If you were to ask G-Dragon’s fanbase even two years ago, they wouldn’t have expressed any hope of seeing him perform live again as he was deep into a seven-year hiatus that he recently was reawakened from in 2024. Fans probably could’ve said the same about Head in the Cloud’s other headliner 2ne1official, who disbanded in 2016 and whose last U.S. performance was a surprise reunion at Coachella 2022 (also with HITC). Gravitas-filled, exhilarating showings was the theme of this year’s Head in the Clouds, 88rising's annual music and arts festival that’s become an “Asian Coachella” of sorts in terms of scope and cultural impact.⁠ ⁠ Between energetic debuts — like that of the soon-to-be-massive Indonesian pop group nonawav — and spots from emerging stars like Chinese-Canadian indie singer yung kai (ykaizzk), Chinese-American singer sunk7s, and Thai rapper Milli (phuckitol), this year’s lineup showed off the rich and wide breadth of music being made by Asian, and Asian-descendant artists in...