How Red Bull Leveraged Asake’s Sound To Showcase A Cross-Genre Music Event

With dancers, talking drums, and sweeping orchestration, Asake’s Red Bull Symphonic debut delivered a fusion of African sound and symphonic tradition and such is telling at where live Afrobeats music may be headed next.

On November 8, Red Bull Symphonic made its New York City debut at Kings Theatre with Nigerian Afrobeats artist Asake and the Glenn Alexander II Symphonic Orchestra. The performance featured guest appearances from Wizkid, Central Cee, Gunna, Tiakola, and Fridayy, marking Asake’s first step into a full symphonic cipher. The collaboration between Afrobeats and American orchestral instrumentation created a distinctive moment for fans, one that many hope might inspire similar projects or interest from orchestras across the country. While such an expansion remains speculative, the success of the sold-out performance reflects a growing appetite for innovative, cross-genre musical showcases.

For me, the moment also represented a surprising evolution in a brand I have known for most of my life. I still remember one of my high school cross country meets at Van Cortland Park, where Red Bull representatives posted along Broadway handing ice-cold cans to student runners who had just completed the 3.1 mile course. Back then (nearly two decades ago), the company was primarily associated with athletics. Yet here it was, in 2025, anchoring a major symphonic collaboration with one of Africa’s most exciting contemporary artists. This is a record of a long-term corporate transformation.

Long before entering the orchestra cipher, Red Bull had already established itself as the most influential brand in the global energy market. According to Time, Red Bull consumes about 43% of the world’s energy drink market, a figure representative of its scale and cultural infiltration. What began as a beverage launched in Austria expanded rapidly across Europe before embedding itself deeply in the United States market.

With such a foundation, Red Bull began shifting toward cultural production. A Harvard Business School Digital Initiative study notes that Red Bull’s long-term strategy focuses on “marketing a lifestyle,” not merely a product. The led to the launch of the Red Bull Media House in 2007, which expanded the brand into film, digital content, publishing, and music, enabling the company to evolve into a global cultural engine.

Red Bull Symphonic is part of that continued expansion. While the Asake performance marked the program’s New York City arrival, Red Bull Symphonic actually entered the U.S. through hip-hop. It’s American launch in 2022 was led by Rick Ross and Orchestra Noir, a showcase that centered Ross’ hits with a contemporary innovator.

Asake’s discography is built on themes that naturally lend themselves to symphonic interpretation. His music often explores divine protection, the pressures of the hustle, romance, and brotherhood. These themes were embedded within the layered and polyrhythmic choral arrangements.

At Kings Theatre, the production did not compromise his cultural roots. It was respectively Africanized with the inclusion of traditional dancers, Fuji-styled choreography, and talking drums sharing the stage with the orchestra which ensured that the symphonic elements supported, rather than overshadowed the cultural potency of Asake’s music. Such form of artistic choice highlights the potential for global genres to coexist authentically with Western classical formats.

Historically, symphonic performance has been associated with opera houses, conservatories, and the European classical cipher. As consumer tastes evolve, however, orchestras are increasingly collaborating with contemporary musicians to broaden their appeal and modernize their programming. These partnerships have become a new cultural commodity and an opportunity for genres outside the classical tradition to engage in the orchestral experience, while the orchestral scene is opportune to engage new, younger demographics.

Asake’s symphonic debut is part of a broader movement in which African artists are increasingly engaging with orchestral formats on global stages. Wizkid recently performed with Derrick Hodge’s Color of Noize orchestra in a widely celebrated presentation that blended Afrobeats with jazz and symphonic structure. Angélique Kidjo, long regarded as one of Africa’s greatest performers, has headlined orchestral concerts at Carnegie Hall, presenting rearrangements of her classics alongside full philharmonic ensembles.

Femi Kuti with his band The Positive Force, and Seun Kuti with Egypt 80. continue the Afrobeat lineage with performances that integrate bass-driven arrangements, ensemble interplay, and the large-band traditions inherited from Fela Kuti.

Asake’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert earlier this year received acclaim for its emphasis on live instrumentation and its commitment to presenting Afrobeats as a genre capable of acoustic depth, improvisation, and multidimensional performance. His Red Bull Symphonic debut reinforced this perspective, showing that Afrobeats can command the scale and gravitas of symphonic form while retaining its cultural specificity.