In the SPOTLIGHT this week – the first Grammy Festival was held in China. Now, the name might sound strangely familiar, and that’s because this was the first official festival in the world sanctioned by the Recording Academy which gives out the Grammy Awards each year. 

Coincidentally, we also saw the iconic annual Strawberry music festival celebrating its 10th edition at the same time in the capital. And what seemed like a potential face-off between the old stager and the new comer actually got off to a good start. The Strawberry Music Festival, being locally grown, has no shortage when it comes to local and indie artists, and that was well supplemented by the abundance of international superstars who came with the Grammy Awards seal of approval, from Pharrell Williams to OneRepublic and James Bay.

Also, this week the country’s largest arts festival, Meet In Beijing, kicked off. This year, the festival is even more colossal than ever before with 130 performances and activities by 44 art troupes from 19 countries and regions around the globe.

From the first Grammy Festival, to the Strawberry Music Festival and the Meet In Beijing Arts Festival, it kind of feels like Spring Festival all year long in China. So, why the abundance of festivals all around the country?

Well, the answer lies in the number 1.4 billion, which is the size of the Chinese population. In China, there are more millennials than there are people in the United States and Canada combined. These are people who are not only open to try out new things but also willing to spend money on them. As of the beginning of 2018, China surpassed the United States in becoming the largest movie market in the world. So, it’s not surprising that everybody wants a slice of the pie.

That’s not bad, so long as there’s an appetite for it, right? Well, if you look at the luxury market in China, and the downsizing of high-end fashion retail outlets over the past three years, it's because there’s too much of everything, people have become very selective about what they consume. Instead of ultra luxury brands, people are choosing things and experiences that are individualized and cultivated. 

So, can the Grammy Festival catch a big break amid the deluge of festivals in China? I think it depends on what it hopes to do for its consumers both in China and overseas. There’s no doubt the festival has a very competitive edge with its unique library of Grammy-winning artists. And the organizer knows too well the importance of creating a holistic lifestyle experience and not just simply a drawn out concert, and hence carefully avoiding calling it a music festival. Yet, I’d say it’s more than that! The insatiable appetite for Hollywood movies worldwide and certainly in China owes to people’s craving for the American culture, but more precisely a common culture.

It’s often been said, “music is a universal language.” This might be true when compared with the incomprehensibility of different spoken languages, but it also depends on our music taste, which varies from person to person, and culture to culture. However, Hollywood films and Grammy music might just be able to provide a shared language and communal experience that everyone can enjoy.

And when this happens, I’m sure we’ll not only be seeing Grammy artists in China, but also more Chinese and world artists on the Grammy stage, because after all, all the world’s a stage, and all the stages represent one world!