Audemars Piguet unites Asia’s music scene in collaborative project, Behind The Beats

Audemars Piguet has unveiled its latest musical initiative, Behind The Beats—a creative collaboration celebrating the intersection of music and haute horlogerie.

This project, part of the brand’s ongoing APxMusic program, features a compelling partnership with Hong Kong-born, New York-based music producer and sound artist, Delf.

Known for his eclectic style that merges offbeat rhythms and textural soundscapes, Delf has produced for artists like the Higher Brothers and Lil Akin, and has performed at notable festivals such as Clockenflap and Sonár Asia.

For Behind The Beats, Delf worked with a diverse group of artists from across Asia to create a three-track EP titled ‘OFFSHORE’. Each song represents a fusion of distinct artistic backgrounds, weaving together different genres and cultural influences.

The collaborative project culminated in a live performance at the APxMusic 2024 event in Tai Kwun, Hong Kong, which featured an interactive sound journey, live performances and high-energy DJ sets.

The series was divided into three episodes, each capturing a unique facet of the artists' journeys.

In the episode Connection, artists Derek Dali and Bohan Phoenix collaborate on ‘Slide’, merging their musical styles and philosophies. This episode showcases how their shared creativity bridges cultural and musical differences to produce a unique, genre-blending track.

Speaking on the topic of collaboration, Delf shares, “Each artist's collaboration process is unique, with their creative energies and workflows exhibiting dynamic variation. One of the challenges lies in guiding this freedom into a structured form. Through an open-minded process, I discovered intriguing commonalities that amplify each artist's individuality and inform the music they create. As a producer, I cater to the diverse needs of various genres, ensuring that each track resonates authentically. By executive producing the entire project, I create a cohesive and polished album that showcases the unique strengths of each artist while elevating my own creative process, particularly in developing top-line melodies.”

Read this next: Sample and the City: ‘Geosonics - A Love Letter’

Derek Dali adds, “I think working on the project with Delf and Bohan definitely elevated my collaborative process. Prior to this I've been so used to writing and viewing things from my own perspective, but I've learned that when collaborating with others, you have to give space and let each individual's natural talent shine. There's always a sense of chaos at the beginning, where you feel things don't really fit together and it feels like a mishmash of conflicting ideas, but if you stick through with it and trust nature's process, those ideas will start to organise themselves and find harmony, and what you're left with is something uniquely original. I think at the root of it, that's what making music is all about—finding the harmony within chaos.”

Adding to the conversation, Bohan Phoenix mentions, “For me, the Behind The Beats collaboration was definitely a new experience. Having to come up with a coherent story that lyrically resonates with Dali’s writing, and then to fit the story into the musical landscape Delf had created, was a challenging but also super rewarding process. Definitely learned a lot more on finding the common vision and executing it.”

The other two episodes of the series invited rapper-singer Majin and singer-songwriter Ziyi Wang to dive deep into the roots of co-creation and self-expression through the limitless language of music. To read more about their stories, head here.

Read this next: Taste of Blue to embark on China tour for whole month of November

Through this initiative, Audemars Piguet continues to explore how creativity and precision, core to both music and fine watchmaking, can transcend boundaries and connect people.

The brand’s commitment to nurturing talent and creating unique experiences for the music community highlights its role as a patron of the arts, setting the tempo for a new era of artistic partnerships.

Listen to the tracks of ‘OFFSHORE’ here.

Cut through the noise—sign up for our weekly Scene Report or follow us on Instagram to get the latest from Asia and the Asian diaspora!