans, inspiring them to dream big and revealing the meaning behind “Cheyenne”, his personal “stress-relief” song.
Much to the delight of the audience, Derulo finally performed his global favourite, “Want To Want Me”. Before closing his set, he had some fun teaching the audience some of the moves to his song “Pull Up”.
By the end of the night, the event hashtag #worldstagemy top trended in Malaysia and trended in Singapore, with an estimate of over 100 million social impressions within a day. A beautiful display of fireworks were also released into the night sky, with the stunning display of lights ending the sensational night on a perfect note.
MTV World Stage Malaysia 2015 is presented by Sunway and supported by Tourism Malaysia. In Malaysia, it is ignited by Xpax, brought to you by Brickfields Asia College, Watsons Malaysia, supported by local broadcast partner, Astro, radio partners hitz fm, ERA fm and MY FM, with media partners Big Tree Outdoor, Cleo, EH!, Hype Malaysia, Selebriti Online, TimeOut KL and YG magazine.
The show will premiere on MTV in Asia on 26th September (Saturday) at 1:30pm (TH/WIB), 2:30pm (PH/SG) and 3:30pm (MY), 10th October (Saturday) at 9pm (JP) and 11th October (Sunday) at 12am (KR).
For more information, visit MTV Asia’s official Facebook page and Twitter.