A Weekend in the Clouds: Head In The Clouds 2024

Mixed Asian Media - May 19, 2024

By Bri Ng Schwartz

The sun was shining this weekend in Forest Hills, Queens, for the second annual Head In The Clouds Festival! Creative Director Lauren Winn and I were thrilled to experience all the festival had to offer, and engaged with some talent along the way!

We kicked off the weekend strong by meeting Juliet Ivy — Columbian Chinese singer-songwriter currently on her first U.S. tour (our full interview with Juliet is coming soon!). A Forest Hills native herself, Ivy was ecstatic to perform at a venue she had been coming to since she was a child.

Later in the day, we found Juliet’s team on the festival grounds asking attendees, “What is your hot take?” Not to brag, but later during her set, Juliet read some of the answers — including mine! Juliet has definitely found her audience in her home city, with many in the crowd flaunting her signature red bows and pigtails. It’ll be exciting to see where Juliet’s success takes her next! 

The festival grounds featured various brand activations. At the entrance was a Coca-Cola truck handing out free cans of their original drink, as well as Coke Zero. The area also featured lawn games and a photo booth, where I got my best photo from the weekend!

Some of our favorite Asian-owned food vendors were pumping out meal after meal for hungry festival-goers. Lauren’s and my favorites included the tiger shrimp with candied walnuts, from LES’s Potluck Club, and the fresh tuna rice bowl from the East Village’s Tomokase. 

Across the festival grounds you could find Silk’s booths making sure attendees didn’t go a moment without boba in-hand. Without fail, there was a line at each station for the entire weekend. 

Festival sponsor Honda had a decked-out lounge in the middle of the festival grounds. Inside their tent featured some cozy couches, an installation with multiple speakers, a photo booth, and a few retro video games available for use. I watched as festival-goers battled their friends in Dance Dance Revolution and rocked out using a Guitar Hero machine. 

One of the most elaborate brand activations of the weekend was from Johnnie Walker. The experience began with a bar, featuring Johnnie Walker-focused cocktails and claw machines. Dispensed from the claw machines were plastic balls with a sticker inside, each with a unique code. Guests were then directed to find their code on a wall, and to stick their sticker there. 

By the end of the weekend, the stickers made up a beautiful mural with the Head In The Clouds Logo. 

Closing out the weekend was Joji, who has performed in almost every iteration of Head In The Clouds to date. The crowd’s energy leading up to his headlining performance was electrifying. As songs from New Jeans and ILLIT played from the speakers, fans across the stadium jumped from their seats to perform flawless choreography, effortlessly turning the attention from the stage to them. 

Joji  opened his performance with the high-energy hit, “Sanctuary.” The crowd roared for Joji as the sun set behind him.

It’s rare to see so much Asian joy in one space, but Head in The Clouds makes it all possible. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for this festival.