Toyota unites Shye, Ben&Ben’s Miguel and Paolo, Belle Sisoski, Natasha Noorani & more on ‘New Day Rising’

The click of a turn signal, the hum of a power window, and the thud of a closing car door become musical building blocks on ‘New Day Rising’, a collaboration bringing together seven artists from six Asian countries.

Singapore’s Shye, Ben&Ben twins Miguel Benjamin and Paolo Benjamin from the Philippines, Malaysia’s Belle Sisoski, Pakistan’s Natasha Noorani, Vietnam’s 2pillz, and Thailand’s Valentina Ploy have joined forces through Toyota Motor Asia’s Move Your World Beat programme. 

Part of the collective’s inaugural album, Move Your World Beat Volume 1, ‘New Day Rising’ draws together ideas from the artists’ individual contributions. Each was tasked with transforming sounds recorded from Toyota vehicles into original music, while incorporating instruments and influences rooted in their respective cultures.

For Shye, that meant bringing her dream-pop and shoegaze sensibilities to ‘Closer Than We Think’, pairing transformed vehicle sounds with guitar elements inspired by the guzheng. The song explores how people living different lives might find common ground through shared feelings, dreams, and music.

Natasha Noorani’s ‘Soar’ combines UK garage, English and Punjabi lyrics, and the alghoza, a double flute heard in Pakistani folk music. Samples recorded from a Toyota Corolla also find their way into its production. Valentina Ploy, meanwhile, draws directly from the experience of meeting her fellow collaborators on ‘Stories’, blending indie-pop with Thai khaen sound design as initial uncertainty gives way to curiosity and excitement.

Miguel and Paolo Benjamin’s ‘Forward’ imagines a drive with someone who has stayed through life’s highs and lows, looking towards the future they might build together. Their contributions to the project incorporate sampled kulintang and guitar that reimagines the sound of the hegalong, a two-stringed lute of the T’boli people of Mindanao.

Elsewhere, 2pillz builds ‘No Need To Worry’ around driving basslines and bright electronic textures, while Belle Sisoski’s ‘Further Forward’ explores what different perspectives can achieve together. The wider collaboration draws on instruments including Vietnam’s đàn môi and đàn t’rưng, alongside the rebab, engkerurai, tapi, and bungkau brought into the project by Belle.

Those separate approaches meet on ‘New Day Rising’, which combines lead vocals, layered harmonies, cinematic arrangements, shoegaze textures, and experimental production around the idea of moving forward together.

“Our ambition is to contribute to the growth of Asian musicians while uplifting the communities behind them,” says Jaja Ishibashi, General Manager of Toyota Motor Asia. “By bringing artists from different cultures together, we hope to push the boundaries of what Asian music can become, while inspiring people across Asia to connect and discover what more we can achieve together.”