The ARIA award-winning singer is Australia's most streamed singer-songwriter in the world, with more than 10 billion streams. He was also the most popular Australian artist on TikTok in 2022.
He is currently on his "The Future is Bright" world tour, having already played sold-out stadium shows in Australia, New Zealand, and Europe, where he was also a headliner at the Lollapalooza music festival in Paris.
The set at RMIT University’s Saigon South campus in HCMC came as a surprise announcement shortly ahead of the Asian leg of Dean Lewis's tour, which consists of shows in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. This is also his first time performing in Vietnam.
Dean Lewis is known for hits like "Be Alright", "Waves", and "How Do I Say Goodbye." Photo courtesy of RMIT University |
According to Lewis, he has always wanted to travel the world, and he is lucky to get to do it now as an artist. When the invitation came to go to Vietnam for this exclusive show for RMIT students, he immediately said yes.
"As exhilarating as playing big stadiums and big venues can be, I always love an intimate show. And the audience at RMIT was nothing but welcoming. It was a pleasure to meet and connect with them," Dean Lewis said.
RMIT Vietnam Pro Vice-Chancellor and General Director, Professor Claire Macken, said that the concert was a wonderful opportunity to bring together a top Australian artist and the young people of Vietnam through the universal language that is music.
"We are proud to be a leading international university in Southeast Asia that offers exceptional world-class experiences for our students. This show was an example of that. Having it take place during the monumental 50th year of Australia-Vietnam relations makes it even more special."
Over 2,000 people attended Dean Lewis’s concert at RMIT University. Photo courtesy of RMIT University |
Besides playing a repertoire of chart-toppers including "Be Alright", "How Do I Say Goodbye", "Waves" and "Half a Man", Lewis also performed his latest single "In a Perfect World" with RMIT Bachelor of Applied Science (Aviation) student Nguyen Tri Thuc, who is also a contestant on Vietnam Idol 2023.
The duet originally featured Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter Julia Michaels on vocals.
For the live version at RMIT, a university-wide audition was held to select a student to perform with him.
In his audition tape, Thuc decided to compose a new verse to add his own touch to the song and subsequently won the chance to sing with Lewis.
Lewis also took part in a live interview in front of an audience of RMIT students, where he talked about his creative process and experiences with mental health, grief, and social media.
The Australian artist will next embark on the U.S. leg of his world tour with over 30 headlining shows from September to November 2023.
Lewis has achieved seven platinum-certified hits with over 100,000 copies sold each. He has also reached 17.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify and 1.07 billion total views on YouTube.