Paradise Rising, an up-and-coming music group in the Philippines, recently released a new Twitter emoji to promote the music of its new array of Filipino artists.
The group is composed of Filipino artists Jason Dhakal, Leila Alcasid, Kiana Valenciano or Kiana V, Fernando Tan or Fern, and Massiah released their debut mixtape of its artists called “semilucent” last July 31.
The official Twitter account of Paradise Rising shared the new emoji silver emoji on August 8. It appears every time a user types the hashtag of the album’s name #semilucent.
Fans immediately flocked to the micro-blogging platform last week to try out the emoji as they share their favorite songs from the album.
In light of the hashtag initiative, on August 12, Paradise Rising also launched a question-and-answer event wherein the artists themselves will answer their fans’ queries.
The artists in the group already had a small following in the local and entertainment industry.
Kiana, the daughter of celebrated performer Gary Valenciano, has been in the music industry since 2016. She released her first full-length album called “See Me” in 2019.
Leila, the daughter of celebrated artist Ogie Alcasid, is a young singer-songwriter who debuted through her album called “Better Weather” early this year.
Dhakal already has two albums called “lovesound” and “Night In” under his name.
He recently figured in an online scuffle with the fans of rising rapper Michael Pacquiao, the second son of Senator and boxing champion Manny Pacquiao after he voiced out his frustrations in the local music industry.
Massiah, a Filipino-Ghanaian artist, was among the artists signed under James Reid’s music label Careless in 2019.
Last, Fern. is a young singer-songwriter who co-produced with Claudia Barretto’s hit single “You” and a recipient of Awit Awards for People’s Voice Collaboration for the song “Down For Me,” along with Julie Anne San Jose.
Paradise Rising is the localized or Filipino version of 88rising that is in partnership with one of the country’s major telecommunication providers Globe Telecom.
88rising is a music label and collective that aims to empower musicians from Asia to the global music scene. Among its popular artists are Rich Brian, Nicole Zefanya or Niki and George Kusunoki Miller or Joji.
Something to look forward to in music
Since the start of the pandemic, Twitter has seen an increase of Filipinos searching for something new in the local music scene.
“Music and entertainment are one of the things that give us comfort during these uncertain times and this is also reflected on Twitter. There has been a 40% increase year-on-year on music-related conversations on Twitter in the Philippines,” said Carl Cheng, Head of Entertainment Partnerships, Southeast Asia & Greater China at Twitter.
“In addition, people are always on the lookout for what’s fresh, be it in music, film, or other industries. So, it’s great to know that both fans and artists are going to Twitter to interact and discover what’s new in the local music scene,” he added.
The data cited was based on Twitter internet data from January to June 2020 as compared to the same period in 2019.