Heineken®️ Ushered Malaysians into 2021 with an electrifying virtual countdown that connected over 200,000 with an unparalleled music line up.
Keeping the New Year celebration alive across all Malaysian living rooms with the Heineken® Starclub NYE Live countdown event. The 4-hour Livestream party connected Malaysians with high energy performances from Malaysia’s hottest local talents, Blink, BATE and Saint Kylo, alongside international headliner, DJ W&W.
Hosted by Ryan Matjeraie, from the Heineken® Malaysia Facebook Page, the live countdown event was part of the Heineken® aim to #CelebrateTheUsual together, by connecting Malaysians virtually to end the year on a memorable note while partying in the comfort and safety of their own homes.
Throughout the party, Malaysians interacted with one another through the LIVE comments section by sending their new year wishes and were treated to RM30 off on drinkies.my all night long. 20 Malaysians also walked away with the specially curated Heineken® NYE goodie boxes, featuring exclusive merchandise and Heineken® products.
Just before 11.30 pm, the stage was set for the headline act – Dutch DJ duo W&W, with a live stream from their home ground in the Netherlands. The pair of Willem van Hanegem and Wardt van der Harst who rank #14 in 2020’s DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs poll, brought their signature commercial, big-room house and trance beats to the homes of all Malaysians.
We managed to catch up with them for a short Q&A just after NYE.
How has the last year been for you both? How have you been coping and keeping busy during the whole year?
The year has been very different from other years, like for everyone. It kind of forced us to focus on different things than always playing shows every weekend. We spent a lot of time and effort developing our label Rave Culture and worked on a lot of music!
With the current global health situation, there have been some very different responses from region to region but you are on tour as we understand. How did this tour manage to take place? How has it been like travelling right now? Where have you been performing recently?
Well, we played one live show for 12,500 people in Bangkok, and we followed all the regulations for that. Meaning tests before we even boarded the plane, followed by a 14-day quarantine in a hotel in Bangkok with regular testing. 2 weeks alone in a hotel room (we were all separated) is a long time, but it was 100% worth it!!
How do you feel about playing to an audience you've played to a few times in the past physically here in Malaysia, via live stream this New Year's Eve?
It’s not comparable with playing in real life for people, but times like these ask for creative solutions and I think this is very good. We played a lot of new music, including our latest single Gold.
How is your Rave Culture label going?
Rave Culture is doing amazing! We see a big following on the internet and it feels like a super close community, which is exactly why we started it, cause it already felt like that before it was even called Rave Culture. There are some really talented producers on the label of which we can’t wait to show their music!
How has your music developed over the past decade? What productions have you released this last year so far, and how has the response been for them?
Creativity always changes, and so does our music. If we keep making the same stuff for too long, we get uninspired, so we always like switching it up. People that know us from 2010 know that we used to do more trance related stuff, then more big room inspired music and now It’s honestly just a big combination of everything; trance, big room, hardstyle, and also the more happy fast music like God Is A Girl and Long Way Down with Darren Styles. Our last single Gold is a good example of this mixture of styles; we really don’t know where to place it on the genre-spectrum.
What's inspiring you both to write music these days? And how do you keep yourselves going these days?
Still trying to enjoy things and stay positive! Of course, it’s easier to produce when you can test things live, but it is what it is. The label, clothing and streams are all doing really well so we try to feed off that!
What can we expect from you coming into the New Year?
We just try to continue making music that we like, and hopefully, people will like it too. Everything we do comes from loving what we do, that has always been like that and we don’t plan on changing that. We’ll be releasing a lot of music, Rave Culture will continue to push new talent and of course the regular names that are already on the label.
For more information on the Heineken® longest virtual cheers and the Heineken® Starclub NYE Live countdown event, log on to the Heineken® website at www.heineken.com/my or follow Heineken® on Instagram (@HeinekenMY) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HeinekenMYS/).
