At the beginning of each year, LiFTED takes a stab at predicting the hotness for the upcoming year. Last year, we hit it out of the park by predicting the obvious [Snoop would be hilarious at the Olympics and festivals are a part of life] while getting the not-so-predictable right [girl power running Asian Hip Hop] and missing on some big swings [convenience wear is in and more instrumental music would be popping because of Andre 3300]. This year, LiFTED’s staff channel their inner Nostradamus and present the predictions for 2025.

This year saw more collabs by Asian artists featuring US Rap stars, and vice-versa [hello LiFTED predictions]. Megan Thee Stallion got Yuki Chiba to turn up the energy for her hit ‘Mamushi’ and then Will Smith jumped on Asia’s biggest smash last year, ‘Team Tomodachi.’ To put an exclamation point on it, Indian rapper Hanumankind saw his massive worldwide hit ‘Big Dawgs’ get a US version with A$AP Rocky. Are we going to see more of this in 2025? Hell yeah! But we’ll also start to see some Western rappers digging deeper into the Asian vaults for collabs and remixes, and Asian stars will get collabs with not only legacy artists but of-the-minute stars as well. You heard it here first.

2025 is the year of the wood snake, which represents knowledge and creativity. Almost every fashion brand will drop some kind of Year of the Snake pack at some point this year, and consumers will eat them up like a snake does mice.

Running an independent music festival is an all-or-nothing bet by promoters each year. With inflation, changing consumer needs, and strict regulations, organizers have to sell at least 75 percent of their tickets to break even. According to Xiaolujiao, the think tank that focuses on the Chinese music industry, of the 560 music festivals in China in 2023, 91 were postponed or canceled. A lot of these cited force majeure for their troubles, but they actually meant low ticket sales.

Smaller lineups with local artists just aren’t as interesting to consumers anymore. Now that they have seen mega-festivals like Ultra, Creamfields, Clockenflap, and Rolling Loud make their way into Asia, festival-goers want to see the big names on the top of those bills.

Once music slows down to a certain point, it has to go double-time to keep people involved. In 2024, Sexy Drill was hitting, but there needs to be an uptempo break for dancefloor excitement. R&B is hot as ever with Jay Park releasing an all-R&B album. Baile Funk is making its way from the dancefloor to the charts with singers and rappers like MFS embracing the bold beats from Brazil.

If the 2024 Summer Olympics were the coming out party for breaking, then 2025 is the year of expansion for dance events. Two events run by Red Bull, the BC One for breaking and Dance Your Style for any other form of dancing have been getting bigger and better year over year.

MT Pop from Vietnam won the Dance Your Style and immediately went viral for his amazing popping. India and Menno, both from the same crew in the Netherlands, won the 2024 BC One in a first for the competition. These competitions, and local ones, have great storylines as well as dancers who are pushing all the boundaries of what the human body can do.

Everyone puts photos and videos on their social media. With the deluge of these posts, what stands out in this attention economy? Jay Park figured out an excellent marketing tactic when he started an OnlyFans before the drop of his single, ‘McNasty.’ Not only did thirsty girls want to see what Jay was showing off, but guys also were interested to see if he went all the way [spoiler alert: lewd not nude]. While it was a gimmick, it worked extremely well and got more eyeballs on his song. Now, record executives are furiously working to figure out what else will shine.

There was a big noise last year when Shady/Aftermath Records signed Filipino rapper EZ Mil. Likewise, Hanumankind signing with Def Jam/Universal was a strong move by the Indian rapper. But, EZ Mil is US-based, and Hanumankind grew up in Houston, before moving back to India. 2025 will see the first Asian-based homegrown talent sign on with an international Rap label because the rapping, production, and artistry is that good, and because Hip Hop has always been outward-looking.

There’s no denying the incredible success of India’s Hip Hop scene. In the past five years or so, it’s become the only music genre to actually take market share away from Bollywood’s stranglehold on the Indian music business. This has attracted both Nas’ Mass Appeal and Def Jam to open up shop there. Mass Appeal Pakistan was announced a few weeks ago with the signing of Talha Anjum - one-half of the chart-topping Young Stunners. Urdu Rap is here, and Arabic Rap is on our radar. Expect some big names to emerge in 2025 with huge streaming numbers, as Middle Eastern populations get acclimated to Hip Hop.

In 2024, LiFTED did two collabs - the first with Hong Kong’s MC Yan before Lunar New Year, and later with Kangol. 2025 is the year that people want to wear smaller, homegrown streetwear brands instead of the big names. Kids in Indonesia think RAMENGVRL’s Going Noodles is cooler than Supreme. Teens in India want that fresh Gully Gang hoodie because they can’t afford the Bape Shark hoodie. In the Philippines, the people involved in music don’t want to wear Tommy Hilfiger when they can rock a Morobeats tee and show love to where they are from.

The noodle industry in Asia is worth US$44 billion, which makes up half of the global market. Earlier in the year, Cardi B did a segment on Buldak instant noodles and the stock price shot up 30 percent. After his headlining set at Clockenflap, Central Cee was seen in Hong Kong eating some local noodles. Wouldn’t it be great to see a noodle brand sponsor a rapper or a Rap tour? They’ve got the money to make it happen.