Singer Hoàng Thùy Linh, winner of four prizes at the 2020 Devotion Music Awards, will perform at the Virtual Countdown Lights 2021 event which will be livestreamed the on Facebook page and YouTube channel of Billboard Việt Nam on December 31. File Photo courtesy of the organisers

HCM CITY — HCM City's annual countdown music party to welcome the New Year will be held virtually on December 31 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Virtual Countdown Lights 2021, with the theme "Thanh Âm Hoàn Mỹ — The Sound of Utopia”, will send a message about a bright future and use music as a bridge to bring happiness to audiences.

The event will include top singers and bands from the Vietnamese music scene, including Thanh Bùi, Min, Uni5, and Hoàng Thùy Linh, who won prizes this year for Singer of The Year, Song of The Year, Best Music Video, and Album of The Year, at the 2020 Devotion Music Awards given by the Thể Thao & Văn Hóa (Sports and Culture) Newspaper.

The show will include performances from rappers Binz, Tlinh and MCK who became popular among young audiences after the broadcast of the reality TV music show Rap Việt, produced by Vie Channel and based on a Thai show called The Rapper.

The artists will perform on a virtual 3D stage before a background of Nguyễn Huệ Pedestrian Street, created by Extended Reality (XR) technologies. XR has been used in music shows of international stars like Korean music band BTS and American singer Katy Perry.

MCs Dustin Phúc Nguyễn and Tuyền Tăng will be the hosts of the Virtual Countdown Lights 2021.

The event will begin livestreaming on 9:30 pm on the Facebook page and YouTube channel of Billboard Việt Nam, and streaming platforms FPT Play and POPs.

It will also be broadcast on HCM City Television’s channel HTV3 from 10pm.

The Countdown Lights music party was first held at Nguyễn Huệ Pedestrian Street in District 1 four years ago. The event has attracted many people from HCM City and neighbouring provinces, including more than 70,000 visitors last year.

HCM City will also organise a fireworks display at three venues on New Year's Eve to welcome 2021.

High-range firework displays will be set off at the entrance of Thủ Thiêm Tunnel in District 2 and at the 81-storey Landmark 81, Việt Nam's tallest building. Short-range fireworks will be held at Đầm Sen Park in District 11.

All of the firework displays will begin at midnight and last for 15 minutes. Several major streets will be closed to vehicles at that time.  VNS